Festival Visual Artist

Each season, Music@Menlo invites a distinguished visual artist to exhibit a selection of their work throughout the festival and showcases their work in the festival’s publications.

The 2023 visual artist is Oakland-based Gabriel Schama. Working principally in laser-cut plywood, Schama creates densely layered forms that twist, intersect, and overlap to create precise, expressionist compositions. Although the design process begins digitally with complex vector illustrations, Schama’s work is brought to life by the artist’s meticulous craftsmanship. His years of experience in high-end architectural metalwork and furniture design are as evident in the impeccable construction of his work as they are in the delicate balance of the design. His work meanders among purely abstract pseudo-mandalas, silhouetted figures and portraits, architectural landscapes, and typographic studies. Rendered in mixed tones of wood grain or in vivid blocks of color, endless details hide in the crevices of Schama’s work, rewarding repeated and up- close scrutiny, even as the overall arrangement defies a single visual interpretation, shifting with each change in perspective. https://www.gabrielschama.com

Past Visual Artists

2022: Simon Bull
2021: Donald Sultan
2019: Klari Reis
2018: Gonzalo Fonseca
2017: Enrico Giannini / Lilian Finckel
2016: Andrei Petrov
2015: Katia Setzer
2014: Tracey Adams
2013: Sebastian Spreng
2012: Eric J. Heller
2011: John Morra
2010: Alex S. MacLean
2009: Theo Noll
2008: Doug Glovaski
2007: Gustavo Ramos Rivera
2006: Younhee Paik
2005: Caio Fonseca
2004: Darren Waterston
2003: Robert Kelly