Yossi Ben Abu is a mid-career Irvine, CA based artist specializing in mixed media artworks and sculptures. His works explore the use of monochromatic combinations and the effect of light, time of day and shadows on the way it is perceived by the viewer. Ben Abu began exploring the use of 2D and 3D shapes using different materials like clay, fabric, glass, paper, and wood. His current body of work is made predominantly of 3D paper and wood veneer creations. His work begins as a geometric computer model which later gets twisted and folded to manifest one or more three dimensional forms. Ben Abu’s work is often about contact with architecture and basic geometrical elements—squares, pyramids, and boxes. Shapes, space, and forms are examined in less obvious ways and sometimes developed in absurd ways. In a search for new ways to express himself, Ben Abu focuses on the use of 3D Tessellations—arrangements of shapes closely fitted together, in a repeated pattern without gaps or overlapping. The Swirl collection is a series of 8 handmade paper designs, composed from a mesh of transformed square pyramids. The pyramid tessellation is twisted, extended, dragged, and protracted in space to create a new three-dimensional composition. This transformation ranges from subtle to extreme, indrawn to outdrawn, upward and downward and gives the viewer the opportunity to experience a wide spectrum of feeling and emotions. Unlike the Swirls, with their sharp pointed ends and chaotic movements, the “Eclipse” series of cut and folded paper sculptures is composed from very relaxed circular forms demonstrating minimal motion in space, focus and completeness. The “Canopy” series of work is a collection of cut, handmade, color or white paper designs made from individual boxes that form a birds-eye view of architectural like shapes and patterns. In his constant search for new ways to express himself, Ben Abu studied the use of 3D Tessellations - arrangements of shapes, closely fitted together in a repeated pattern. The artworks in the “Elements” collection are made from thousands of handmade cut and folded small alveolate paper forms, exposing different proportions of black and white surfaces to create a natural or geometrical monochromatic pattern. EXHIBITIONSPaperworks 2017 Winners Exhibit – B. J. Spoke Gallery. NY. (Juried Exhibition)WePower – Warehouse 416, OaklandARTISTRY THROUGH DEAF EYES – The Studio Door Gallery, San DiegoSBFA Trunk Show 2017 – Simon Breitbard Fine Arts, San FranciscoOngoing Showroom 2018 - Simon Breitbard Fine Arts, San FranciscoEnterprise for Youth Private Collections Auction Event 2018 - Simon Breitbard Fine Arts, San FranciscoTexas Contemporary 2018 - EDNA Contemporary Gallery, San Luis Obispo, #217SBFA Trunk Show 2018 – Simon Breitbard Fine Arts, San FranciscoCONTEXT Miami Art Fair 2018 - Contempop Gallery New York, #228 LA Art Show 2019 Modern + Contemporary - Contempop Gallery New YorkEnterprise for Youth Private Collections Auction Event 2019 - Simon Breitbard Fine Arts, San FranciscoArt Market San Francisco 2019 - Contempop Gallery New York, #624 Biddle Ranch Pop Up Art Show, May 2019 - EDNA Contemporary Gallery, San Luis ObispoContempop Gallery Room at 1stdibs Gallery Show 2019, New YorkGroup Show 2019 - Dean Day Gallery, Houston, TX"MAKE YOUR MARK" Group Exhibition 2019 - Art Attack Gallery, San Francisco "ROCK PAPER SCISSORS" Group Exhibition 2019 - Art Attack Gallery, San FranciscoSBFA Trunk Show 2019 – Simon Breitbard Fine Arts, San FranciscoWescover Gallery at West Coast Craft SF 2019, San FranciscoSuperfine! Art Fair | SF 2020 - Art Attack Gallery, San FranciscoSBFA Trunk Show 2020 – Simon Breitbard Fine Arts, San FranciscoArt on Paper | NYC 2021 - Molly and Friends Gallery, New YorkSBFA Trunk Show 2021 – Simon Breitbard Fine Arts, San FranciscoSBFA Trunk Show 2022 – Simon Breitbard Fine Arts, San FranciscoSBFA Trunk Show 2023 – Simon Breitbard Fine Arts, San FranciscoSF Art Fair 2024 - Stephanie Breitbard Fine Arts