Toby Tover’s work featured at Gallery 621 through September

By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor

The pieces all tie together, capturing a life’s journey. A series of snapshots in paint, on canvas. “It really shows the evolution of my life,” artist Toby Tover said Thursday of her latest show, “Attitudes,” now featured at Gallery 621.

A second-generation American, Tover’s grandparents came to the U.S. through Ellis Island. “And I acknowledge that if it weren’t for my grandparents leaving Europe, and going through what they did, I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t have the things I have. I wouldn’t have had the opportunities.”

In her exhibit, Tover portrays her grandparents’ journey, capturing the air of uncertainty about what lies ahead.

“They’re dressed in their very best clothes they brought on their journey. It’s like going down the rabbit hole and not knowing where you are going,” she said.

Tover often paints from photographs, using them as loose references for her colorful creations. To capture Ellis Island, she found old photos of immigrants as they entered America for the first time in the early part of the 20th century.

Other pieces are less historical, but no less incisive.

“Gossip Girls” is based on Tover’s experiences in dealing with superficiality. “People talking about other people, and sizing people up based on what people have rather than what people are,” she said.

“Red Betty with the Big Hair” captures the title of the show — “attitude” — in a waitress Tover painted from memories of a high-end diner in Southern California where her father took her when she was young.

“This is my childhood,” she said.

Often asked about the wild patterns that appear in the background of her paintings, Tover dispelled some notions.

“People ask me about the patterned backgrounds. They’re not from Klimt, they’re not from Chuck Close. They’re from Japan,” where tover has visited a couple of times, and where she is preparing to visit again.

“This is from the Japanese woodcuts that Monet collected. Klimt, he did not discover this!” she said of the background patterns, which help Tover integrate the figurative with the abstract.

“There is nothing new under the sun. There’s a saying: ‘Good artists copy, great artists steal.’”

Tover speaks highly of her association with Gallery 621, 621 First St., and the artists of Benicia.

“In this gallery is the most wonderful, supportive community of talented artists. I have never had a community before,” she said.

So she’s giving back. “Ten percent of anything I sell, I’m going to donate to the Contra Costa/Solano County Food Bank,” she said.