January begins a new year of art events within a gallery calendar, and in anticipation of their upcoming art exhibitions, 5 Claude Lane Gallery‘s “Days to Come” highlights the work of some of the Bay Area’s emerging and mid-career artists who will be featured at the gallery throughout 2012: Peter Adamyan, Helen Bayly, Alex Braubach, Chelsea Brown, Rachel Burnstein, Mia Christopher, JR Doty, Audrey Erickson, Kristin Farr, Serge Gay Jr., Nicole Gervacio, Bo Heimlich, Steve MacDonald, Martin Machado, Lucien Shapiro, Paul Solis, Alphonzo Solorzano, and Daniel Valadez.

There is a wide assortment of works, mediums, and design by artists of many backgrounds and experiences.

Aaron Bo Heimlich’s Shedim photo series bewilders and amuses by their clever blend of cartoon and reality. Heimlich overpaints some of those in the photograph with an odd-looking shadow-like character Heimlich calls Shedims, which is the Hebrew word for “benevolent demon.” These ominous and comical looking characters are found doing similar activities in the photos, making these vintage banal situations and photographs more surreal by their inclusion in the monotony.

Kristin Farr‘s beautifully colorful and finely executed hexagonal works on canvas are derived from geometric traditional Dutch folk art. Installing her shaped canvases in forms out­side the typical frame, Farr’s re-oc­cur­ring forms maintain their tradition while concurrently refreshing themselves anew by variation in color, size, and design. The arrangment of the paintings look like tesselated installations that unlimit the limitations of a square frame canvas.  Farr is a contributing writer for KQED and Juxtapoz, and has also recently exhibited at San Francisco galleries Kokoro Studio and Fifty24SF.

Martin Machado‘s artworks consist of accumulated images from his sea travels to various coastal areas as Merchant Marine, sailor, or commercial fisherman. Many of his works are done on materials found on board the vessels. The layers of several photographs from different moments and excursions, along with the combination of skies and seas into the composition elegantly blur fact and creation. Machado’s works illustrate a fantastic vision of memory; evocative of his experiences and the shift in perception of time and place while at sea.

“Days to Come” is on view at 5 Claude Lane Gallery until March 10, 2012.