Renowned Bay Area artist Rupert Garcia is committed to creating artwork not only as a means of achieving aesthetic ends, but also as a viable way of addressing social and political concerns. Through his bold silkscreens and layered pastels and paintings, Garcia catalyzes discussion and debate in a broad audience about the pressing issues that have faced the late 20th and early 21st centuries. His recent editions elaborate on his political concerns, as well as addressing his interest in challenging notions of folk and high art.

First unearthed in 1996 in a rescue excavation in Lod, ancient Diospolis, Israel, this large and extraordinarily detailed mosaic floor has only recently been carefully removed from its site and conserved. Found in a large villa believed to belong to a wealthy Roman, the excellently preserved mosaic floor dates to about AD 300. Two rectangular end panels flank a large square medallion. The medallion and one of the end panels contain depictions of delightful animals and exotic beasts.

Noted photographer Arthur Tress (b. 1940) began collecting Japanese books in the fall of 1965 when he was a student at the Zen study center associated with the Shōkoku-ji temple in Kyoto. “After classes I would wander the back alleys behind the school, and I accidentally came upon a small, dilapidated secondhand bookstore that was filled from floor to ceiling with thousands of ragged old Japanese books for only a few dollars each,” he recalls.  “I was enchanted by the lovely, soft paper and bold illustrations [that were] often by important ukiyo-e artists such as Utamaro and Hokusai.