Jessica Cadkin & Michael Lynch: The End

Michael Lynch, The Final Act 1, 2026, 12″ x 15″ gouache on wood panel, photo courtesy of the artist

A few days after her uncle’s death, Jessica Cadkin was out walking when she noticed a crow cawing at her. It followed her for several blocks, seeming to want her attention. Only when she stopped and looked up at it did the crow alight on a nearby light post. They quietly stared at one another for a few minutes before it flew away. Crows appear prominently in mythology across cultures. In Native American traditions they are not only tricksters and wise guys, but protectors. In some Asian myths they represent the divine; while in Norse lore, Huginn (thought) and Muninn (memory) serve as the eyes and ears of the god Odin. In Hindu belief, crows act as messengers of the dead, bridging the living and the spiritual worlds. Drawing on these associations as well as her own personal encounter with a crow shortly after a family member’s death, Cadkin’s sculpture, Eulogy, reflects on memory, loss, and connection.

Michael Lynch’s work often arises from his keen interest in art, natural science, and physics. The paintings of birds striking windows, The Final Act 1, 2, and 3, are based on photographs of the keratin and oil from powder down feathers transferred onto the glass at the moment of impact. They represent just three of the more than one billion fatal bird-window collisions in the United States each year. The Short Story of the Owl and the Rabbit is a reconstruction of a memory from a scene Lynch encountered over 50 years ago, one he always wished he had a way to record. Lynch often seeks to bring to life the stories and events in nature that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Bios:
Jessica Cadkin was born in Phoenix, Arizona, and grew up in Napa, California. She received a BA in Sculpture and Painting from San Francisco State University. Her work has appeared in group shows internationally and throughout Northern California including the de Young Museum, Headlands Center for the Arts, Southern Exposure, di Rosa Preserve, Bateman Foundation Gallery of Nature, Bedford Gallery, Root Division, and the Berkeley Art Center. Cadkin joined Mercury Twenty Gallery in 2020, this is her fifth show with the gallery.

Michael Lynch is a self-described artistic engineer. Over the course of the last 55 years, he has had several distinct careers. He began as a cabinet and furniture maker, followed by 30 years in the film special effects industry, most of which were in the Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) model shop. During this period, he earned more than 30 film credits and worked on countless commercials. Lynch then shifted his focus for a decade, contracting with the U.S. Department of Defense to design and fabricate prototype parachute systems and combat trauma trainers for the military and NATO. Retired since 2023, Lynch now spends his workweek in the studio in Sausalito, CA. Much of the work he produces lies at the intersection of art, natural history, and physics. His work often tells a story or records events that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Gallery Hours: Friday and Saturday, 12 – 5 pm (and by appointment)
Artists’ Opening Reception: Saturday, August 15, 3 – 5 pm
Artist Talks: Saturday, August 29, 3 – 5 pm
Oakland Art Murmur / First Friday: Friday, August 7, September 4, 5 – 9 pm