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VanOver Fine Arts is hosting “Finding Center,” an exhibition of paintings by local artist Karen Tashjian.

Following a special show preview July 7 from noon – 4 p.m., an opening reception will be held that evening from 6 –10.

Tashjian holds a bachelor of science in design and a bachelor of arts in architecture from Cornell University. She has practiced architecture in New York state and has taught architectural design studio and communications at the University of Buffalo.

She has been painting for the last 14 years and combines her art with her classical architectural training, “giving structure to chaos, while allowing randomness into the structure.”

Tashjian said that she has always been fascinated by buildings of utility, as they “lack superficial adornment and have an honesty about them.” She said that she is drawn to the inherent organizing systems of an image, as well as the “sensuality of surface. I hope for my work to take the viewer beyond the materialistic aspects of our culture to a more experiential realm where they are able to see beyond objects and into relationships, juxtapositions, and surface,” she said.

The artist pointed out that she often fragments objects so that she can position the viewer to see the organization of her pieces.

“The surfaces that make an object also define a space so there is a constant symbiosis between positive and negative,” she said. “In the same way, I believe that the surfaces of a painting can affect the space in which the viewer stands.”

Tashjian will be attending the opening reception on July 7.