This is the final week to view Great Park Gallery’s collective art exhibition "Beyond the Decorative,” featuring Los Angeles-based painter Michael Harnish. Harnish earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in painting from the Laguna College of Art and Design, finishing his education in 2010. His paintings show a conscious departure from traditional methods of painting in favor of a bold, deconstructive approach to mark-making. Harnish breaks down traditional decorative motifs through scale and gestural paint application. From a distance, Harnish’s works look like perfect depictions of floral bouquets. However, when approached closer the paint handling and application becomes the subject as acrylic paint is densely and anxiously applied, opposing the immaculate surfaces of 17th-century Dutch paintings. For this “Beyond the Decorative,” Harnish is showing a single large bouquet painting that greets visitors in the Gallery lobby. "Beyond the Decorative” is on view until Saturday, December 31. Great Park Gallery hours are Thursdays and Fridays, noon–4 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. For more information about “Beyond the Decorative,” visit yourgreatpark.org/arts. #YourGreatPark #GreatParkGallery #Irvine #MichaelHarnish #ThingsToDoInOC