Caliornia APRIL/MAY 2011 Contemporary ART Mariine Contemporary
Marine Contemporary Ricky Allman littlewhitehead 1733 — A Wendy Heldmann Bad News Abbot Kinney Blvd TTom Hunterer Venice, CA JoJoww Debut U.S. solo show 90291 Dennis Koch Littlewhitehead May 7 — T: +1 310 399 0294 Peter Lograsso June 18, 2011 Christopher Michlig Robert Minervini Christopher Pate Stephanie Pryor Debra Scacco
marinecontemporary.com
Axadra Wsfd, “Shp Trptyh”, 48 x 62", mxd mda papr, 2010
Axadra Wsfd occASSionAl beAST
thrugh Apr 30, 2011
2903 Santa Monica Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90404 310-828-1912 www.gallerykmLA.com
Gallery Hours: TTue –Sat, 11am ––5pm or by appointment 30
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30 36 PUBLISHER Richard Kalisher EDITOR Donovan Stanley DESIGN Eric Kalisher
CONTRIBUTORS 31 Roberta Carasso Jessie Kim Caliornia Contemporary ART www.caliorniacontemporaryart.net (323) 380-8916 | [email protected] 88 Apr/May 2011 EXHIBIIONS
MICHAEL SALVATORE TIERNEY
April 29th - May 2nd located at Chicago’s Merchandise Mart Visit us at Booth 11-B
5797 Washington Boulevard | Culver City, California 90232 | 323.272.3642 | [email protected] | blytheprojects.net
EXHIBITIONS Herbert Bayer: Bauhaus by Hugo Anderson
Bauhaus and our very sense o what is modern in twentieth century art and design are practically synonymous. WWe are surrounded in our everyday lives by the designs and theories put into practice by the Bauhaus. While the school o the Bauhaus existed only rom 1919 to 1933, its principals and inuence resonate today because o the achieve- ments o the artists and architects associated with it: Walter Gropius, Paul Klee, Vassily Kandinsky, Joseph Alpers, Lyonel Feininger, Laszlo Moholy- Nagy, Warner Drewes and Herbert Bayer. By denition Bauhaus means construction or architecture (bau) and house (haus) in German. ItIt was the creation o Walter Gropius, who in 1919 assumed control o the Weimar School o the Arts and Cras and the Weimar Academy o Fine Art. He combined the two into the Weimar Bauhaus School. It was Gropius’ intention to create a new generation o crasmen without the class distinc- tions between crasmen and artists. No doubt it
“No institution has afected the course o twentieth century art and design so pro- oundly as the Bauhaus. Its impact is stag- gering. Bauhaus precedents provide sources or everything rom the appearance o our urban skylines to the modern dinnerware on our hard-edged, contemporary tables. They are ound in virtually every unctionally de- signed object and graphic today.” - Gwen Chanzit 12CuratorC|C|A, Herbert Apr/May Bayer Archive 2011 at the Denver Art Museum and Beyond was an attempt to build something new and positive out o the ashes o World War I when Gropius stated “Let us desire, conceive, and create the new building o the uture together.” Te central concept was that no one art orm was in- herently better than any other and that the ne arts and applied arts must be studied and used together. Trough good design the new artist/crasman would create a better world. Te very act that easel painting was replaced in the curriculum by mural painting showed Gropius’ commit- ment to integrate all the arts within architecture. O all o the artists associated with the Bauhaus during its brie 15 years, it is Herbert Bayer (1900-1985) who actu- ally devoted a lietime to a career which incorporated the ideal o total integration o the arts, in design, advertising, architecture, public sculpture and painting. Herbert Bayer was born April 5, 1900 in Haag am Hausruch, Austria. Because o a book he read by Vassily Kandinsky (Concerning the Spiritual in Art) he enrolled at Weimar Bauhaus at the age o 21. He actually arrived at the Bauhaus six months beore Kandinsky began teach- ing. Bayer studied at the Bauhaus or two years, taking a negatives and collage meshed well with Surrealist imagery, leave in 1923 to travel through Italy. He had arrived at the as in sel-portrait (1932), lonely metropolitan (1932), and Bauhaus with almost no prior background in art, and thus metamorphosis (1936). oered the perect “blank slate” upon which to create the Te later 1930’s were difcult times or ree expression. essential Bauhaus artist. Since the Bauhaus oered no art Artists were among the many groups who elt the need to history in its curriculum it made sense to expand his rst- nd exile outside Nazi Germany. Te Bauhaus had closed hand knowledge o art architecture and design by spending in 1933 and many o its artists/aculty had already emigrat- a year traveling in Italy, sketching and painting. o support ed to the United States, nding work teaching at Harvard himsel he painted houses and stage sets during his travels,, and at the New Bauhaus in Chicago. Bayer had traveled to thus applying the integration o crasman and artist at the the U.S. in 1937 and became involved in the design o an rst opportunity. exhibition on the Bauhaus at the newly created Museum o In 1925 he was oered a position on the aculty at the Modern Art. In 1938 he moved to New YYork City. Deposi- Bauhaus, as Master o ypography. It was then, in conjunc- tion (1939) while depicting the tools o Christ’s crucixion, tion with the ideas o Moholy-Nagy, that Bayer developed a also portends the dark uture o a Nazi victory in Europe, a “universal alphabet” using only lower case letters. Tis was victory that seemed quite possible in 1939. designed to be a practical typeace, which was large enough Te exhibition Bauhaus 1919-1928 opened at the Mu- to read and ree o distortions and curlicues, sans-seri type. seum o Modern Art and later traveled around the United Bayer applied this type design to ad copy, posters and books States. It provided an introduction to modernist design to throughout his career. a country slow to accept abstraction in painting, much less In 1928 Bayer le the Bauhaus to pursue a design ca- in advertising, which required client acceptance. During reer in Berlin. It was his desire to put the theories o the his tenure in New York, Bayer’s graphic work prospered, Bauhaus into practice in design and advertising. In 1933 but when the opportunity arose to move back to a moun- he produced a “bayer type”. During his Berlin years, in ad- tain environment he took it, moving to Aspen, Colorado in dition to his design work, Bayer ventured into photography, 1946. He accepted a position as design consultant or Wal-al- which he used in both commercial (ads and posters) and ter Paepcke and the Container Corporation o America, ne art production. With Maholy-Nagy, Hebert Bayer was whose headquarters were in Chicago. an early creator o photoplastic or photomontage. Te al- Te Aspen o 1946 was a small mountain town o less tering o photographic imagery through the use o multiple than 800 residents and only the beginnings o a ski town,
Feature 13 EXHIBITIONS
with two pre-war ski runs. Paepcke and Bayer were instru- just an art director, contributing in management decisions, mental in initiating the changes that would make Aspen a including the design o buildings and interiors. cultural oasis in the 1950’s and beyond. Te Aspen Institute Te Great Ideas o Western Man was a Herbert Bayer or Humanistic Studies was ounded by Paepcke in 1949, advertising campaign o the 1950’s and 60’s. Tese ads had with Herbert Bayer working as architect and design consul- no sales message, again working on the concept that a good tant. He designed a complex o buildings or the institute, corporate image was also good or business. Te ad con- integrated within the natural landscape o the mountain cept was an out- growth o discussions at the Aspen Insti- valley. In 1955 he created a work called grass mound, a or- tute or Humanistic Studies. ty oot grassy place or relaxation, years beore the concept Te Institute worked to bring business executives and o o ““earthworks” became popular. He also created marble managers together to discuss ideas in a relaxed setting and garden using discards rom an old marble quarry. In 1963- a cultural environment. Te Aspen Institute was as respon- 64 he designed a new tent or the Aspen Music Festival. sible or putting Aspen on the world map as was skiing. ItIt With his return to mountain living, mountains and was also a great concept or expanding the year past ski sea- contour map elements began to emerge in his artwork rom son, with many o its programs in the summer months. the late 1940’s on, as in his lithograph mountains and lakes It was through connections at the Aspen Institute that (1948). He designed a series o ski posters, including skiski Bayer met Robert O Anderson, ounder o Atlantic Rich- broadmoor (1959). In 1953 the Container Corporation eld Oil Company. In the early 1950’s they became riends;; published world atlas with graphics designed by Herbert Anderson bought Bayer’s house in town when Herbert Bayer. His goal was to put together an atlas with clean moved his studio onto Red Mountain, overlooking Aspen. graphics that was easy to read. Te interaction between nee Along with the house, Anderson also began to buy artwork art and commercial art again shows in Bayer’s paintings and by Bayer, providing the beginning o a relationship o pa- prints with continuing use o weather related symbols, such tron and riend that would last until the end o Bayer’s lie. as arrows, ow charts and contour maps. Aer Walter Paepcke’s death in 1960, Bayer began working Te Container Corporation employed the talents o or ARCO as an art and design consultant, starting in 1966. Man Ray and Fernand Leger as well as Bayer in the late Bayer oversaw the design o corporate ofces in New 1930’s. It was their concept that through good design, cor- York and Philadelphia, as well as Los Angeles when the cor- porations could inuence good taste and prots. Bayer, porate headquarters moved there. He designed the artwork with his Bauhaus ideals, was a natural to work in this col- or ARCO Plaza in Los Angeles: double ascension, two laboration o art and industry. In their ads, text was limited linked staircases in a pool o water. He also advised ARCO to een words o copy in order to put the emphasis on on the development o its large corporate art collection and visual images. Lengthy texts were out; clean copy was in. the perorming arts programs it sponsored. He designeded Advertising was seen as good public relations with consum- carpets and tapestries or the corporate ofces. ers and buyers at other corporations. Bayer used collagege He designed a sculpture or the 1968 Olympics in Mex- and photomontage, elements rom his ne art, in his early ico City. A similar sculpture resides at the Design Center in advertisements. He became chairman o Container Corpo- Denver, Colorado. He also developed a serieso sculptures ration’s Department o Design in 1956. He was more than or ARCO that were designed to hide/beautiy the Philadel-
14 C|C|A Apr/May 2011 phia renery area. Tese were among a number o sculp- ries o works he called “anthologies”. In these works the tural projects that were never created and exist only in the Bauhaus artist has returned to basics: color, geometry and orm o maquettes. Currently the Bayer amily is working design. Te sculpture he produced during these same years to try to realize some o his models as larger works in Den- still maintains a reshness today, thanks to his combination ver and other cities. o clean design and primary colors. His surrealist photo- Bayer moved rom Aspen to the Santa Barbara area in montages rom the 1920’s hold as much shock value today 1976. He lived there or the last ten years o his lie. A ne as they did then. collection o his work can be ound in the Santa Barbara Te success and legacy o Herbert Bayer are the combi- Museum, while Te Herbert Bayer Archive is at the Denver nation o Bauhaus ideas and American optimism rom the Art Museum, with over 9000 artiacts in the collection. post WWII period applied to a work ethic and career which During the last our decades o his lie, Herbert Bayer lasted until his death in 1985. It is the combination o clean was well employed in design positions with the Container design and a resh palette o primary colors that explain the Corporation and ARCO. In addition to his corporate re-re- continuing appeal o his artwork. His work is optimistic sponsibilities he developed a signicant ne art portolio and easy to live with, the result o his lielong adherence to during these years. Artistically Bayer is probably betterter good design. More than any o his contemporaries, Her-- known or his earlier photomontages rom the Berlin years bert Bayer stayed true to his Bauhaus ideals through his (1928-1938). Having two signicant patrons in WWalter sixty-year career. Paepcke and Robert O. Anderson, there was little need or Herbert Bayer the ne artist to go through the normal rou- tine o gallery exhibitions and reviews necessary or artwork Hugo Anderson is the Director of Emil Nelson Gallery, to nd its way into important private and public collections. which represents the works of Herbert Bayer Te town o Aspen is ull o Herbert Bayer paintings that from the Bayer Family Collection. moved directly rom studio to private hands. o a certain degree his reputation as a painter, printmaker and sculptor never received the critical acclaim that ex- hibitions and reviews would have allowed. He su- ered a bit rom being too successul. In his later years Bayer used his graphic skills to create ne art prints, using lithography and silk- screen, the same mediums used in his commercial work. A skill learned in one area is used in another.r. In these graphic images, as in his later paintings, he returns to geometric design and abstraction in a se-
Feature 15 PROFILE: GINA GENIS by Roberta Carasso [email protected]
Gina Genis uses her camera as her inner eye, panning in- tell much about the individual soul and its desire to keep its tensely to excavate hidden behaviors o the human condi- secrets. tion. I rst saw Genis’ images at the highly touted OsCene Te two series — Window Peeping and Te Tings exhibition at the Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA. We Leave Behind — reveal Genis’ dedication to showing OsCene is in its third incarnation, a type o biannual o how society is getting older and how the elderly are treated.. the best local artists. Genis exhibited some o her Window In this sense, her work is oen a social commentary based Peeping series by peering into windows o senior citizens at on actual research. Even in her 20s she understood that night and nding out how they live. people can become invisible. Our youth obsessed culture Like a voyeur, Genis created another series, entitled can even make people eel and be discarded. Tings We Leave Behind . Genis asked to go into a deceased Needless to say, the photographs brought her much man’s house and discovered his tendencies to hoard. At rst attention. Tey were lled with lie and loneliness, pain, de- going into strangers’ home elt intrusive, but the discoveries privation, and ways o coping in a society where the elderly were worth the inconveniences. She was introduced to col- and sickly can easily be orgotten. Window Peeping won lections, compulsions, and things people nd important to Genis a dual solo exhibit at Cypress College, along with an- save, personal eects, letters, utensils, and objects o nostal- other series entitled Kala (a Sanskrit word or time). Genis gia. Everyone seeks his own details and everyone is obses- was unexpectedly juried into the Minneapolis Photo Center sive in some way. Genis captured these in rare photos that show with August at Inspiration Point , an image rom the
16 C|C|A Apr/May 2011 Kala series. It has to do with our responsibilities with controllingg nature; or, as she questions - is it possible? As in all her photogra- phy, Genis is a deep thinker, o- ering the viewer something to chew on while never presenting “just a pretty picture.” Genis’ latest endeavor is entitled the unnel series. Te best o these were exhibited in November 2010 at Notion Fine Art in Laguna Beach. It began when she was given special- ized lenses by the lens company who sponsored her work. Ge- nis came upon a tunnel at Aliso Creek Beach and walked into it, camera in hand. Tis led unexpectedly to an emotional re- the bright light came out in distortions o colors, creating sponse to a completely resh situation. With the idea that a strange luminosity rom the irregularity o light waves some people are araid o the dark and in a tunnel there is moving in a circumscribed area. Te colors look eerie even that proverbial light at its end, Genis began to shoot, ea- manipulated, although they are not, and always appear ger to see what would transpire. Because o back lighting, wonderul. In them, Genis captures an enchanting scenario
Feature 17 Genis: (top) image from Things We Leave Behind series, (bottom) from Window Peeping series.
where the scene seems real, but the distortion o light and color catch the viewer o guard. Intrigued by the new eects o light, Genis realized that the tunnel oered her enormous lighting pos- sibilities. Artists have always been captivated by the contrast o light and dark. Te idea o chiaroscuro was rst used in the Renaissance to distinguish the sharp contrast o light rom dark and to delineate an object. Over centuries, artist ound that light and darkness a- ord broader meaning that became essential to the contemporary ar- tistic vocabulary. In her current series, Genis shows us the essence o darkness as it contrast with the essence o light and how colors be- come altered because o the combi- nation back lighting and the archi- tectural nature o tunnel that orces light into one area. Although the unnel series was a particular situation, or Ge- nis, it is when she is actually shoot- ing that the work sparks ideas. Characteristically, her work is a re-re- action to a highly emotional situa- tion that is neither happy nor pret- ty. As a proessional, Genis spends a lot o time working through pos- sibilities. She has been a serious photographer since she was 16, go- ing on to complete a degree rom Parsons Te New School or De- sign in NYC. Photography was her rst visual orm and love. At rst, photography meant designing or the theater. But being ic improvement, she came closer and closer to working as i such an outdoors person, photography then meant hours she were painting with great clarity. It is important to add, and hours in the dark room. Who would want to spend that having the intimate experience o working in a dark beautiul days indoors when the world o nature beckoned room and watching the development o an image rom its outside? Genis could not bring hersel to be inside. She inception to completion has added to her visual expertise. shied to being a painting major. Still drawn to photogra- Even when using a digital camera, Genis is always aware phy, she became involved with mixed media o illuminated o the photographic process and the best ways to bring an manuscripts because she could combine photography and image to ruition. Perhaps that is why I believes that Gina painting. But a miracle occurred; the digital camera came Genis is a photographer to be watched. on the scene. In 2004 she bought her rst digital camera, another in 2006, and another 2007. With each photograph- For more information, visit ginagenis.com
18 C|C|A Apr/May 2011
FINDING THE NOBLE IN IGNOBLE TIMES
by Roberta Carasso [email protected]
Entering Darkness: Dorothy Wahlstrom, Nurse At Dachau, 1945, 2001, oil On Canvas, 130”x387” inches (six panel).
Jerome Witkin’s art begins with cityscapes, landscapes, individual por- body o work ar rom mainstream inuences. traits, but soars when he creates monumental depictions o cataclys- Te distance rom New York City, or rom any mic and heroic events that span multiple canvasses. In each painting, major art center, allows him to work indepen- he takes us through a powerul visual journey narrated through mean- dently with greater reedom, be master o his ingul mark-making, colors, shapes, and textures. Even aer viewing aa convictions, and undeterred by trends and painting multiple times, there is still much to discover; Witkin’s art is ashions. Yet, whenever Witkin exhibits his not a depiction nor is it meant to be a likeness. Te work demands to art — and he continually does — his paintings be contemplated, digested, experienced, and elt on a the level o the dominate whatever gallery or museum they are soul. Witkin, now 71, has developed a masterul body o work. in. As a result, his enormous ollowing includes Te subject that I nd most captivating is how Witkin gives us many people who travel great distances to see an x-ray view into the nature o good and evil and, most importantly, whatever Witkin exhibits. how he portrays the enormous eorts it takes or good to prevail. In an Witkin’s sensitivity to social issues o jus- interview, speaking o the cu, he revealed what makes his art stand tice and injustice was ormed early. In Brook- out above others. He said that he searches “or the noble in ignoble lyn, he was born one o triplets. His sister died times.” Trough his passionate art, Witkin conveys the limitless capac- at birth, but he grew up with his identical twin ity o the human spirit — its individual holiness even in the midst o brother Joel. Unheard o in 1939, Witkin’s a- its tremors, tragedies, and bliss. ther was Jewish and his mother Catholic. Te Ensconced as a proessor o art at Syracuse University or 40 schism made the intelligent child question years, 2011 will initiate a traveling exhibition o 40 years o Witkin’s who he was, where he owed his allegiance, and art. Te retrospective will begin at Syracuse University and be shown how he t in. Te dilemma raised conicts and across the US. His primary dealer, Jack Rutberg, o Jack Rutberg Fine questions, particularly because the marriage Arts in Los Angeles, orchestrates many o his exhibitions. But while other artists clamor to be in the center o art, Witkin creates his unique
Taken, 2002-03, oil on can- vas, 108”x348” (4 panels).
Feature 21 Greenpoint, the Brooklyn boy rubbed elbows with such greats and so- cial minded artists as Isabel Bishop, George Grosz, Jack Levine, Raael Soyer, and Ben Shahn. For the rst time, he saw how proessional, com- mitted artists conduct their lives, pur- sue their art, and were undaunted in expressing their belies. Excelling in art as an older teen, Witkin became complacent until, as an undergraduate, he met at Cooper Union his instructor, the painter Vic- tor Candel. Witkin, now a bit smug and lacking humility, was ignored by his instructor, who never invited him or a crit as he did other students. Realizing that something was wrong, Witkin asked Candel or a crit. Can- del, a very small man with a thick ac- cent le to go to the library, return- ing with a huge art history book. He opened it to Michelangelo’s Pieta. Te two stared in silence, until Candel said: “Vitkin, do you think she is bab- ysitting?” Tis perceptive statement caused an immediate paradigm shi, as Witkin, realizing the shallowness o what he had been creating, under- stood the message. Never again did he make art that was meaningless.s. oday Witkin spends rom two to three years to complete a paint- ing. Tey are not only large in size, but immense in concept, context, and spirit. He works on a series and ro- tates the work, spending a great deal broke up and his youth was spent during the Holocaust era o time in contemplation and down when news o the war and what was happening to Jews by and dirty paint work. A characteristic o Witkin’s brush non-Jews was a never ending topic. is how the marks change depending on what he paints. In Drawn to art to express the unexplainable, at seven scenes o goodness and perection, his strokes sing, lovingly Witkin went to a Catholic aer-school art program run by applied, glistening with grandeur. But when he deals with nuns. Although he continued or several years, the child unsettling subjects o human aberrations, the brush begins questioned their rigid approach to art-making and their o-o- to growl, strokes become distorted, and colors are duller. ering a conormist point-o-view or a boundless activity. Witkin’s paintings are never uniorm in expression. Seen in As a teen he attended the prestigious Music and Art High a larger context o paint applications -- brushstrokes, col- School, composed largely o Jewish students and Jewish ors, textures, and composition -- they each respond to the teachers, where he was impressed with eeling comortable narrative as powerul voices that insist on being heard. in this highly intellectual and reely inquiring atmosphere. Witkin has taken on difcult, even impossible sub- With a Catholic upbringing, he struggled to choose which jects o a lone individual or a group o individuals who dis- belie system suited him. He resolved the conict into a play superhuman courage to right a wrong: the Holocaust, valuable salvo: “arrive at your own ideals and stick to them.” Black History, Martin Luther King, the rial o Adolph Witkin grew into the quintessential promising young Eichmann, Hiroshima, 9/11, and obscure saints and heroes, art student, winning a scholarship to the then airly new as well as homage to artists he admires — Käthe Kollwitz Skowhegan School o Art in Maine. Never being out o and Rembrandt Van Rijn. Te apex o Witkin’s talents is
22 C|C|A Apr/May 2011 Jerome Witkin: (opposite page top) Rocco’s Garage: The Light Be- when his heroic protagonist intuits the need to earlessly fore Rain, 2001, oil on canvas, 36”x56”; (opposite page bottom) TheThe stands up or principles — even against all odds — and German Girl , 1997, oil on canvas, 80”x124” overall; (directly below) Vincent Van Gogh and Death , 1987, mixed media drawing, 84”x48”; in the end, triumphs. With honest yet wry humor, Wit- (bottom of this page) The Insult And Young Martin, 2004-2007, oil on canvas, 25’ 6” (ve panels). Images courtesy of Jack Rutberg Fine Arts. kin states: “I don’t know how to make polite paintings.” In 2001, Witkin created six irregularly shaped panels on the theme o the Holocaust. Tey were shown at the 2006 Broken Beauty exhibition at the Laguna Art Museum in Laguna Beach, CA. Te exhibition, a theme rarely examined, looked at the dark side o suering. But there was a lighter side too, as artists selected or the exhibition showed that the human spirit always moves towards resolution, even when beauty is broken. Like the Hebrew language, Witkin’s paintings, entitled Entering Darkness, is read rom right to le. Te nar- rative is based on a diary o a little known Christian nurse rom Minnesota, Dorothy Wahlstrom, who, in 1945, was among the rst liberators to enter Dachau, the inamous concentration camp. Witkin places the nurse in every panel, except the third. Dressed in her angelic white uniorm, Wahlstrom moves through the panels. Flashlight in hand, her healthy purity is a sharp contrast to the lth surrounding her and the hell that was the camp. For Witkin, creating the series was his response to atrocities, portraying horrors at their most glaring. His goal was to shed light on truth. Witkin’s contribution to the Broken Beauty exhibition is his conviction that evil can never be eradicated unless it is recognized and exposed. In the last panel, the evil now exposed changes Wahlstrom. She sits meditatively alone on a cot wearing her military jacket, as the reed survivors leave healthy and renewed. In his work, Witkin creates or those among us who realize that art can be a powerul weapon. Wrenching subjects in the hands o a lesser artist would be impossible to reduce to a canvas or a series o can- vasses. But here is where Witkin is master. Trough his orthright paintings, he tackles, head on, the nature o ignobility, plowing deeply through the muck that is hell until he arrives at portraying, in epic proportions, the noble soul o a rare ew. For this alone, Jerome Witkin’s art will stand the test o time, become classic, and will be appreciated ar into the uture.
Feature 23
EXHIBITIONS
Exhibiton Review: Street ‘N Low by Jessie Kim
Te Street ‘N Low show at the Rob- the billboard, and the magazine. Like ert Berman Gallery in Santa Monica, the pop artists o the 1950s, adherents CA, houses a large and eclectic assort- o street and lowbrow continually sam- ment o street and lowbrow art, show- ple rom consumer culture. Williams’ ing work by Keith Haring and Rob- paintings draw their action and color ert Crumb alongside that o Shepard rom Marvel comics, while Gibbs casts Fairey and Barry McGee. Borrowing himsel as pop culture icon Franken- its name rom the ubiquitous packets stein in Frankie akes LACMA. From o sugar substitute, the show anticipates the consumer packaging-inspired logo the upcoming MOCA exhibition Art in to John Colao’s Vote Obama, painted in the Streets while reerencing the brillo the style o Warhol’s 1972 Vote McGov- box-inspired logo o the now deunct ern, the show repeatedly makes reer- Deitch Projects. Te ormer constitutes ence to its hallowed pop art orebears. the rst major survey o street art in Tese allusions to high art carry an American museum, while the latter over into the allocation o gallery space. represents a gallery known or launch- Paintings by Ron English hang side to ing the careers o street artists such as side and top to bottom with prints by
Barry McGee, Swoon, and Os Gemeos. Robbie Conal and illustrations by Mark Views of the Street ‘N Low at Robert Berman Gallery Te Street ‘N Low logo thus pays double Ryden. Tis salon style method o homage to Jerey Deitch, ormer owner hanging, taking its name rom the Roy- “souvenir o an idea,” and like a ped- o the Deitch Projects, current director al Academy salons o 17th to 19th cen- dler o souvenirs, he reminds us that o MOCA, and a man who Berman tury Europe, traditionally segregates moments in time are eeting. His show considers a colleague in the exhibition paintings into hierarchies o size and presents a rough chronology o street o street art. importance. Salon style in the Rob- and lowbrow art, attempting to pre- Street ’N Low’s careully wrought ert Berman Gallery, however, carries serve and highlight the roots o an ever- branding urges the viewer to take no- populist connotations. It echoes the growing movement. Te show, like the tice o work that, in Berman’s estima- ordered chaos o the magazine spread, sugar substitute rom which it takes its tion, is too oen discounted or its the storeront window, the website por- name, seems sweet and light, delighting display o technical skill. More oen tal. It is the visual language o the mod- the tongue but eluding the waist. Rob- polished than painterly, pieces by art- ern consumer masked in the trappings ert Berman’s deliberate timing, brand- ists like Greg Gibbs and Robert Wil- o the Academy salon. ing, and hanging, however, lend he to liams have the easy beauty o the comic, Berman reers to art as the mere the motley o work.
Exhibitions 25
EXHIBITIONS
Feature Exhibition: David Jang
als are as natural as nature itsel can be. For Jang there is no distinction between artice and nature as the artist’s work plays out like a landscape o objects, as diverse and alive as an urban environ- ment or natural setting. Born in South Korea, and based in Los Angeles, David Jang has long wres- tled with the notion o conormity and the deance thereo. Tis struggle is ev- ident in his work, in each o his obses- sively replicated creative acts—walls o looped o wire and skyline-like stacks o plastic cups—that suggest a social order while simultaneously subverting the individual’s intended purpose. Such is the nature o Jang’s relationship with his media: every object can be dened by both what it is and the potential or what it can become.
For artist David Jang, the creative act is rather an act o discovery. In his up- coming solo exhibition at Downtown Art Center Gallery on June 9, Jang’s discoveries examine the complex rela- tionships between orce and balance, perception and consciousness. Jang’s work inevitably begins with the medium. Working rom the conceit that within every material exists also its lie’s instructions, Jang constructs, modies, manuactures, and manipu- lates material into a whole new set o objects with a whole new set o rules. Potato chip bags are inverted and con- structed into globs to take on a eel more akin to cast pewter than snack ood packaging; unrolled paper towels are stood on-end and made rigid with resin; circline uorescent lamps and wires are strung up into exquisite vines; and Styrooam cups are motorized into a symphony o screeching. ten articulated pieces that express their David Jang By taking an extremely experi- own unique qualities living and being. Donwtown Art mental approach to mundane things— It is within his relationship with materi- Center Gallery many o which can even be considered als that one begins to understand Jang’s Los Angeles consumer waste—Jang transorms the concept o “urban ormalism”—essen- [Jun 9 - July 6] everyday object into sel-motivated, o- tially the artist’s idea that urban materi-
Exhibitions 27 EXHIBITIONS
Michael Alexis New York-based painter one another, or shi to reveal ssures o and Jennifer Faist Michel Alexis’ current body substrate color. Jennifer Faist engages in a Ruth Bachofner Santa Monica o work is an extension o a rigorous material process where color sets [April 23 - June 4] series he began some twenty an emotional timbre and pattern anchors years ago, in which he in- the conceptual and compositional core corporated the notations o the work. Faist begins her process on and prose o Gertrude Stein. stacked plywood boards which are sanded, While the words themselves gessoed and then painted on with thick have le Alexis’ canvases, layers o paint. Te patterns created in the remnants o the motion and rst layer are then covered with thin appli- orm o the written word are cations o additional alkyd, oil and colored suggested through sweeping, glazes which are sanded down to partially calligraphic markings. In the reveal portions o the subsequent layers. A new work, as with the old, clear epoxy resin serves as the nal layer. words and letters are drained Faist’s perectly smooth, reective suraces o meaning, reed o origin draw viewers into their vibrant, immeasur- and occupy a strictly ormal able depths. Te meticulously craed work space. Alexis adapts the physical act o recalls the Finish Fetish work o the 60’s, writing, translating it as drawing, incising but Faist curbs pure materiality and inuses
(above left) Michel Alexis, Epigram 7, 2010, Oil and gesturing to create his own distinct, her work with personal resonance. Within on canvas, 54" x 41" (above right) Jennifer Faist Mingle, 2010, Resin, oil, alkyd, acrylic on wood, complex visual vocabulary. Alexis’ gestures layers o paint, Faist appropriates patterns 46" x 14" x 1.5". are set o by jostling rectangles made o rom her own clothing which she associates paper, burlap and other textured material, with specic memories, creating relics o littlewhitehead which old, wrinkle and crease as they abut her past that resonates with viewers. Marine Venice [May 7 - June 18] Bad News, the debut US solo show or UK o dark humor. It is through such humor, based collective littlewhitehead. Where that they manage to negate any particular littlewhitehead oen unashamedly appro- ideological position and instead oster re- priate media images and represent them as ection on many ontological and ideologi- hyperreal sculptures, this is not as political- cal absurdities. Bad News brings together ly preaching as it may appear. Littlewhite- a selection o new work by littlewhitehead. head are children o the 80’s: brought up on Te Glasgow-based duo have a knack or a diet o video nasties, computer games and summoning up our collective ears in their the post-industrial landscape o socialist cryptic, humorous style. Indeed, a glut o Glasgow. Teir work is the product o a very y bad news preceded the making o the work idiosyncratic and private dialogue, wheree and in turn ormed the oundations or the littlewhitehead, We're all going to lose, 2011, resin, wire, cloth, silicon rubber, polyurethane with an encyclopedic range o reerences, show. Although the news was very person- foam, hat, pajamas, socks,sandals, 47x35.5x 12”. they discuss shared ideas until they have in- al, it allowed them to notice the misortune spiration or a work. As a result, all o their o others more readily and, ueled by their work is steeped in their very own brand own misery, beart it as their own. Judith Supine New Image West Hollywood [April 13 - May 13] Te exhibition eatures the artist's newest one person - comparable to the technique and most ambitious work to date, show- o collage, combining seemingly disparate casing more than twenty canvases and images to reveal something that wasn't pre- large-scale woodcut sculptures up to our- viously apparent". Brooklyn-based Supine teen eet high. Supine has transormed the uses his hyperactive imagination to merge entire gallery into a personal installation images o people, pornography and design space, covering every inch o oor, wall elements. He describes his materials as “ree and ceiling with silk-screened wallpaper, or at least really cheap”: X-Acto knie, glue his signature uorescent colors and dream- sticks, low-cost paint, thrown-out books, like narratives. LADYBOY reerences the and magazines. Figures with dispropor- "genderqueer". Supine describes the title's tionate eatures are created, revealing gritty Judith Supine, outdoor art installation. signicance as "themarriage o opposites in and sophisticated style, expertly rendered.
28 C|C|A Apr/May 2011 EXHIBITIONS
Overs & Unders: Paintings by Bob Neuwirth, in recent years he has been producing exu- Bob Neuwirth 1964 – 2009, a restrospective o the artist’s berant, expansive pictures lled with space, Track 16 Santa Monica work curated by Kristine McKenna, in- light, and blazing color. Born in Ohio, Neu- [May 14 - June 11] cludes sixteen canvases produced over the wirth began painting as a teenager. While a course o his orty-ve year career. Difcult student at Ohio University, he met Jim Dine to categorize, Bob Neuwirthhas moved rom who was working as a graduate assistant to one medium to another, but has always re- one o his proessors. Dine encouraged him turned to his original disciplines o draw- to go to the School o the Museum o Fine ing and painting. As he says, “all art is vi- Arts, Boston. Aer two years at school, sual or me, whether I’m painting or trying Neuwirth made his way to Paris where he to write a good song.” Although Neuwirth’s spent time wandering the Louvre and the work has been making its way into pri- Orangerie absorbing classical and Impres- vate collections or decades, he’s remained sionist painting inuences. He returned to largely indierent to exhibiting throughout Boston and became part o the Cambridge his career; Overs & Unders oers the rst Folk scene that launched the careers o Joan comprehensive overview o his stylistic de- Baez and Geo Muldaur among others. As velopment. Neuwirth came o age during a result o playing music in various olk the glory days o New York action painting, venues Neuwirth entered the uid world o and abstraction has always been central to transcontinental olk-slingers and traveled his art-making practice. Overs & Unders the axis between Cambridge/New York, includes a selection o work rom the early and Berkeley/San Francisco, with detours ‘60s, when he was producing quirky hy- in between. In 1964 while living in Berke- brids o Cubism and Surrealism. Te ‘70s leyley, Neuwirth got a call rom his riend Bob ound him exploring various experimental Dylan asking him to join a tour that re- materials, and he went on to produce a se- sulted in the now classic D.A. Pennebaker ries o wall works that straddled the zone lm Don't Look Back. Troughout his lie, between painting and sculpture, and a cy- Neuwirth made music while working on cle o haunted landscapes that are poised tours or musicians like John Cale and Kris between abstraction and guration. Neu- Kristoerson. Neuwirth maintains studios wirth’s work has grown increasingly lyrical in Manhattan and Santa Monica, and splits and uid over the course o his career, and his time between the two cities. Bob Neuwith: (top) with his work, ca. 1968, photo by John Byrne Cooke. (bot) Untitled , acrylic on canvas, 40”x34" Brazilian artist’s Dias Sardenberg in her other-worldly spirit… all while two Ameri- rst United States solo exhibition. Holi- can tourists look on rom the saety o their Dias Sardenberg days in an American Desert, will eature 1959 DeSoto Adventurer convertible. Te Blythe Projects Culver City monumental, multi-media paintings. Her physical toughness o the collage and com- [through May 14] latest works, “Te Mocambo Suite”. are rich positional planes reects undercurrents o and intimate portraits re-appropriated en- violence and psycho-sexual tension in con- tirely rom her signature medium, vintage temporary society. “Te Mocambo Suite” kimono silks. Mining such diverse sources is loosely based on the notorious 1940s as art brut, Matissean guration, popular West Hollywood nightclub, requented by culture and animist iconography, Sarden- Marlene Dietrich, Rock Hudson, James berg’s work reveals an anachronistic world Cagney and Grace Kelly. O the work, Sha- o natural order and chaos, teeming with mim M. Momin--ounder o the non-prot sensuality, mysticism and sophistication. arts organization, LAND (the Los Angeles Spanning 9 by 16 eet, the charged, antas- Nomadic Division) and Adjunct Cura- tical tableau o Holidays in an American tor or the Whitney Museum o American Desert reveals primal emale orms danc- Art—says, “Te artist’s stated desire to use ing amongst the saguaros, a contempo- the typically hidden layers o the kimono… rary beauty lying on the sand and jewel- adds a conceptual layer to the images: a re- encrusted desert oor embracing the tail o veal, as it were, o the aces or identities hid- an orange and black checkerboard panther den beneath the ‘outer layer o one’s public Dias Sardenberg, The Mocambo Suite (Dia- and a blue man ollowing the traces o an persona.” mond Girl), 2011, vintage kimono silks, 13”x9”.
Exhibitions 29 EXHIBITIONS
Pablo Sigg Within the context o the Swedenborg in Te Exorcist). Te exhibition also in- ltd Los Angeles Room’s research o cinematographic space cludes Te Swedenborg Room (a series o 5 [through Apr 30] as utopian space, Pablo Sigg’s Te Sweden- prints with a text about the notion o “Swe- borg Room eatures our lms, a cardboard denborg Room”), 3600 Prospect St. (a card- model, a text and a neon light sculpture. board model o the house eatured in Te Te our lms are: 134 Exhibits (a 43 min- Exorcist) and Inf. III 9 (a textual quote in ute lm o Belgian painter Luc uymans neon o the last line o the inscription on under hypnosis announcing a list o his the Gates o Hell in Dante’s Inerno –“–“Aban- own exhibitions), What an excellent day for don all hope ye who enter”– a mental door, an exorcism (a 3 minute video o the pos- an invisible limit in the orm o a ootnote). sessed child’s room in the lm, Te Exorcist Tis is the artist’s rst exhibition in the (1973), void o all human presence, com- United States. Sigg’s most recent solo exhi- posing a still lie), Room (a 10 minute cut bition was at the Museo de Arte Raúl An- o a 3 month hypnosis lm project shot in guiano, Guadalajara, Mexico in 2009. His Sweden circa 2009) and Anemic Cinema work has also been eatured throughout the (an animated lm o the exorcism session world. He lives and works in Mexico City.
Tis exhibition will eature a new body o certain histories o painting and represen- work by Ned Vena, including seven white tation. Extending rom Vena’s interest in paintings, a group o rubber, “target” paint- linen as a historical component o painting, Pablo Sigg: (top) 3600 Prospect St , 2009, cardboard model, 34”x28”x25”; (bottom) instal- ings, a vinyl wall relie, and a 16mm lm. Vena’s three “arget” paintings are created lation view with 134 Exhibits, 2009-2010, lm Vena’s White Paintings have their roots in through a series o concentric vinyl circles installation (MiniDV, NTSC, color, audio Dolby digital), 42 min 8 sec, Edition of 5, 2 AP. Both motis originating rom Frank Stella’s icon- – ‘crosshairs’ – stenciled onto linen with a images courtesy of ltd Los Angeles. ic ‘Black Painting’, Die Fahne Hoch (1958). sprayed rubber. Rather than maintaining Breaking down, reassembling, rearticulat- perect symmetry, Vena’s material process ing and inverting the ratios and relation- skews the center o his images, examining Ned Vena ships o particular histories o minimal- the mis-registration o patterns and distor- Michael Benevento Los Angeles ism, Vena’s White Paintings are composed tion o images. His works pun the literal, [through May 7] o our quadrants o repeating right angles gesturing towards the cannon as something originating at the center o the canvas at to both aspire to and aim to destroy. Vena’s the intersection o two perpendicular line, vinyl patterns also emerge in his 16mm a conceptual and ormal thread through- lm. While Vena’s works in other media o- out the exhibition. Using at white Rusto- ten meditate on the unintentional and un- leum enamel, Vena’s paintings incorporate controlled marks occurring when one set o a layer o vinyl, which is painted over beore materials is introduced and removed rom ultimately being removed, leaving behind another set o materials during production, ridges o white paint in a our-quadrant Vena’s lm not only visualizes the particu- Ned Vena, installation view. ormation. For this exhibition Vena cre- lar vinyl patterns the artist has painstak- ated six long, thin paintings and one large ingly composed onto the lmstrip, but also vertical work, all on canvas, gesturing to- reveals the dust, scratches and ngerprints Dennis Loesch Galerie Anais Santa Monica wards a reexive way o thinking about amassed during production. [April 16 - May 12] Dennis Loesch's rst solo US gallery exhi- ing, reversing existing images, the resulting bition, Auto Versicherung , eatures works images appearing like a new window over on paper and a sculpture. Loesch is inter- the original. Te SCANs and ransers that ested in the edges, the margins and the explore these ideas are complemented by a periphery o mass media imagery, and by sculpture, a sel portrait o sorts, o the art- intervening within the image, “rewriting” ist’s distinctive YSL glasses, bent, distorted it, the combination o source material and and misshapen, becoming a metaphor or that o the artist’s intervention expands a distinctive way o seeing. [An exhibition
Dennis Loesch, Playboy (Corset), 2009, and enlarges the possibilities o the origi- o the artist’s sculptures run concurrently at paper, pigment ink, 15”x20.5”. nal image. Loesch emphasizes copy, revis- Art Center Los Angeles.
30 C|C|A Apr/May 2011 EXHIBITIONS
Tis exhibition o work by David Benja- Ruin Ultramarine Umbilical Fiend Fallen David Benjamin Sherry min Sherry , titled Form Forming Forma- Cobalt Core, 2011, provoke an explanation OHWOW Los Angeles tion, studies concepts o geometry, science, o how and why these seemingly gurative [Apr 30 - May 27] color, materiality, and the course o change. orms evolved into abstracted artiacts, and It includes both traditional color prints and are now rozen in a moment. Te anthropo- photographic collage work. Trough the morphic imagery deals with ideas o evo- artist's analog approach to producing im- lution and shi - the systematic process o ages, he examines aspects o arrangement alteration and the aesthetic conclusion o and the visual results o alchemical and transormation. Tese contrasting bodies light analysis. With his photographically o work create a tension between each oth- based constructions (Solar System In Blood erer, while they simultaneously begin to draw System, 2011), Sherry explores specied parallels between Earth's properties and geometric ormations, based on the math- human existence. Sherry not only uses pho- ematical design o our planet and solar sys- tography as a documentation o act, but tem. Also reerencing crop circle phenom- also as an expression o an unknown uture. enon, these rectilinear congurations aim Each monochromatic image is then both an to address the varied changes Earth under- examination and a certainty, questioning goes. Te work also serves to chronicle this the genesis o how thoughts become real- moment in history, and to raise awareness ity and illustrating the result o that action o the natural world around us, through a into orm. David Benjamin Sherry is a New visual combination o minimal orm and York-based artist, with a graduate degree complex pattern. Sherry's series o highly rom Yale University. His work is shown saturated chromogenic prints, depicting nationally and abroad, including recent expressive rock-like structures, continue exhibitions at Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, the dialogue between object and interpreta- CO; Garage Center or Contemporary Art, tion. Sculptures painstakingly created over Moscow, Russia; and PS1/MOMA Contem- time, then later photographed as in Royal porary Art Center, Long Island City, NY. David Benjamin Sherry: (top) Fuchsia Future Bismuth Boiled Puce Poised California Coral Sand Stone, 2011 (bot) Royal Ruin Ultrama- Te exhibition eatures the artist's newest He modernized this Pin Up/Bomb Shell rine Fiend Fallen Cobalt Core, 2011. body o paintings and metal sculptures. girl - integrating his grafti-style stencils As a child, Christophe Leroux was drawn with his color eld grounds and drip pat- to trains, ships, planes and actories. Tis terns in oil on canvas and oil on Arches pa- Christophe Leroux ascination with visually complicated ma- per. In addition to the Bomb Shell series,, George Billis Culver City chines is evident in the graceul, yet pow- the exhibition eatures Leroux's aluminum [through May 14] erul paintings and metal sculptures o wall sculptures which he calls "Froissee" or Christophe Lerouz, BS 27 YK 43, 2011, this French artist. Leroux translates urban "wrinkled" in French, his native tongue. oil on paper, 30”x22". Gika, zinc engraving intensity into a bold statement o original- Leroux changes the aluminum color ever on arches paper, 2004, 13”x19”, #8/15. ity and beauty. Te newest series, entitled so slightly and bends the sheetsinto three Bomb Shell , was inspired by Leroux's asci- dimensional orms that come o the wall - nation with the "bombshell beauties" pilots creating shadows and depth that are both painted on their planes during the 1940's. sophisticated and seemingly eortless.
Exhibitions 31 HERBERT BAYER
“SELF-PORTRAIT” 1932
FROM THE BAYER FAMILY COLLECTION
EMIL NELSON GALLERY 2864 COLORADO AVE SANTA MONICA, CA 90404 310-266-9904
EXHIBITIONSARTISTS
Hugo Andersen
CIRCUS DADA: SIDESHOW
Circus Dada: Sideshow is an eight oot tainment in which the artist has used Anderson has a studio in Santa by sixteen oot oil triptych on canvas contemporary perormers and enter- Monica, where he also lives. He has painted by L.A. artist Hugo Anderson. tainment proessionals as his models: been working as a practicing artist or Te painting was begun in October actors, musicians, writers, directors, almost 40 years. Te current paintings 2009 and completed in February 2011. producers, cameramen etc. are a return to guration aer 20 years Also included in the exhibition are the His models are the riends he has o landscape painting which evolved original ull scale cartoon (drawing) made since moving to L.A. in 2006. to almost abstraction. He began with or the painting and twenty ve related Te three paintings are actually the out- gurative art and even when painting studies and other circus drawings. growth o a series o 36 L.A. portraits minimalist paintings, continued his Te circus painting is part o a se- he painted in the rst year he was here, interest in the gure through lie draw- ries o three paintings, all triptychs o which were also exhibited at the Han- ing. He plans to release a catalog o re- the same size; it is the second in the gar Gallery in 2007. Tat painting was cent drawings along with an exhibition series. Te rst was about the making nine and a hal eet high by orty our o nudes this summer. o a movie on Napoleon, exhibited at eet wide, consisting o three rows o 12 the Hangar in 2008. Te third is about portraits each, 36 in all. Te subjects a ballet and is currently in progress, were all people he met in the rst year Te current exhibition is housed at scheduled or all 2011. Te setting oror living here: again they were predomi- Hangar Gallery at Santa Monica all three paintings is the 1920’s. Tey nantly people in the arts, living on the Airport. It runs through May 21. are paintings about the arts and enter- Westside.
Artists 35 EXHIBITIONSARTISTS
Lisa C. Soto IN HER OWN WORDS
My experiences, memories and diverse For instance, the orms o underwater My work has evolved rom aces cultural background directly contrib- coral plants look like grooves in dry riv-iv- to maps, though the theme has always ute to my work. My grandparents came erbeds as well as the patterns o Man- been about landscape, even the aces rom Jamaica and Puerto Rico, immi- delbrot sets in physics. Within these look like landscapes. My early work was grating to Harlem in New York City in elements and imagery, lies a social po- very intimate; I painted mask-like aces the early 20’s. I was born in Los Ange- litical undercurrent, reecting aspects eventually evolving into paintings o les but grew up in Spain and New York o the world’s interactions. gurative aces emerging rom a land- City, in a household o multiple cul- tures, languages, and arts. Although I was always creative as a child, I hadn’t discovered that I was an artist until I was taking graduate courses towards my masters in psychology. At that time, I lived with my boyriend who was a painter, but had given it up or cinema- tography. I came home one day to nd the coee table covered in his acrylic paints, boards, and brushes and a note that read, “Start”. I did. I le school without completing my masters, and I moved to Paris or a little while, where I indulged in some o the greatest muse- ums in the world. As I continued to ex- plore the process o painting, I realized that this was going to be my lietime work. I had moved to Amsterdam by then and enrolled in the Amsterdams Instituut voor Schilderkunst directed by Gert Meijerink. Aer attending the school I returned to the States and be- gan exhibiting and selling my works. I am drawn to new identities, world cultures and diminishing borders. I am interested in the notion o boundaries, both sel-imposed and man-made ter- ritories, shiing or opening up. I am ascinated by the idea that technology can allow us to cross even normally restricted boundaries. People are able to communicate, travel and exchange views more than ever beore. Aestheti- cally, my work ocuses on colors, tex- tures, and contours through reinvented maps, topography, and landscapes. I am also attracted to details o land- scape, to shapes repeating in nature.
36 C|C|A Apr/May 2011 EXHIBITIONSARTISTS
Lisa C. Soto
scape o color and texture. I wanted to in a circle. Te conguration symboliz- about unction but about raising ques- explore this concept o geography ur- es the circle o lie as the dierent tribes tions. I am asking the viewer what i the ther and rom a dierent point o view. believed. “U.S. & territories”, speaks o boundaries they live within change or I started to think more literally about how this country has not acknowledge diminish altogether? What would that dierent kinds o “scapes” (landscape, the treatment o the original peoples o mean to them or provoke out o them? seascape, mindscape). My paintings this land and this ill treatment still con- In my 3D drawings, I am taking a place began to include diverse imagery ap- tinues to this day. in the world and randomly rearranging propriated rom traditional symbols, Te latest piece I am beginning is its geography, asking what i this coun- patterns, oliage, insects, sea lie, bod- on the continent o Arica in silver and try was now next to that one? What ies o water, tectonic plates and the re- gold Mylar. It will be the rst time I am would their relationship be like? Would invention o maps to create imaginary using this kind o Mylar. I am curious they learn something rom each other and ragmented landscapes. as to the dierent ways the material will or would they be at war? I turn these In the past ew years, I have been lend itsel and the dierent meanings places sideways or upside down be- creating a series o 3D drawings (as I that will be derived out o this work. cause just like anything, when you turn reer to my sculptures) including the On one hand, I am bringing up the something upside down you to see it world, the U.S. and Europe, as well as act that Arica has been stripped o its completely dierently and new mean- a 9-oot shing net made out o imagi- wealth or hundreds o years. On the ings can be derived. nary islands. For the UU.S. piece, oror other hand, I am reerring to the inner instance, I cut out the shape o every wealth o the Arican peoples. Tat it is state and territory in Mylar. Ten drew time or Arican nations to shine. symbols derived rom dierent tribes Unlike design, which is about solv- Lisa Soto will be participating in the o Northern America and colored the ing problems or architecture, which has 2012 Biennial of the Perm Museum of states the color o earth. Tese mostly the unction o creating a space or peo- Contemporary Art in Russia. For more rectangular pieces were sewn together ple to inhabit, art traditionally is not information, visit lisacsoto.com.
Artists 37 EXHIBITIONSARTISTS
Ricky Allman
Landscapes That Reect Colliding Forces
(clockwise from bottom left) fuid redux , acrylic on panel, 36”x48”; safe keeping,, acrylic on canvas, 36”x48"; deconcretize, acrylic on canvas, 48”x36”. All images 2010.
world-view. His paintings are tinged with both an existential concern and a cautious optimism or the uture. Although he Ricky Allman's paintings are a hybrid o mountainous land- grew up in a tradition concerned about apocalyptic events, scapes and architectural structures that juxtapose nature he has become more interested in humanity's disregard or with the environment constructed by man. Te artist ma- the uture and the hope that such disregard can be overcome. nipulates light and space to create new experimental worlds Allman's inspiration or his work comes rom a myriad that are both oreign and amiliar to the viewer. Allman's o sources: everyday experiences and observations, environ- paintings capture a sense o movement and space through mental surroundings, current events, sci- movie stills, and the heavy use o varying perspective, layering, and complex reections about the past and present. Tis series o works connections. ight, ne lines are balanced with loose, paint- represents a new level o experimentation, maturity, tech- erly strokes. Bold colors are contrasted with subtle, grounded nique and sophistication or the artist. tones. Geometric shapes commingle with organic masses. Ricky Allman is an American painter born and raised Allman's ascination is with contrasting orces that work in Provo, Utah. He is currently an assistant proessor at the with and against each other, that intersect and collide, shap- University o Missouri-Kansas City. He received a BFA rom ing natural and man-made structures alike to create a capti- the Massachusetts College o Art, and an MFA rom the vating, challenging landscape or the viewer to experience. Rhode Island School o Design in 2007. Allman's works oen explore his struggle to reconcile the religious belie system he was raised with and his current For more information, visit rickyallman.com.
38 C|C|A Apr/May 2011 EXHIBITIONSARTISTS
Myungwon Kim IN HER OWN WORDS Discovering Freedom in Artistic Expression
Myungwon Kim, Untitled 02, 2010, oil paint and 4 different black pigments mixed with acrylic paint on Mylar, 9.8’ x 16’.
I am interested in the physical act o making marks I decided I wanted to be an artist and attended and the physicality o the materials that I use in my Maryland Institute College o Art. In my drawing art work. My body becomes a tool, and I begin to ex- class, the proessor challenged us to create a drawing plore the medium. Te series o black paintings are an with unusual tools. I was always drawn to Janine An- investigation o color and medium as well as a docu- tonil’s photograph o her using her hair. I was inspired mentation o my intimate relationship with them. and decided to use my hair. With a big piece o paper I believe my intuition to study my medium could on the oor and a bucket ull o sumi ink, I dipped my be credited to my ather. With a doctorate in western hair and began to draw. It was one o the most liberat- philosophy and as a proessor at university in Korea, ing experiences o my lie. I gave up a certain amountt my ather is also a published poet and calligrapher.. o control because I could not see what kinds o marks Growing up in Korea, I have spent a lot o time I was making and instead I relied entirely on my body watching my ather perect his calligraphy. He prac- and my movements. Aer I nished, I looked at my ticed his brush strokes over and over until he mas- work, it was almost calligraphic, I knew where I start- tered them. Each stroke and the marks symbolized ed and where I nished and was le with an imprint o precision and discipline and a clear meaning. It was my experience. ascinating to watch the controlled movements o his I was also interested in lithography, a printmak- body and the direct results o the ink on the tip o his ing technique, during this time. I was drawn to li- brush leaving a purposeul mark on the paper. He ul- thography or its labor-intensive and process-oriented ly understood his materials; the brush, the sumi ink medium and I wanted learn more about it. I applied and the rice paper and the relationship between them. and was accepted to amarind Institute, a print shop
Artists 39 EXHIBITIONSARTISTS
Myungwon Kim
Myungwom Kim, Untitled 01, 2010, oil paint and 4 different black pigments mixed with acrylic paint on Mylar, 9.8’ x 12’.
and school to train uture Lithography printmakers texture, and the illusion o dimension to the work. I and masters. had to eliminate the white and started spending more Aer graduating rom the most intensive print- time on my primary material - black. making program, I then realized that I knew how to I had always been using the color black in my deal with the process o lithography, that I had a eel- work but something about the Xerox toner black on ing or it, and that I could use the technique in a way top o mylar gave a dierent kind o sensibility and that it hadn’t been used beore. So I had a certain ree- physicality to the work. I researched more about black dom to move right into it and incorporate the process pigments and realized that black is very complex col- o lithography into my drawings. I started using my- or. I started to mix dierent pigments o black with lar (thin transparent lm) instead o paper and Xerox oil and acrylic base ink. I used the process o lithog- toner instead o sumi ink, which is commonly used in raphy and started to roll up the mylar with a roller. the process o printmaking. I started to invest a lot o Te lithography oil base black gives a physical depth time not only drawing with my hair and body but also to the work, which absorbs the light and blocks the slowly started to use dierent domestic tools around visual sensation. On the other hand, the black pig- me to create dierent sizes and style o marks. I be- ments that I mixed with acrylic transparent ink slowly came more physical with my work. reveals itsel when the viewers physically move around Tere was still something to work-out in my the work, which provides the visual sensation. black and white drawings. Te drawing created a type What I strive to achieve is to engage the viewer's o discourse that I did not want in terms involving the body - the viewer's physical movements dictate his/ viewer’s experience. I did not want the viewer to look her personal experience o the work - like my experi- at the work and automatically assume the piece purely ence as the artist when creating the work. as abstract expressionist and walk away. I slowly real- ized that the white brought out drama, emotion, visual For more information, visit myungwonkim.com.
40 C|C|A Apr/May 2011 2011 Los AngeLes MunicipAL Art gALLery Benefit Auction sundAy, MAy 1, 2011 • 3pM – 6pM BArnsdALL pArk • 4800 HoLLyWood BLVd. Los AngeLes, cA 90027 Kim Abeles • edith AbeytA • suzAnne AdelmAn • litA Albuquerque • sophiA Allison JunA AmAno • michAel ArAtA • edgAr ArceneAux • John bAldessAri • Judie bAmber Kireilyn bArber • christopher bArbour • bArbArA berK • richArd bilow • sAndow birK cAroline blAcKburn • lou beAch • tony brown • Amy bouse • Angie brAy nAncy buchAnAn • AnitA bunn • mAx King cAp • Jo Ann cAllis • cAstillo ching ching cheng • robbie conAl • Joe dAvidson • roberto delgAdo rAoul de lA sotA • dAvid dimichele • dAnA duff • sAm durAnt • vAl echAvArriA nicholAs fedAK ii • Alice fellows • Judy fisKin • KAthi flood • simone gAd mArtin gAntmAn • cArol goldmArK • orestes, gonzAlez • phyllis green • todd grAy mArK steven greenfield • ivA gueroguievA • mAry Addison hAcKett doug hArvey • chArles hAchAdouriAn • mArybeth heffernAn • bonitA helmer JuAn cArlos munoz hernAndez • Anne hieronymus • lindA JAcobson • gegAm KAcheriAn miKe Kelley & michAel smith • siri KAur • yoichi KAwAmurA • soo Kim • nicholette Kominos christophe leroux • peter liAshKov • ronAld J. llAnos • nuttAphol mA dAniel Joseph mArtinez • meg mAdison • bArry mArKowitz • dAvid mAcdowell chArlene mAtthews • mAddy le mel • mineo mizuno • John mooney • mArK mothersbAugh mAnfred müller • rosAlyn myles • Kristen neveu • richArd newton • christine nguyen John dAvid o’brien • chris oAtey • stAs orlovsKi • ArA oshAgAn • ester petschAr sheilA pinKel • mei xiAn qiu • stuArt rApeport • tony de los reyes • rebeccA ripple frAnK romero • lAunA d. romoff • chArlene roth • Joy J. rotblAtt • ross rudel Alison sAAr • betye sAAr • lezley sAAr • connie sAmArAs • gwen sAmuels • richArd serrA issA shArp • michAel sheehAn • Kyungmi shin • peter shire • KAren siKie nAthAn singer • AnnA e. siqueiros • mAy sun • Kent twitchell • mAuricio vAlleJo mArgo victor • mArgAret von biesen • pAt wArner • mArnie weber wAyne white • AlexAndrA wiesenfeld • williAm wegmAn • norton wisdom KAren frimKess wolff • nAn wollmAn • AugustA wood • michiKo yAo liz young • mAry younAKof • cArrie yury • liAt yossifor
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