Filed under: Los Angeles, Review | Tags: Ellen C. Caldwell, Mark Moore Gallery, Stephanie Washburn
In “Twice Told,” Stephanie Washburn’s inaugural solo show at Mark Moore Gallery, Washburn creates a distinct and unusual medium through a combination of many. Mixing paint, digital media, and everyday three-dimensional items, she creates the surface for and subject of her photographs.
In her “Reception” series, Washburn makes what she calls “television drawings” based off of her intervention and reinterpretation of pop culture images that act as a backdrop of her colorful photography. – Ellen C. Caldwell
Stephanie Washburn, Reception 5, 2011 | digital c-print | Edition of 3 + 2 AP | 30 x 30 inches
Courtesy of Mark Moore Gallery
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Filed under: Los Angeles, Review | Tags: Charlene Liu, Ellen C. Caldwell, Taylor De Cordoba
In her third solo show “Everywhere Close to Me” at Taylor De Cordoba, Charlene Liu creates and mediates really special moments with her works on paper. Using delicate cutouts, overlapping and woven papers, and sculptural pigmented pulpy constructs, Liu creates a world that is both delicate and daring.
Continuing to experiment with and expand upon her works on paper, Liu mixes, introduces, and pits her soft, organic, handmade, pigmented pulp paper against sharp acrylic lacquered cutouts and flattened painted paper surfaces. Here, bold colors and hard edges interplay and mix with soft shapes and fluid lines. - Ellen C. Caldwell, Los Angeles Contributor
Charlene Liu | Swoop and cyclone, 2012, watercolor, handmade paper, pigmented pulp, 51.5” x 40.5” Courtesy of Taylor De Cordoba.
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Filed under: Los Angeles, Review | Tags: David Kordanksy, Ellen C. Caldwell, Jonas Wood
Straight up, Jonas Wood’s solo show at the David Kordansky Gallery (through May 12th) is one of my favorite shows of 2012 thus far. His larger-than-life, vibrant, and bright paintings are fetching, nostalgic, and cheerful. They are not “cheerful” in a sickening, sugarcoated, Katy-Perry-esque way, but in one that is varied, unexpected, and welcome. Some of the imagery and styles bring to mind childhood memories and the accompanying nostalgic feelings. - Ellen Caldwell, LA Contributor
Installation at David Kordansky Gallery
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Filed under: Los Angeles, Review | Tags: Cherry and Martin, Ellen C. Caldwell, Holly Coulis, LA
Walking into Holly Coulis’ solo show at Cherry and Martin, I was surprised to see a majority of large, boldly imagined paintings of flowers, fruits, and vegetable still lifes interspersed with and handful of blurred, dulled landscapes. - Ellen Caldwell, Los Angeles Contributor
Holly Coulis | Installation Shot
Photo Courtesy Cherry and Martin
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Filed under: Los Angeles, Review | Tags: Ellen C. Caldwell, Firelei Baez, LA, Richard Heller Gallery
Firelei Báez’ solo show “Not Even Unalterable Limitations” at the Richard Heller Gallery is saturated with dense color and rich content. While at her show, I repeatedly heard the muffled sound of visitors oohing and aahing their awe and approval from the gallery’s large entryway, before even fully stepping inside.
Firelei Báez | Something Lost, Weathered and Beautiful, 2011, gouache on paper
Photo Courtesy Richard Heller Gallery
As Báez’ first west coast solo debut, “Not Even Unalterable Limitations” packs a punch, with a handful of varied and various styles, mediums, and forms. Although most of the works were made with gouache and ink or graphite, their styles and looks vary drastically. From the large cutout CPT Symmetry that greets viewers on the first wall, to the larger rectangular framed Ciguapa Habilis, to the massive show-stopping grids formed in the back corner by Can I Pass? and her Prescribed Seduction series, Báez dertainly draws you in. - Ellen Caldwell, LA Contributor
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Filed under: Art World, Los Angeles | Tags: Black Market Gallery, BLK/MRKT, CCAD, CCAD Gallery Guide, Dave Kinsey, Jana Des Forges, ZLIST
Over the past few years we have come across Zach Peabody, an artist and art observer, at the various art fairs throughout the country. Usually when we find him, he’s got his camera pointed at the walls of the fair, documenting as much art as he can. When asked what he does with the photos, he mentioned that he puts the thousands of photographs on Facebook to stimulate conversation about the contemporary art world. He described Facebook as, “…a great way of discussing and showing each other art – both for people in art hubs and for people further out.” He continued, “Some of the people I chat with or who’s profiles I check are often in Australia, New Zealand, France, Greece, or are tenured far from art hubs in the Midwest or the South – sharing images is very useful especially when living in a cultural vacuum.”
When we dug deeper into Zach’s mission to share the art he comes across at the fairs, he turned us onto another venture, the Culver City Arts District Map (CCAD). After the jump, learn more about the map, created by Black Market’s Jana Des Forges, and how Peabody contributes to the local art scene in Los Angeles by documenting the dozens of exhibitions so others can find their way through the region.
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Filed under: Los Angeles, Q&A | Tags: 97, Ellen C. Caldwell, Foreclosure Map Quilts, Kathryn Clark, NAP, NAP #97
Kathryn Clark’s (NAP#97) sewn pieces draw on an established quilting aesthetic and tradition. Visually, they evoke memories of my grandma’s quilts, patch working, and hand-sewn labors of love. Thematically, they record and capture a history.
Kathryn Clark | Modesto Foreclosure Quilt, 2011. 16″ x 42″ Tea stained voile, linen, cotton and embroidery thread.
Clark builds upon and tweaks this quilting tradition though. Quilts have always captured a history, personal narrative, or story in more ways than one, whether memorializing a person with scraps of clothing, or depicting monumental events in one’s life, or by capturing a family’s history in cloth. Clark’s cloths tell a similar story, but they do so by freezing a moment forever in time. Mapping foreclosed neighborhoods and cities, Clark’s “Foreclosure Map Quilts” quite literally preserve a changing landscape and document the current economy using remnants, found cloth, and fibers as the conservatorial glue. Her quilts are rich, contextually, historically, and visually. - Ellen C. Caldwell, LA Contributor
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Filed under: Interview, Los Angeles | Tags: 5790projects, Allison Schulnik, Andrew Schoultz, Catlin Moore, David Hilliard, Ellen C. Caldwell, Ellen Caldwell, Gallerist at Home, Gin Stevens, Heather Taylor, Jeremy Fish, Kim Dorland, Mark Moore Gallery, Mark Mulroney, New American Paintings, Okay Mountain, Peter Alexander, Ryan Taber
Catlin Moore, the Director of the contemporary Mark Moore Gallery and co-Director of 5790projects, is stylish, youthful and a definite force to be reckoned with. Though she cites her collection as being “in its infancy” (especially compared to her father gallery-owner and namesake Mark Moore), her art and artifice at home make me drool. An established arts writer and LA gallerist, Catlin has created a respite at home, reflecting a space where contemporary art browses with library-esque bookshelves, curiosity cabinets, and a tangible life of its own.
I am so pleased to feature Catlin in the official launch of the monthly column Gallerist at Home for New American Paintings. Following the same inspiration and interface of the interview I conducted with Heather Taylor in October of 2011, Gallerist at Home will showcase American art personas and explore the process of collecting art for both for public and private spaces. I see this largely as a forum for discussing the practice, process, and procedure of art collecting, and look forward to the conversations it sparks. - Read the interview with Catlin Moore by Ellen Caldwell, LA Contributor, after the jump!
Catlin Moore at home, Photo by Cambria Beilstein.
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Filed under: Art World, Chicago, Dallas, DC, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Must-Sees, New York, Oakland, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, Santa Fe | Tags: Exhibitions, February, Must-SEe, NAP, Paintings, Publishers Pick, Steven Zevitas
One of the best parts of my job is getting to see the careers of artists that we have worked with take off. Artists such as James Siena, Amy Cutler and Matthew Day Jackson were all featured in New American Paintings long before they reached the international spotlight. This month is not only an extraordinary month for the medium of painting at galleries around the country, it is a particularly strong month for New American Paintings’ alumni. No fewer than twenty artists featured in past, or upcoming editions, have their work on view in February. Two of my favorites, Summer Wheat and Benjamin Degen, will be featured in the soon to be released 2012 Northeast Edition (#98).
I want to bring special attention to the work of Sarah McEneaney, who was first featured in the mid-1990s. Based in Philadelphia, Sarah is a profoundly gifted artist, and, in my opinion, simply one of the best painters working today. Her painstakingly crafted egg tempera paintings have always had a startling immediacy. Of the many micro-trends that are noticeable in current painting practice, a certain predilection for “faux-naïve” representation is high among them. Sarah was entrenched in this pictorial language long before it washed over the art world. Unlike many younger artists, her creative direction is not a conceptual gambit; rather, it is born out of an internal necessity. - Steven Zevitas, Editor/Publisher
Summer Wheat | Onlooker, oil on canvas, 18 x 24 inches
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Filed under: Los Angeles, Review | Tags: Amy Ross, Ellen C. Caldwell, Kopeikin Gallery, Wolf Pack
“For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.” Rudyard Kipling said this in The Law of the Jungle and when viewing Amy Ross’ solo show at the Kopeikin Gallery in Culver City, my mind kept coming back to this quote. And as the release of The Hangover, gave “wolf pack” a new meaning, the power of the pack remains. - Ellen Caldwell, Los Angeles Contributor
