Filed under: Los Angeles, Review | Tags: Ellen C. Caldwell, Simone Shubuck, Taylor De Cordoba
Simone Shubuck’s solo exhibit Do You Like Old Things or New Things That Look Old? at Taylor De Cordoba is forward and refreshing. Deep coral hues, paint splotches, doodles, feathers, and detailed sketches of chrysanthemum-like shapes comprise her colorful paintings, at times seeming to mimic bouquets and at others, taking on anthropomorphic, creature-like appearances. – Ellen C. Caldwell, Los Angeles Contributor
Simone Shubuck | Compartments Of Beliefs, 2012, Mixed media on paper,15.75″ x 11″ All images courtesy of Taylor De Cordoba.
Filed under: Los Angeles, MFA | Tags: Christine Wang, Jonathan Apgar, Leon Benn, Michael John Kelly, Trevor Spaulding, UCLA
As the school year draws to a close, it’s time for graduating art students to pack up their studios, take down their thesis shows, and set out on the life of financial uncertainty and critical scrutiny they have pursued so enthusiastically for the past several years. Hopefully they are equipped with as much knowledge, ability, and determination as UCLA’s graduating MFA painters Jonathan Apgar, Leon Benn, Michael John Kelly, and Christine Wang. I asked the four talented young artists about their work, their time in school, and their plans for the future. – Trevor Spaulding, Los Angeles Contributor
Jonathan Apgar | Deep Gate, Violet Black, 2013, oil on canvas, 96 x 84 inches.
Filed under: Los Angeles, Review | Tags: Jason Ramos, Jay Erker, John Mills, John Pearson, Weekend, Weekend Space
At the shared edge of Hollywood and Los Feliz, across from La Luz de Jesus Gallery / Wacko / Soap Plant, down a block from Cheetah’s gentlemen’s club, and next door to a tattoo place, lies the residence of artists Jay Erker and John Mills. The front room of their place is also Weekend, described on their website as “a new artist-run space dedicated to showing the work of under-represented and emerging contemporary artists in Los Angeles and beyond.” Since Erker and Mills opened Weekend in 2011, it has become one the defining outposts of Los Angeles’ thriving community of artist-run and alternative spaces, with a string of acclaimed and engaging exhibitions, including of their own work. The niche that Weekend and other alternative spaces fill in the contemporary art scene of LA is surmised in their words – “There is a tremendous amount of excellent work out there that falls through the cracks of the commercial art world and we like to think we provide a way for some of that work to be seen. We hope that in the end spaces like ours can provide a launching pad for artist’s careers, helping them along the path to success.” - Jason Ramos, Los Angeles Contributor
Weekend front window during Odd Ghosts and Unlikely Dancers exhibition. Photo by Jason Ramos
Filed under: Los Angeles, Review | Tags: Charlie Jame Gallery, Los Angeles, Trevor Spaulding, William Powhida
At first glance, William Powhida’s new show Bill By Bill at Charlie James Gallery looks like a fairly typical survey of contemporary art. Just about all of today’s most common approaches to object-driven art making are represented. There’s a post-minimalist sculpture, some neo-modernist wall pieces, a hard-edged abstraction, three large digitally printed color field paintings, a neo-expressionist painting, a taxidermied animal, and a neon sign.
Installation view of Bill By Bill. Photo courtesy of Charlie James Gallery
At second glance, the show looks like one big joke about the contemporary art world. Powhida farmed out the making of these ‘artworks’ to assistants, mimicking popular contemporary tropes. He then created some of his signature text-based pieces to accompany each of the works, satirically describing the labor (or lack there of) and intellectual rigor (or lack there of) that went into their creation. - Trevor Spaulding, Los Angeles Contributor
Filed under: Interview, Los Angeles | Tags: Arthur Pena, Austin, Long Plays, Los Angeles, Mark Moore Gallery, Nathan Green, Okay Mountain
I’ll start with a joke: How many artists does it take to satirize contemporary culture, democratize the collaborative process, vandalize notions of the banal while able to emphasize the importance of drawing within the practice of making?…..9. I learned that one while talking to Okay Mountain co-founder, artist, curator and overall swell guy Nathan Green. Currently, Mark Moore Gallery in Los Angeles presents Long Plays (on view through March 16th), the first solo exhibition of works by the Austin-based artist collective. With their razor sharp dry wit, Okay Mountain offers less of an attitude and more of a gentle sucker punch; more like getting a beating with a bag of oranges as opposed to a bag of bricks. The former won’t break bones but you’ll still know whose boss. Green and I had a little chat about the show and the OKMT collective mentality. - Arthur Peña, Dallas Contributor
Installation shot of Long Plays
Filed under: Los Angeles, Review | Tags: Ellen C. Caldwell, Ken Gonzales-Day, Los Angeles, Luis De Jesus
Ken Gonzales-Day’s recent show, “Profiled | Hang Trees | Portraits,” at Luis De Jesus Los Angeles is deeply rich and intellectually challenging. A well-established artist and researcher, Gonzales-Day challenges his viewers and the way in which we as a country remember.
Ken Gonzales-Day | Run Up, 2004-12, LightJet print on aluminum, 60 x 75 in. Courtesy of the artist and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.
The gallery is comprised of two rooms that are joined by a small hallway, yet the space still feels intimate. The nature of the work plays on this feeling and as a viewer, you do not just bear witness to the histories that Gonzales-Day recalls, you feel complicit in them as well. - Ellen C. Caldwell, Los Angeles Contributor
Filed under: Los Angeles, Review | Tags: Ellen C. Caldwell, jen pack, Taylor De Cordoba, UnQuiet Chromo
Jen Pack’s (NAP #73) UnQuiet Chromo at Taylor De Cordoba is something of an artistic oxymoron—in the best way possible. Her works are both loud and quiet. Soft and hard. Strong and delicate. Opaque and solid. Something about her stretched chiffon patchwork defies many of the qualities that the pieces also envelop and embody.
Jen Pack | I Am A Cube!, 2012, chiffon, thread, wood, 58.5″ x 58.5″ x 3.5″ Photo courtesy of Taylor De Cordoba.
Pack sews together narrow strips of chiffon, using contrasting colored threads. She then pieces these slender and uneven strips together again and again and again, creating a quilted surface that she can stretch over dense and deep wooden frames. Her works are three-dimensional in many ways and forms. - Ellen C. Caldwell, Los Angeles Contributor
Filed under: Los Angeles, Q&A | Tags: Andrewshire Gallery, Ann Bridges, Beer Belly, Ellen C. Caldwell, Gucci has my Blessing, Koreatown, LA, Marion Lane, MR44, Vincent Sabella, Wilshire Center Art & Architecture Walk, Yoshi Takahashi
On October 25th, Koreatown launched a new monthly art walk in the Wilshire Corridor. Self-described, the Wilshire Center Art & Architecture Walk “is a monthly celebration of sustainable urban living showcasing historic architecture, galleries, artists, photography, restaurants, bars, shops, and businesses located in Wilshire Center.”
Laura & Manfred Menz | Gucci has my Blessing, Courtesy of Andrewshire Gallery.
While the inaugural walk did not show signs of large masses walking from place to place, the way one might see at LA’s Downtown Art Walk or Culver City Art Walk, the art at the participating Ann Bridges Art Studio, Andrewshire Gallery, and the popular Beer Belly restaurant was young, fresh, and uniquely LA. - Ellen C. Caldwell, Los Angeles Contributor
Filed under: Los Angeles, Review | Tags: Adam Normandin, Alejandro Cartagena, Alinka Echeverria, Bruce Everett, David Corona, Ellen C. Caldwell, Eunice Adorno, Gavin Bunner, George Billis Gallery, James David Thomas, Jay Brockman, Kopeikin Gallery, Melba Arellano
Summertime in the gallery art scene often means a variety of group shows full of both new and established artists. Culver City this month is no exception. As I wandered from gallery to gallery, two shows that are just doors apart on South La Cienega really struck me, especially given their immediate juxtaposition and proximity to one another.
Alejandro Cartagena | Untitled Lost River #24, 2008, Suburbia Mexicana Project, Archival Inkjet Print. Courtesy of Kopeikin Gallery.
The George Billis Gallery LA is currently showing a second annual rendition of Los Angeles city scenes in “The Cityscape Show II: Images of Land and City.” And about a block away, the Kopeikin Gallery is showing “Looking at Mexico” alongside images by Alejandro Cartagena, who also curated the companion show. - Ellen C. Caldwell, Los Angeles Contributor
Filed under: Los Angeles, Review | Tags: Betye Saar, Derrick Adams, Ellen C. Caldwell, John Monn, KEHINDE WILEY, Roberts and Tilton, The Road Ahead
The Road Ahead is a retrospective group show at Roberts & Tilton this summer in Los Angeles. It features work from 14 artists, with many artists contributing multiple works.
This is definitely not the typical summer group show in Culver City right now – as The Road Ahead features a combination of contemporaneous work with some slightly older pieces from the late ‘70s – early ‘80s. As such, it comingles heavy hitters of the art world, such as Betye Saar and Kehinde Wiley, with newer and more emerging artists such as John Monn and Derrick Adams. - Ellen C. Caldwell, Los Angeles Contributor
