Greater LA Art Review: Culver City Art Walk

Dear readers,
I am so sorry that I have been MIA for the past couple of weeks. After a heavy art month in LA like January, I was left feeling the need for a little bit of a break... Not from art, but from venturing far to see art. Let me catch you up with photos from what I left hanging last month. On January 16, we ventured to Culver City for the first art walk of the New Year. We visited most all of the shows they had open, which is not for the weak footed. Parking is a bear if you don't get there early. The highlights are below.

Western Project had the inaugural show of its new La Cienega location. Of to a good start in a revived space. The playful works fit beautifully. An old favorite of mine, but a soon to be new favorite of the LA art scene, Justin Bower had a knockout piece that absolutely stole the attention of the entire room. His androgynous youth faces are distorted in a digitized blue of superb painting. This one is on the milder side in comparison to the newest faces. But those eyes still pierce you. It was well received. Bower, and his big faces, where recently signed on at Western Project. We will be seeing more of them in the future. He is concurrently in a show on portraiture up at the Torrance Art Museum.... I need to get over to see that one too.

Also in the show was a perplexing work by Mark Dean Veca. That red is really intense when you stand next to it all night long.

I personally enjoyed the controversially irreverent flag pieces of Liz Young, a) because I love to see some down home sewing in an art gallery, and b) because they are just off enough to spark some serious conversation about patriotism, the flag and craft. Which it did. Do you think she is being offensive by sewing on the American flag?

Finally, the grandiose mural piece of Sush Machida Gaikotsu set the playful tone for the entire show, spanning the length of the log wall. I enjoy the graphic text element he places on the left of each of his pieces as his artist "signature" .

A one time treat that was up in this Culver City art walk was a pop up show but on by a group of graduate students from Claremont Graduate University. The cleverly named exhibition, "Crashing Culver", put out a good showing of strong abstraction and color in this alternative space next door to Roberts & Tilton. I really enjoy looking at work from all of these artists. In the show were works from Cole James, on fabric, and Michael Knight, who is a wiz with Flash acrylic paints.