The Slow Months

As you may or may not know, summer is not a busy time for arts communities in most places. Its as though dealers, collectors and galleries alike came to the agreement that breaks should not just be for students. As an artist, this is a wonderful time for some R&R or solid studio work without interruption. This is also a good time for art appreciators to see what some of our local museums have going on, because they understand that, for others, the summer is a time to go and do and see new things. A few shows I am hoping to visit over my vacation:


The Getty Center









At the Getty Center coming next month:

From Line to Light: Renaissance Drawing in Florence and Venice July 20–October 10, 2010 During the Italian Renaissance, drawing came of age, transforming from a slavish part of the design process to an esteemed independent activity. According to the artist-biographer Giorgio Vasari, it became "the father of the arts." Strides of various kinds were made in different cities: in Florence and Rome the study of the human figure through life drawing was emphasized, while in Venice the search for tonal and coloristic effects led to the embrace of blue paper and the keen study of light and composition. Some of the Getty Museum's most spectacular drawings—by Fra Bartolommeo, Andrea Mantegna, Jacopo Pontormo, Raphael, Andrea del Sarto, and Titian—are on view in this exhibition.

And on view now at the Getty Center, for the love of printmaking



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Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Open 12-8 M/T/Th, 12-9 Fri, 11-8 Sat and Sundays, Closed Wednesdays
New Work from John Baldasari, in installation right now:

"Pure Beauty"
http://www.lacma.org/art/ExhibBaldessari.aspx

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More fun public events coming up soon....

I am going to see the best show I can imagine.

Nothing like a little blue sky and mountain air to inspire real artwork. I will be celebrating my birthday my favorite place in the world, Yosemite National Park... becoming a yearly tradition.

Coming Attractions: San Diego

We dont usually venture this far for a show, but for a little ocean air and a good friend, we would drive to the ends of the earth! Or at least the the ends of California.

This Friday and Saturday night on Broadway on San Diego you can find yourself a good party and some great art at Alexander Salazar Fine Art. The works of Justin Bower and Chris Truman were both recently feature in the new MFA issue of New American Paintings.
Their two man show brings together the arresting large faces that Bower is coming to be known for with the striking geometric abstractions of Truman.
Check it out. It will be worth the drive:

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Coming Attractions: Culver City

This coming Saturday, May 22, we are on for another Culver City art walk... Always a pleaser.

Here is was is out that I think is worth going to the openings for:

- After the rough and raw paintings of Iva Gueorguieva
Angles has a photography show up. The eerie works of  Ori Gersht. If they are huge, which I imagine they will be, it should do some interesting things to that space.

- After the crass show of Carroll Dunham paintings at Blum & Poe we are getting a whole different kind of weird out of the works of Tim Hawkinson. His installation work is prolific and always makes one think... Who knows what might be moving in there this time.
- Honor Frasier has drawings from Marl Licari

- Western Project always has something fun and different going down. Arne Svenson's solo show should be pretty interesting. I am looking forward to checking out his paper towel drawings most:

To partake in all of this newly hung art, as well as people watching.. make your way to the 10 frwy, exit La Cienega and find parking anywhere you can in the vacinity of La Cienega and Washington.

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Be sure to visit the best little Mexican place in the area when you are done. El Rio Bravo right around the corner on Washington
mmmm, its so good. I can hardly wait!

catching up

It is shocking that it has taken me this long to get back to reviews. Just so you know, I have been seeing shows and art all through this past two and half months, I just have written about it.
To start, the Dildine/Scianni show on March 2 at CGU was great. Here are some highlights of Joshua Dildine's work:

  

Aside from being really exciting paintings, the titles have a poetry of their own as well. The artist deals with a communion between our visual intake with advertising and the like and how we process that information. His own process includes destroying the painting (visually) to a point of defeat and bringing it back to a state of resolve. You can really see the struggle and the victory in the deep visual space.

 

"A New Day"

 

"Squeeze It's Natural"

Dildine / Scianni Shows in Claremont

The Trueman / Rash shows were a huge hit last Tuesday. There was a great turn out, the artist talks were illuminating and the food was good!

I know its on a Tuesday night, but these CGU shows are really worth the drive... For me there isnt much of a drive, so I dont miss them. But they are good. Over the course of this blog I will review shows and give updates on upcoming shows but I will also feature established and emerging artists, local and not, that I think are worth looking at.

I will shamelessly promote this one every time. The works of Joshua Dildine are amazing, direct, complex and compelling. They are exciting to look at, and even more exciting to watch evolve. This is a painter's painter who loves paint, knows how to push it around around and every stoke is confident.

Behind the process of the work is the concept of transformation. The artist begins with a lovely piece of energetic marks in the birth stage, then kills it by overworking it and muddying up the colors. Defeated, he finds a way to bring it back to life, looking fuller, deeper and richer than the initial stage could ever have accomplished. These works accomplish an amazing sense of depth for 2-dimensional non-representational work. Come out and enjoy the show! These large pieces hung and lit are stunning.

Also exhibited are the digitized yet hand painted works of Kevin Scianni. I dont have pictures of that at my fingertips just yet but I will post some later.

Culver City Art walk this Saturday

I cant believe it's been a month since I was in Culver City for openings last... time certainly does fly.

This Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010, we will be walking La Cieniga and Washington in style with a the rest of the art walk masses. The art walk here is a great event and great fun to come out for. Shows of note I recommend seeing:

Michael Reafsnyder

Put It There: New Paintings and Ceramics
What is amazing about Michael's paintings is that they are done all in one sitting yet they remain extremely colorful and rich. If you have ever painted before you know that if you work on a piece with that much paint in it for very long, it can get 'muddy' very quickly. Complimentary colors mix together and you are left with an array of brown and greys...which isn't usually a good thing. These paintings are rick and alive and magic!
visit Western Project to check em out... try to find the happy face in each one.

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Mark Grotjahn
Seven Faces

Visit Blum & Poe (across the street from Western Project) to see more...

David Ratcliff
Bsckground

 

Visit Honor Fraser (down the street toward the freeway) to see more.

Trueman / Rash show in Claremont

In my last post I mentioned an exceptional set of Claremont Graduate University artists.
Two of them have their thesis shows this week! The opening reception is tonight at 6:00pm, and, while a little late notice for you to attend, this is well worth seeing by the end of the week. If you cant, I will have many pictures up later this week.

I have watched the systemic work of Alison Rash grow and evolve in the past couple of years and am so pleased with how she has come into her own with the work in this show. A clean curration of confident colors, white backgrounds and alternating matte and gloss surfaces works in a very acrylic-like way for oil paints. Her repeating diamond, based on an insane personal logic are so fun and no two are the same color!

 

It is neat to see how this was inspired by a 3-dimensional installation piece she did in the fall. It filled as a curtain of tenuously hung points in this outdoor space. Sometimes we need to see things in a new dimension to understand them in your preferred format... 

This show coincides with the solo show of Chris Trueman. He probably possesses some of the best usage of acrylic paint I have seen. The pieces are digitized and yet organic, designerly yet raw all at the same time. It may just be me, but it's amazing how each painting seems to have a soundtrack of its own. Upon confronting each piece I feel like I want to give expressive sound effects for each one (and I have). Fun, fun work!

 

This one is my favorite... Just like a great piece of literature, it just gets better and you find more and more in it upon further inspection.

The galleries are open from 10:00 am-5:00 pm until Feb. 26th, 2010.

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