From Entrepreneur to Artist: Visceral Work from Andrew Max Modlin

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From Entrepreneur to Artist: Visceral Work from Andrew Max Modlin – Genie Davis

Andrew Max Modlin has made quite a journey from visionary entrepreneurship to full-time artist. His road may have been a bit circuitous, but he’s made a return to his first passion.

“Design, branding, and cannabis took up around 15 years of my life, so when I was in- between projects for the first time during COVID, I decided I was going to give myself a one-year break to see what I wanted to do next. The fact that I wasn’t painting haunted me all those years because I always felt like that was my life calling,” he explains. “While I got to hone my design skills, painting was the skill that I had developed and practiced up until I went into business, and now that skill, partially, was being wasted.”

After moving to Amsterdam, he developed the technique of drawing digitally on his iPad, and shortly thereafter decided to paint in the same style as his drawings. His studio work upon his return to Los Angeles has “focused on how I could translate my digital sketches to the canvas.”

With art once again Modlin’s calling, he works in vivid color that evokes places he has seen and been. “I like to think about a place’s palette while I’m in it. Each location has its own unique set of colors shaped by the season, the light, and the energy of the place itself. I’m always thinking about how I can interact with those colors through something familiar, like a landscape,” he relates, “If you paint a tree green, no one thinks twice. But paint it pink, and suddenly people are interested.”

Widely traveled, Modlin views Amsterdam as a future home, but among other locales, he loves Thailand and the uniqueness of Tibet. About the latter location, he notes “It’s fascinating to experience a place that hasn’t been fully westernized, and just getting there and around is its own kind of adventure.”

Describing his work as “extremely tactile,” he notes that while his subjects are rooted in place, “It’s more about the paint and the act of painting itself than the subject matter. While I do aim to arrange shapes in a way that feels balanced or compelling, the real interest lies in the paint: the texture, the layers, the movement.”

Currently residing and painting in West Hollywood, Modlin is opening a pop-up solo exhibition, Through the Brush, next Saturday, June 7th. Curated by Peter Frank, the show presents Modlin’s large-scale paintings and dreamlike landscapes depicting a wide range of locations from his travels to Iceland, Hawaii, Punta Mita, and Amsterdam.

He describes his work here as “a convergence…this work feels like it unlocks everything I’ve been building toward over the last 30 years. When I was first making art during and right after school it was all about color and layering. Then I spent over a decade focused on graphic design and architecture. These paintings feel like a full-circle moment, combining all that experience into something cohesive and personal.”

Modlin reveals that while his work leads through a variety of terrains, the images are “a dialogue between hand, surface, and time. I weave in fragments of my past life in design to make graphic forms, grids, and sharp contrasts only to disrupt them with unruly textures, neon pulses, and gestural mark making.”

Intimate and alive, the wildly beautiful and evocative work is a plunge into the unknown beauty of memory and place, of location and love for the natural world. It’s a look into soul of place and most of all the place of personal longing within, as well as a way for the artist to explore his own relationship to art and the world itself.

“Through the Brush” opens at 411 N. La Cienega in West Hollywood, running June 7-21, with artist’s reception June 7th, 4-9 p.m. The show will be open Wednesday-Saturday noon to 5 through the 21st, when a closing reception will be held from 4-9 p.m.

  • Genie Davis; images provided by the artist

New Dazzler at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery

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New Dazzler at Tany Bondakdar Gallery – Genie Davis

Sandra Cinto’s Prelude to the Sun, at Tanya Bonakdar, on exhibit through July 2nd,  is golden, literally and figuratively. The artist has restructured the gallery walls themselves to glow with a site-specific golden installation, a large-scale curved wall drawing.

Also on display are a series of tondo and oval-shaped canvases that shift from blue to gold in an exploration of the day’s cycle from dawn til dusk.

These are visually stunning works that use the sun as an inspirational element and to reveal the passage of time. Stars, waves, cliffs, bridges, and swings, are among the delicately rendered subjects presented. It’s a gorgeous show, and one that should be soaked in just as you’d sit on the beach or in a park and enjoy a little sunshine. Meditative yet energetic, this is a stellar exhibition made to be seen live.

  • Genie Davis; photos by Genie Davis

 

 

Desert X Marks the Art Spot

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Desert X Marks the Art Spot  – by Genie Davis

Through May 11th, don’t miss the 5th iteration of Desert X, in of course, the desert – Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, and Desert Hot Springs are among the locations this year.  This is one of the strongest and most successful editions of the exhibition, whose purpose is to create and present international contemporar art that fits the desert sites in which its located. We saw each of the works over a leisurely two day visit.

Let’s start where we did, with Agnes Denes jubilant, flower filled work at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage. The Living Pyramid is both an artwork and an environmental intervention, per Desert X – under any category, it’s a deeply touching piece that reveals the fragility and promise of life in the desert.

Completely different and located in the raw desert piece is Muhannad Shono’s viscerally haunting What Remains. The fabric works evoke windswept sails on long dried seas.

Sarah Meyohas’ Truth Arrives in Slanted Beams is a pristine vision that unfolds like a bright white ribbon. Her immersive installation creates significant word patterns using  “caustics,” light patterns formed by the refraction or reflection of light through curved surfaces. What a dynamite piece.

Ronald Rael’s Adobe Oasis in Palm Desert is just that, a maze that also serves as a place of rest and succor from the sun.

Out on Highway 111, off Tramway Road, in Palm Springs, Kapwani Kiwanga’s Plotting Rest is beautifully matched in setting and offers different encompassing views of art and scenery from every angle.

Sanford Biggers’ work sparkles as it brings the sky, or at least its clouds, closer to earth. Beautiful from all angles, Unsui (Mirror) shines.

Possibly my favorite in a field of favorites this year (or a desert’s worth, perhaps) is Kimsooja’s To Breathe, a dancing, light-filled walk through prism that changes with the direction of the sun. We visited at noon, when the piece gave off rainbows.

While G.H.O.S.T Ride moves about, when we saw it, the Mad-Max-like work by Cannupa Hanska Luger was just up the hill from Kimsooja’s piece. Delightful and imaginative with an audio component, the location was a tough climb on a hot day, let’s hope it’s easier to view in these warmer final weekends.

Alison Saar brings heart and soul to a terrific and interactive Soul Station in Desert Hot Springs. From a fully realized gas station interior, to signs with mantras for peaceful living, and a gas pump with a seashell silver handle that offers beautiful poetic messages to listeners, this art is fully alive.

Also in Desert Hot Springs, Jose Davila offers monoliths reminscent of Stone Henge – if Stone Henge was made today and spoke to the movement of immigration as does The act of being together.

 

Catalina Dreamin’ – Part 2

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Catalina Dreamin’ Part 2  – by Genie Davis

If you read about our first day’s adventures in Catalina, you can very likely already tell that any time is the right time to visit Catalina, Southern California’s own special island getaway. But while summer’s joys are now imminent, and it’s almost time to bring out the bathing suits, the quieter months that stretch between November and March are beautiful times to visit, too. Our visit took place at the end of February.

We enjoyed new and updated dining spots,  our first ever golf-cart-ride into the hills, just-beginning to bloom gardens, a terrific new kombucha and beer spot, and fine art exhibitions, still on-going at the Catalina Museum of Art and History.  We also enjoyed a spooky, EMF-enhanced ghost tour and took a VIP tour of the lovely Casino. For our first day adventures, click here. 

The next morning began with our first golf cart drive into the hills. While I’ve scooted around the Avalon streets with kids in tow years past, this was an inaugural trip into the hills, following a well-laid out map from our rental company, Catalina Island Golf Cart Rentals.

We first drove along the coast and up to Mt. Ada, stopping for sweeping viewpoints of the harbor, the casino, and the open sea, made more dramatic by a mix of low fog and brilliant sunshine. Next we headed into town and up to the Botanical Garden, promising ourselves a return trip later in the day when we could spend more time there. Heading to the opposite side of Avalon, we were able to watch and hear the Chimes Tower strike noon before heading down to the Descanso Beach Club, where we dined the previous day, and on through town to return the cart. The leisurely and lovely drive took two hours on the dot.

Afterwards, it was time for lunch at one of our favorites on the island, Bluewater Grill. Part of the Bluewater Grill group of
restaurants on the Mainland, there’s no location like this one: a huge deck sprawls ocean front, for a beautiful view of boats and birds and buoys. This owner-operated spot includes an oyster bar, sushi bar, and full bar selection. And of course, Bluewater’s renowned freshly made bread. We disappointed more than a few sparrows by keeping this warm deliciousness to ourselves. I had the melts-in-your-mouth umami flavors of Misoyaki Butterfish, or Pacific Black Cod, glazed with miso and served with green beans, white rice and eel sauce with green onion, cilantro and daikon sprouts, while my dining partner opted for the Togarashi Spiced Ahi Tuna.

If that wasn’t feast enough, we shared two of the restaurant’s signature desserts – Key Lime Pie and Java Mud Pie. Hard to say which was the best – so you almost have to try both.

After lunch it was time for art and history, as both are beautifully displayed at the Catalina Museum for Art and History. 

We enjoyed two compelling exhibitions: Catalina Clay is on display through January 6th, 2026. A carefully considered mix of historic information and stunning examples of Catalina-made clay works, the exhibition details the artistry of the Catalina Clay Products Company, taking viewers on a visual tour of the vibrant ceramics crafted between the 1920s and 1940s. From colorful tiles to elegant vases, the skilled craftsmanship and stunning creativity that shaped Catalina Island’s artistic identity and legacy is explored insightfully. This is an exciting and insightful exhibition. Don’t miss!

Also on exhibit at the time of our visit, and recently closed, was Pop Icons, a small but impactful collection of iconic works by Andy Warhol, Sister Corita Kent, Robert Rauschenberg, and others who shaped the Pop Art movement. Works on display included Warhol’s screen print of Queen Elizabeth II as well as abstract collage from Rauschenberg, both familiar works made fresh by their curation.

After our museum visit, we made good on our self-made promise to revisit the Wrigley Memorial and Botanic Garden.  

The late afternoon sun made the variety of plants in bloom, from cactus flowers to wildflowers, even more beautiful. The climb up the steep steps to the top of the Wrigley Memorial is more than worth making – along with lush tile work, crafted right there on Catalina Island, the views are sweeping and led down to the sea, where the sunlight dazzled the harbor. After the walk back to the center of Avalon, it was time for a short rest stop back at our relaxing hotel, the Catalina Island Inn. 

Our evening was devoted to ghosts: Jess was the fascinating host for our Haunted Catalina Ghost Tour, a walking tour that lasted a bit over two hours, and featured the use of EMF detectors, just like something out of Ghostbusters. Probably the best ghost tour I’ve ever been on, Jess told historically factual stories as she led us through the town, and out to the casino, where my EMF went off big time at a location I’d long had the sensation of believing haunted. Informative, fun, and adventurous, this is a must-do, and one that will “haunt” your memories for a long time: not kitsch, and all fun.

After another restful night to the sound of waves, we spent our last, partial day in Catalina on two activities: mini-golf and kombucha plus beer. Golf Gardens offers a 51-par course that includes an aligator statue and a water trap on an 18 hole course that has delighted generations. We had a lot of fun, and pars averaging around 70.

Last but not least, Flx Biergarten closed our trip. A bright outdoor spot with firepits, my partner chose a lavender kombucha while I stuck to Pilsner. We shared a large, fluffy, and freshly made soft pretzel that came with both queso and an excellent mustard.  The cheerful proprieters also offer hot links and hot dogs for those craving heartier fare. The biergarten would make a great spot to spend a long afternoon under its pleasant umbrellas or sparkling string lights. This brand new spot’s name recalls island history: Flx takes its name from ’50s-era Flxible buses that carried visitors on the streets of Avalon and along the island’s interior, a similar path to the other we traversed in our golf cart.

As for us, we boarded our return high-speed, smooth-sailing catamaran and headed to the Commodore Lounge for a cozy return trip to the mainland via Catalina Express.

Our sojurn Catalina dreamin’ passed all too fast, but we will be back – because summer, spring, winter or fall…the island will be there, my friends.

  • Genie Davis; photos by Genie Davis and Jack Burke