Group art curated by Leah C. Dixon at ArtX – all photos by Jack Burke
Sunday marked the closing of this small but stellar showcase for four states of matter – and four terrific artists. Held at the Art Exchange in Long Beach, the show illustrates that matter itself can transcend it’s earthly anchor, and mutate into, well, art.
Neon artist Linda Sue Price used neon gas to shape her works.
Linda Sue Price – neon
Solid matter? That’s Ron Therrio’s beautiful wood work.
Kate Carvellas’ abstract sculptures represent the shift of liquid matter.
Alex Schaeffer – the element is fire
The exhibit was both playful and profound, another win for ArtX, which also sponsors monthly art walks and art activities, as well as hands-on arts classes.
Osceola Refetoff, Uri Koll, Hayley Colston at Gypsy Trails Gallery outside Torrance Museum of Art – all photos – Jack Burke
A collaboration of Hayley Colston and Juri Koll, the Gypsy Trails Gallery is rolling up to museums throughout the Southland, featuring different, “museum grade” artists at each stop. “Each artist is chosen specifically to be a part of a museum, to best fit each museum’s atmosphere,” Colston says. With eleven different artists and eleven different museum stops running through March of 2016, Gypsy trails is, Colston says, “more accepted now that other museums have worked with us. It’s a concept that takes leg work, but the result is creating a travelnig gallery that offers the same treatment for its artists as a museum. We think it will steam roll from here.”
Koll, the director of the Venice Institute of Contemporary Art is working to promote the idea of a museum in Venice, while honoring other museums, and recognizing their importance within their respective communities.
Saturday night, the gallery displayed the work of photographer Osceola Refetoff in a solo show outside the Torrance Museum of Art. Refetoff’s work reveals the harsh and beautiful spirit of the desert, and casts a spell of awe for the landscape and the people who have lived in it. His evocative photos are mysterious and magical – decay as transformation; loss and loneliness baked in the sun and suffused with love – these are his subjects.
“Transformations,” Peggy Sivert’s solo show at Gallery H of Phantom Galleries Los Angeles is a vivid exhibition of Sivert’s moving and intimate work. Running until September 26th, the opening Saturday night included a performance by the artist, who transformed her own constantly worked and reworked pieces live, cutting and tearing several canvases to the rumble of primitive music and mention of both God and Satan. Sivert explains “This exhibit, and my performance, represent a long, challenging struggle of painting to complete this solo show. It pushed me to finish a body of work that has been going on for fifteen years. With the performance, I was able to go beyond the paintings. It was a closure leading toward clarity.” Sivert says she’s looking forward to creating “new work that will come from a clear place.”
Transformations – Peggy Sivert at Gallery H of the Phantom Galleries, Hawthorne – all photos by Jack Burke
“Horses represent the spiritual, the next realm,” Sivert says. “It was not a strong conscious association for me.”
Once upon a time, eleven years ago, students at California State University Long Beach were left out of MFA student exhibitions – Long Beach itself being left by the wayside. So, according to artist and coordinator Kimberly Morris, “We built our own sandbox and now everyone plays in it.” Today, the Greater Los Angeles MFA survey exhibition is a powerhouse of art curated by CSULB grad students, and drawing submissions from as far away as Santa Barbara, Las Vegas, and San Diego. Combined with the opening panel, reception, and exhibition held this past Sunday afternoon, students’ open studios were offered for the art-browsing. Different this year, according to Morris, was that “members of our panel also have their own work on exhibit this year.” Art being a visual medium, let the pictures that follow tell the story – and do go see this exhibit, running through September 3rd on the CSULB campus at the Fine Arts building. What are you waiting for? Jump on the 405 or the 710! Parking, like the exhibit itself, is free.
Artist Lan Duong
The central courtyard between galleries showcases artist Lena Wolek’s “Big Pants”
Works by Logan Bell; Christina Mesiti
Artist Yael Nov
Artist Stacy Wendt
Lena Wolek is just commencing her second week in the MFA program. The artist moved here from Siberia fourteen years ago. These ceramic suitcases work as drums; Wolek demonstrates the music they make.
Artist Manny Krakowski has a background in glass blowing. This project is called “Salt Ball,” and is a monument to performance art Krakowski performed on the Bonneville Salt Flats. The exhibit includes a three-channel video documenting the ball game on the flats.
