Diversions LA

The four solo shows that make up Gabba Gallery’s current exhibition, “Layers,” are complex and multi-faceted. Each collection delves deep into and through their visual surfaces, presenting a multi-faceted prism through which viewers can see beyond what meets the eye.

The artists are Essi Zimm, Toshee, Nicholas Bonamy, and Joey Feldman,  and the sum of their work, when viewed together, adds yet another layer to the show.

Essi Zimm’s work takes viewers into a land of fairy tales and spirits.

Delving deep into the world of the Japanese supernatural creatures known as the Yokai, Zimm’s work creates a wonderous world of mysterious birds and the glowing streaks of fish.

In “Kappa” three astonishingly life-like frogs appear ready to jump from a canvas alive with lily pad flowers, spheres, and collage elements that appear like the work of taggers across the surface.

Like all of Zimm’s pieces in this series, she develops the backgrounds to her work first, and her representative figures second. “I figure out what story comes from that, and it’s a fairly long process, usually two to three weeks. Because of the time considerations involved in this exhibition, I tried creating the backgrounds to multiple pieces at once to develop the stories,” Zimm explains.

“I tried to pick characters that spoke to me, or are major supernatural figures – there are hundreds to choose from,” Zimm says. “I research the fairy tales I want to talk about and paint about.”

Toshee’s mixed media pieces share a common element with Zimm: Japanese story telling. “This collection is based on personal experiences traveling through Japan. I’ve been interested in Japanese art and architecture since I was a little boy,” he explains.

“These pieces take elements between order and chaos to form harmony.” Toshee grew up in New York City, and was influenced by the graffiti he saw throughout the city. “My inspiration comes from that urban visual landscape, as well as techniques such as animation cel drawing and Japanese wood block prints.”

The artist builds layers by taking on the shapes first, then “attacking the background, using several layers of resin that gives me multiple layers to build over.” His pieces have a strongly sculptural quality, as in “Himeji,” a carefully realized vision of a Japanese pagoda and impressionistic cherry blossoms, transports the viewer to another place and time, or in a single, depth-filled painting of a rose.

Nicholas Bonamy’s collage panels depict familiar, iconic Los Angeles landscapes enlivened with vibrant colors, graphic shapes, and paint drips and splatters. Each element that Bonamy builds, from collage to paint, is a progression that pulls the viewer into a new way of seeing the City of Angels, giving it wings.

“I try not to be afraid of messing up my detailed work. It’s apart of the same process when I mix in drops and other layers. I build the background first and then build up the foreground,” Bonamy explains.

“I get my inspiration for locations from simply driving around. Everyone drives around. I just see things out the window that I want to take a photograph of, and then I paint that.” Once he’s decided on an image, the artist say he takes that image and thinks about what he can do with it to make it still recognizable but incorporate “crazy color.” Bonamy says he wants to make Los Angeles as beautiful as it can be. “LA is a grey city. It’s beautiful, but it’s grey because it’s sad in a way, a rat race. People’s dreams die every day here.”

“I put the color in. I love LA, it’s home, I’m trying to paint that girl, put make up on the city,” the artist notes.

“My paintings are impressionistic, but it’s not about brush strokes, it’s about graphic shapes and letting the paint do what it wants to do.”

In his own words, Joey Feldman does “Character portraiture. I’m an artist, illustrator, cartoonist, all spontaneous. I don’t do any penciling. All the mistakes are part of each picture. I go straight to ink, there’s nothing pre-planned.”

Feldman draws every day, and frequently works on a piece that represents pop culture, politics, birthdays – whatever inspires him at the moment.

“When David Bowie died, I did a portrait of him. I made twenty four prints, twelve standard, twelve special editions that have hand-drawn elements. I donated the proceeds to the City of Hope.” From icons like Bowie and Hunter Thompson to politicians from Bernie to Trump,  Leonard Nimoy, Han Solo and Chewie, Bill Murray, and a self-portrait, the layers that Feldman exposes are emotional and intimate.

Fairy tales, foreign lands, Los Angeles landscapes, and cultural icons – that’s a heady mix of subjects and rich territory for mining many layers of artistic vision and meaning. Check out The Gabba Gallery’s fine exhibition through April 2nd. The gallery is located at 3126 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles.