First Foot: Landscapes for a New Year

Posted on by Diversions LA

While this new year has certainly been fraught as far as the current national and global news goes, individually and collectively we still have the chance to put our “first foot forward.”

With First Foot: Landscapes for a New Year, opening this Saturday, January 17th from 4-7 p.m. at Garel Gallery in Manhattan Beach, five artists are doing exactly that with vivid and exciting looks forward at scenes both beautiful and edgy, ranging from the representative to the abstract.

In Scottish, Northern English, and Manx folklore, the first foot refers to the first person to enter a home on New Year’s Day, with that person thought to be a bringer of good fortune for the coming year.  Attending the exhibition might just bring good luck to all viewers, and it will certainly bring five unique visions to start the year right.

Working in oil, Eileen Oda brings lush and dreamy magical realism in her vividly colored, richly dimensional seascapes and desert vistas that sing with light. There are fields of pale purple flowers with a sky lucid and pink behind them, royal blue mountains, and dimensional, exsculpainted flowers blossoming on a sweeping coastal cliff.

Linda Stelling’s hypnotically blissful, motion-filled images of nature’s beauty invest her mix of the impressionistic and the abstract with wonder. Here are opalescent ocean tides and delicate, moody sunset skies that shimmer dreamily.  Her acrylic on canvas works are immersive and wondrous.

Lynette K. Henderson’s startling urban realism juxtaposes familiar Los Angeles landscapes with the hauntingly visceral animals whose habitats our lives have upended. From a startled bat outside the Odeon Theater marquee to a vigilant coyote by the Santa Monica pier,  and voluptuous flightless cassowaries luxuriating in island palms. these are stunning images pull the viewer

Valerie Wilcox focuses on the landscape of the architectural, reinventing the world around her with mixed media wall sculptures that lead the viewer into a bold, riveting new world. Abstract and utterly involving, these wall sculptures are as compelling as they are contemplative.

Also exhibiting is gallerist and artist Joanna Garel, whose cool, clean, beach-centric landscapes feature iconic images such as lifeguard towers and sky-brushing palms in a rainbow of colors.

Above: Gallerist and artist Joanna Garel, left; myself, right

Self-involvement noted: I had the pleasure of curating these beautiful works, and with a nod to the (near) future, I will soon be taking over this gallery space with a new name, Diversions Fine Arts Gallery, and many amazing artists. So come get a taste this weekend – after all, we have to step into this new year first foot and all!

Garel Fine Arts is located at 1069 N. Aviation in Manhattan Beach. Tons of free side street parking.

Opening reception: Saturday, January 17th 4-7 p.m.
Artist talk and closing: Saturday, February 7th 3-5 p.m.

 

Linda Stelling Explodes with Color

Posted on by Diversions LA

According to artist Linda Stelling, her work is inspired by color, sound, texture, scent — and the “raw, visceral experience of feeling the world deeply through all of my senses.”

Pulsating with color and form, Stelling turns her sensations into what she describes as a visual language, a way to translate her intensity of feeling and explore the inchoate, a world of exploring “the ways we experience and perceive beyond what is immediately visible. It’s about creating a space for viewers to ‘see’ with more than just their eyes, to feel the complexity of existence in a single, suspended moment.”

Indeed, Stelling’s work literally and figuratively flows with meaning, as she creates a dialog with the natural world. She explains that “My work…is a dialogue mostly about the natural world. I am very close to the earth, the people and the animals that live here.”

While sometimes taking on figurative or impressionistic form, Stelling’s work primarily focuses on the abstract, and the freedom abstraction provides for her. She relates that she is “fascinated by curvilinear forms and how I can use them to evoke a response.”

She also utilizes dream work, touching on dream symbolism in order to “develop a choice for initial creation [and] involve color, imagery, emotional attachments, and abstraction as the projected expression of connecting the inner world to the outer world in the form of a painting or sculpture.”

Connecting inner and outer worlds is the heart of Steling’s work, as she converts a personal dialog with color and shape into meaning through her, and the viewer’s, perception.

“Perception is the subjective roulette wheel and can be altered by position, mood, size, and relationship to social climate, as well as how I was raised,” she says, with her upbringing including early exposure to familial artisans and her mother’s profound love for the garden.

According to Stelling, her favorite medium for painted work is oil, whose qualities she asserts is “the most seductive, and gives me the color I crave.” However, she also loves working in clay, and the tactile nature of doing so.

Shaping multi-layered work in whatever medium she selects, Stelling’s goal is to allow viewers to find their own entry point and response to her images. “I am making beauty for all,” she says, noting that “Many of my paintings and installations are about women’s issues, the environment and our responses to the world.”

For Stelling, regardless of subject, her paintings are both conceived and created as journeys, layered materials that she carefully builds up over time with each element ultimately contributing to a finished piece. Simply put, she explains that “I try to make what I like and what gives me joy,” which she then shares with her viewers.

Having shown both internationally and throughout the U.S., Stelling is especially excited about a recent 20-work purchase by UCLA Stein Eye, and by her inclusion in the “Open Show LA” at LAAA’s Gallery 825 through January 10th.  Gallery 825 is located at 825 La Cienega Blvd. in West Hollywood, and is open by appointment.

  • Genie Davis; images provided by the artist