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.

 

Echoes of the Self Resonates at Durden and Ray

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Echoes of the Self Resonates at Durden and Ray – Genie Davis

Echoes of the Self: Contemporary Explorations in Self-Representation is an exciting, even revolutionary exhibition currently on tap at Durden and Ray. Curated by Valerie Wilcox and Jenny Hager, who each have lovely pieces in the show, the full artist roster also includes
Nina Alvarez, Nicole T. Belle, Rory Devine, Ayin Es, Mark Steven Greenfield, Nichol Marsch, Randi Matushevitz, Dakota Noot, Mei Xian Qiu, Vojislav Radovanović, Jennifer Strings, Chidi Ukwuoma, and Eden Yono.

Working in wide range of mediums from stunning stand-up paper dolls to wildly creative mixed media video, paintings, drawings,  and sculpture, the artists present an array of talent as vastly diverse as their visions of self.

Curators Wilcox and Hager describe the show as representing “contemporary human experience through modes of self-representation and the intersection of personal narratives.” As important and weighty as that description may be, and as potent as the issues the show addresses are, from mental health to identity and gender politics, don’t be fooled. The show is also pure fun, inventive, and beautiful art, and a necessary and sharp commentary on our personal lives and the world in which we live.

Roughly based on the conceptions of self-portraiture, the exhibition swells beyond that, creating the kind of narrative that engages the senses and feelings of viewers, inviting us into the hearts and minds of others as well as encouraging us to examine our own.

There are also nods to the significance of digital technology in our lives, and how it both melds and divides us, and shapes our own perceptions. We may be looking at a world, and an inner self, that is shaped by social and digital interactions – frankly, such as this one.

But this is an exhibition you truly must take in live: there are so many moving parts, both emotionally and literally, from the fascinating video work presented within a 60s era television cabinet to the motion blurred twirl of a hanging sculpture, these works reach out to the viewer, begging an immediate sense of reaction and illuminating the soul and spirit of each depicted identity.

It would be hard to ignore the absolute standout that is Jennifer Strings’ “The Doll Chronicles-Welcome to the Doll Realm,” a mixed-media stop-motion and animation 12-minutes video featuring a variety of ball joined dolls created by artists Elizaveta Fastovets/ Holy.a.Nora; Dolls/ Eli Effenberger, Marmite Sue/ Doll Menagerie with mohair doll wigs by Anna Zolotuhina. Such a wild, imaginative, deeply involving ride this work is. Shaun Sisco provided Strings’ retro cabinet and television.

On the shelf below the television cabinet, Strings has included props from the video work that give the viewer insight into the complex thoroughly alive project she has created. So, what does it all mean? For this viewer, it was about entering a realm in which we see the real as surreal yet recognizable, delightful yet incongruent, fascinatingly detailed and immediately familiar. In short, these are dolls, and they could be you.

Randi Matushevitz, “Psychedelic Journey 1” is a very different sort of video, a painting of the artist’s that morphs and changes from its interface with video, creating a highly mutable, strangely transcendent view of shifting self, and redolent with the sense that life is always shifting, even if it is imperceptible to the naked eye until the passage of time and thought reveals it.

Nina Alvarez’ video, “The Honesty Protocol,” is also riven by change, presenting shifts both subtle and exhilarating.

Dakota Noot’s “Children of the Corn-fed,” are wonderful, richly poignant stand-up “paper dolls” made from colored pencil, crayon, and marker drawings on paper and foam core. Reaching up to 66” in height, the work charms and reimagines self. We are where we came from, growing up with kernels of self-perception and wisdom, as well as distortions and fears (yes, pun intended). But we are more than that. We can change, grow, represent ourselves and the world we came from while reimagining it. These are as delightful as they look, an entire living diorama of perception.

Vojislav Radovanović’s gorgeous, delicate hanging sculpture, “Everyday Balancing Acts,” is delicate and ethereal, constructed from found gloves, wooden sticks, branches, expanding foam, bungee cords, metal hooks, and acrylic on wood. It is a painted mobile that evokes something spiritual, the balancing act we perform by simply existing in a complicated world, always shifting to meet the moment and the winds of change.

Co-curator Jenny Hager’s lustrous and enveloping “Embonpoints,” an acrylic on canvas, is aglow with color, line, and a dream-like sense of possibility; her curatorial partner, Valerie Wilcox, offers an incredibly rich, dimensional wall sculpture made from acrylic, foam board, and plaster.

The pale pink and soft teale blue of “It’s Good to be Seen” evokes gender identities and the hidden gaze. Who are we looking at? And who might we be if we looked within.  Wilcox notes that the piece is about invisibility, the effort to be seen, and the feeling of being unseen.

Conceptualizing her vision about self was a curatorial idea that Wilcox was long passionate about for a show. The result  is an exhibition that offers lustrous diversity and seamlessly “unseen” curation from the curatorial team.

Nichol Marsch’s “Self Portrait 29 (Broken),” is a different sort of wall sculpture constructed of stuffed nylon pantyhose, with thread, hair, wire, eyeshadow, and nail polish. This bisected body is a puzzle we have constructed for ourselves; the gaps between body parts may be interpreted as the soul, or what society has removed away from us.

Ayin Es’s oil on canvas, “Sucker” gives us a weeping human with blackened eyes. It is a dark night of the soul personified with grace; Mark Steven Greenfield’s pen and ink drawing is a complex, interwoven tapestry,  a “Selfie” indeed.

Each of six colored pencil drawings by Eden Yono, “Iniaon/Clone/Right of Femme” feel poignant,  entirely askew, yet alive.

Nicole Belle’s ink jet print “Untitled (with ball of yarn)” startles with its alien-invasion-like black ball of yarn emanating from the model’s nostrils; Jennifer Strings presents a piece quite different from her stop-motion animation, a ballpoint pen on Bristol self-portrait, also “Untitled;” while Rory Devine takes us into the comic realm with his untitled “Self-portrait as Towlie, ” with bloodshot eyes and wistful gaze.

Also impactful: Mei Xian Qiu, “Selfie Friends,” a photographic installation depicting many moods and locations; and Chidi Ukwuoma’s “Liminal Space,” is richly onyx colored Earthenware clay with ceramic glaze, a bold eclipse of a sculpture. That latter work is brilliantly different from each perspective in which it is viewed.

This is a provocative showcase that asks the viewer to enjoy, connect, and consider their own nature while experiencing these artists’ own.

The closing reception is from 5 to 7 p.m. next Saturday, November 22nd. Don’t miss exploring.

Durden and Ray is located at 1206 Maple Ave. in DTLA in the Bendix Building, Suite 832.

  • Genie Davis; photos by Genie Davis and by Valerie Wilcox

Past and Perfect – Exhibitions at Durden and Ray, Wonzimer Gallery, and Persons Unknown

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Sometimes life just gets the best of you. You see great shows, post all the photos, and have no time to write the actual reviews. So here are three recently closed, truly wonderful exhibitions that deserve mention. Look for these galleries and artists in upcoming exhibitions throughout the year.

Wonzimer Gallery – We Insist On Growing – Cheyanne Washington 

Cheyanne Washington’s solo exhibition, We Insist On Growing, combined fiercely textured, exciting and sinuous forms wtih the astonishing use of her own natural pigments. If ever an artist deserved the description “alchemist” it would be Washington. Paintings, banners, and a wonderful sculptural work comprised this beautiful exhibition,  the title of which resonates with what the artist calls “the resilience and persistence found in nature.”

There’s a gravitational pull to these works, a life force that seems to arise from nature itself, embodied by the earth-rendered paints and clay. Washington shapes figurative art that exudes a sentient, sensual connection to the natural world, and transcends both its materials and subject, creating work that is serene and absorbing. Both paintings and ceramic works elevate the viewer’s grasp of nature, and relate to the intrinisic joy of creation itself.

If Washington insists on growing, then viewers everywhere should insist on watching her do so.

Currently at Wonzimer: (above) a solo exhibition by Gary Brewer, Everything is Radiant through May 15th, paintings and sculpture.

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Durden and Ray – Tieze – Group Exhibition

Curated by the powerful trio of Arezoo Bharthania, Dani Dodge, and Hagop Najarian, Tieze was the always-inventive collective gallery’s response to the bedecked halls of the Frieze art fair. Fresh and vibrant, the exhibition featured work by Ismael de Anda III, Carlos Beltran Arechiga, Arezoo Bharthania, Jorin Bossen, Gul Cagin, Sijia Chen, Joe Davidson, Dani Dodge, Vita Eruhimovitz, Jenny Hager, Regina Herod, David Leapman, Atilio Pernisco, Snezana Saraswati Petrovic, Carolyn Mason, Hagop Najarian, Ty Pownall, Max Presneill, Dylan Ricards, Stephanie Sherwood, Curtis Stage, Valerie Wilcox, Alexandra Wiesenfeld, and Steven Wolkoff.

From the swirling movement of figurative abstracts by Najarian to Wolkoff’s paint sculpture, magical video from Petrovic, asonishing sculptural works from Pownall and Davidson to small but mighty sculptures utilizing Monopoly pieces by Dodge, there was a medium and a message to compel the eye of any viewer. It would be hard to pick just one favorite among a myriad of stand outs. Bhartania and Hager showed vibrant, multi-layered paintings while Wilcox showed a delicate looking paper cocoon of a sculpture. A far cooler and more cutting edge group exhibition than was present at any of the commercial art fairs this year, the exhibition artists were all Durden and Ray artist/curators, participating in the only show each year dedicated to highlighting all of the Durden and Ray artists’ work as a group.

Currently at Durden and Ray (above): Smiling in Chaos – Group Show – Co-curated by Gonzalo García Gaitán, Ismael de Anda III, Carlos Beltrán Aréchiga through May 18th,  a collaboration between Columbian collective Si Nos Pagan Boys and Los Angeles based artists, all of whom use humor and levity in their work as a form of resistance.

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Persons Unknown – Into the Hamper’s Belly – Group Show

Into the Hamper’s Belly featured four artists working in sculpture, installation, and painting. The group exhibition was devoted to those who “revel in ongoing processes of accumulation and transmutation…[and] a sense of porous frementation.”

Artists Inga Hendrickson, Rachel Elizabeth Jones, Caitlin Servilio, and Corrine Yonce used a variety of atypical art materials ranging from cardboard, cement, pigment, foam, silicone, wax, plastic, sand, and even clamshells, to create an exhibition of diverse artists and art forms that nonetheless presented as a whole; a mystical and organic installation that merged into one being within the cutting-edge gallery floor.

And in the back studio space, the beautiful work of gallerist and artist Ariel Oakley Pelletier.

Currently at Persons Unknown (above): Fumbled Worlds – The Invented People of Alfonse Aletto – through May 20th, a survey of painted works from a prolific self-taught artist.

Look for these galleries and previously exhibited artists as well as current shows ASAP.  Great art is a joy we should all be sharing — especially in today’s precarious world.

  • Genie Davis; photos by Genie Davis and provided by galleries

Valerie Wilcox: In a Year Where Nothing Seemed Possible – “A Bridge to Possibilities II”

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Mixed media artist Valerie Wilcox works with common, salvaged materials creating what she calls “connections between our everyday lives and ideas about how we construct our physical and psychological space. I like to push the surreal with ambiguous shapes that hover between a two-dimensional plane and a three-dimensional structure.”

Her dimensional works play with space and perception, using the effects of light and shadow. She turns the objects with which she shapes her work into canvasses of sorts, emphasizing the materials as well as the painted and textured surfaces she creates.

“I form these hybrid dimensional constructions/paintings using discards, found elements and humble materials. Ideals of perfection versus inherent human fallibility are fundamental in my work. I embrace the mistakes,” she says.

Following the ideology of Wabi Sabi and the acceptance and beauty of transience and imperfection, she rejoices in the anomalies arising from the process of construction, she relates, saying they add elegance to the final work.

Wilcox says she is always experimenting with different materials throughout Constructs, her continuing body of work, enjoying the freedom to explore a wide variety of materials. “I started working with found discards and humble materials when I found myself with a lot of remnants leftover from my design work and previous projects. I was looking for the opportunity and resources to develop more sculptural 3D compositions while still working as a painter.” She adds “This way of working continually opens up new possibilities…Starting with the materials becomes e a meditation on form and shape. It’s like working with puzzle pieces that don’t fit together, but at some point, they make themselves awkwardly happy collaborators.”

Wilcox used these techniques in creating a vast commissioned piece, “A Bridge to Possibilities II.”

Creating the work, she employed her usual process, with one large difference involved: she had to start from scratch with the pieces she used to create it, as she had no scrap to work with and she needed to do specific design sketches for approvals, and pieces cut to fit the layout.

“This is not how I normally work,” Wilcox attests. “I’m very process oriented and usually start from the inspiration that the materials provide me, not from a pre-ordained design.”

The biggest challenge however was creating an extremely large work in her studio space. “The sculpture was made with 26 individual pieces combined to make the finished size of about 6 ft x 17 ft. I made it in 4 sections so it could be easier to transport and install.”

Because her studio isn’t large enough to work on all the pieces together, she purchased three 6 ft. tables and set them up in her home’s tandem garage. Using this system, she could paint the work all together when laid out flat.

According to the artist, “It was a new challenge for me to work this large, however, because of the way I work in general, which is to work on the separate pieces first and then combine them together, I was able to work like a production line and prepare the individual pieces separately in my studio and in the garage. In order to see how the piece was working and provide progress photos to the client, I had to lay it out in our driveway and shoot it from our rooftop to get it all in one photo.” Next time, perhaps, a drone.

While many of the techniques she used to create the work remained consistent with her work on other pieces, in this case she used a stronger but just as lightweight material called Gator Board to make the work easier to install.

“I also worked with a fabricator to create a wood cleat system on the back for hanging. They did the installation using a matching cleat system on the wall. This was hung in 4 sections that fit into each other like puzzle pieces,” she says.

The piece was commissioned through an art consultancy formed hired by a New York-based designed firm that renovated the hotel. The team liked Wilcox’ original “A Bridge to Possibilities,” and sough a larger iteration of it that used colors fitting well with their interior design.

The piece will have to wait for the pandemic to – finally – end to find its audience. It was commissioned by the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego, located in the downtown San Diego harbor area, and it’s installed in the main bar. The bar is of course closed until restrictions are lifted.

That makes Wilcox’ large and lovely artwork another gem to look forward to experiencing in the coming new year. It will be a “Bridge to Possibilities II” indeed, for most of us.

  • Genie Davis; photos, Genie Davis and courtesy of the artist