Daniel Leighton’s Permission to Enter and Chestnut Group Show at Los Angeles Art Association

LAAA Group Show, "Chestnut" - Photos: Jack Burke
LAAA Group Show, “Chestnut” – Photos: Jack Burke

The Los Angeles Art Association continues to knock them out of the ball park with a series of solo shows and one group show this month.

A Young Girl's Vanity - Kristine Schomaker
A Young Girl’s Vanity – Kristine Schomaker

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Along with Lori Pond’s dark Menace, and Elyse Wyman’s insightful Conceal/Reveal, Daniel Leighton offers a portal to another dimension with Permission to Enter.

Daniel Leighton's Permission to Enter
Daniel Leighton’s Permission to Enter

Through an augmented reality app, Leighton takes viewers beyond the experience of seeing his art and within it. The title of his exhibition refers to allowing or not allowing this interaction, or any human interaction – granting “permission to enter.”

Works such as “Their Place in the Sky” offer a bold color pallet and evocative forms that feel both elemental and impressionistic. Here the color purple gives birth to a new young shape that represents both a peaceful progression and uncertain melancholy.

Combining technology with his brilliant color spectrum and dream-like images makes Permission to Enter a magical exhibition that’s fully experiential.

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Visions from the group show, Chestnut.

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The experiences of many artists are on display in the group exhibition at LAAA, Chestnut. Juried by Walter Maciel of Culver City’s Walter Maciel Gallery, Chestnut includes works by a number of outstanding LA area artists including Linda Sue Price’s “Forget,” a blossom of neon; Jane Szabo’s archival pigment print “Superman,” which depicts a grown man getting his super-hero on in a child’s room; and Kristine Schomaker’s evocative “A Young Girl’s Vanity,” a mixed media sculpture that posits questions about body image, self-reflection, and self-awareness. Other standouts include Rob Grad’s spray paint on bi-level plexi-glass works, “Preflight” and “Unplugged,” and Dahye Kim’s video installation, “Dreaming.”

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The Los Angeles Arts Association is located at 825 La Cienega in West Hollywood – and if you haven’t gotten the message yet in previous stories on present exhibitions, go see what art is all about.

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Jane Szabo’s “Superman” above.

  • Genie Davis; Photos: Jack Burke