The Devil Made Me Do It: Satan’s Ball at Art Share

Closing this weekend, Satan’s Ball takes viewers at Art Share on a dynamic dance through darkness, dreams, and passion. With brilliant, soaring sculptures, rich and insightful paintings, and deep, evocative photographic works, there is something for every tormented artistic soul at this affaire.

Featuring the work of artists Allegra Bick-Maurischat, Andrew K. Currey, Andy Daley,
Leonard Greco, Cindy Jackson, Isabel Jackson, Randi Matushevitz, Matthew Mojica
Lori Pond, Samuelle Richardson, Jane Szabo, and Scott Trimble, this is a uniquely original collection that commands lengthy and repeated viewing.

We are looking at the magical, the mysterious, the tormented, and the glorious here, in an exhibition as artistically “hot” as well, Hades.

Samuelle Richardson, who also works with sophisticated fabric over aramature sculptural forms, here offers 2-D painting that evokes the work of Gaugin in its colors and shapes.

Jane Szabo presents a series of images from her “Family Matters” series, which features rich dark backgrounds from which heirloom and other household items seem to emerge as if from a dream.

Each object appears to represent not just itself, but serves as a stand-in for a person, a family member – who matters. These still lives are anything but still – memory and emotion seems to vibrate from each frame.

Lori Pond’s dark, fable-like photographs are also represented at the exhibition.

A highlight of the show are the incredible, classical images of the late Cindy Jackson, whose ecstatic and agonized human forms are lit from within, glowing, grand, and viscerally passionate.

These sculptures are suspended from the ceiling at Art Share, low enough to the ground that viewers can witness their light source, yet elevated enough to seem as if they are flying. Such beautiful and unique work from an artist who left the Los Angeles community far too soon. Jackson’s sculptures are spiritual in nature, sophisticated yet emotionally accessible, exploding with movement and longing.

Randi Matsushevitz continues to explore consciousness and experience, unafraid to delve into psychological depths.

Working in charcoal, pastel, and spray paint on paper, her large scale works observe and create an entire universe, one in which the viewer is pulled into emerging images that fascinate and provoke, leading one into a compelling world just beyond our own.

Likewise, Scott Trimble’s figurative yet freeform expressionistic style, is awash in layered light and motion. Here, mysterious landscapes and inscrutable shadowy figures sift into viewers’ consciousness.

Poetic and exotic, yet ultimately striking a resonant chord of deep understanding, Trimble’s work vibrates with not-quite discernible emotion.

Leonard Greco’s works are a fusion of Biblical, fairy-tale, and brilliantly modern images. His paintings and fabric sculptures work are packed with detail, powerful and haunting, surreal icons dealing in mythic imagery.