Debbie Korbel: The Alignment of Inspiration and Laughter

Lovers in progress w DebDebbie Korbel says what most inspires her sculptures is laughter.

“I love to laugh and to make other people laugh. As a kid it was fun to go up to people and tickle them.  I’ve found, as an adult, that is not so appreciated, but I can try ‘tickle’ them with something I make.”

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And indeed she does. Her beautiful, sometimes poignant, sometimes wonderfully amusing assemblage sculptures are a pure pleasure to see, layered and sensorial indulgence that truly reaches into the viewer’s mind and heart. Her works tell stories we want to hear again and again.

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“In a specific way, I am inspired when an idea just wafts in the window in my mind. There it rests, and blossoms – or festers – until I decide what to do about it. The origins of these ideas are varied –perhaps something is provoked from an overheard conversation, or I might come across an old car part that has a beautiful organic shape,” she relates. “Trying to dissect inspiration feels a little like trying to understand a butterfly by pulling off the wings—it doesn’t look that great when you tear it apart, but there is magic when everything is in alignment.”

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Korbel explains that she hopes to connect with viewers on an emotional level, and wants viewers to recognize something they can relate to, or find familiar in her work. “Maybe, even see a bit of themselves at a vulnerable moment and by seeing me, a stranger, express these feelings, be reminded that as humans we all share them, even though we put on our socially appropriate adult exteriors.”

One way in which she tries to connect with her viewers is through the laughter that inspires her as an artist. “So, when I do pieces that I think are funny I am always so delighted if other people find them so, because in laughter, there is understanding,” she attests. “There is a bond in both laughter and tears. I am always on the verge of either laughing or crying.  Some of the work I do is a combination of the melancholy and humorous, while other projects are more solidly in the vin triste category.”

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Korbel has always gravitated toward art. She’s made jewelry, learned Chinese brush painting, written for television, and believes she’s truly hit her stride with sculpture.

“It combines the process of conceptual thinking with the tactile nature and satisfaction of physically making something,” she notes.

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Her sculptural assemblages are incredibly unique, and according to the artist, she begins with an idea or image in mind at times, and at others, with a material that attracts her.

“Sometimes I find a piece of scrap metal or wood that is interesting to me. It will ‘look like a part of something’ to me—perhaps the shape will remind me of a of a human leg, a samurai’s skirt, or a rabbit’s ear, and then I think about what the rest of a sculpture might look like. I base the scale of the sculpture on the size of the initial piece. Other times, I have an idea percolating in my head and I consciously look for materials that might work well in the execution of my idea.”

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The richness and texture of her work seems entwined with her use of found materials, but she has not always worked with such mixed mediums.

“When I started sculpting, I began working in clay. I soon came to realize that there were problems and limitations in working solely in this material.  I didn’t want to be confined to these limitations. When I use pieces of steel and other metals, they have the inherent strength to support a large sculpture.  Also, it was so much fun to find unusual materials and repurpose them in my art piece. I often don’t know the original use for some of the pieces I find, and people enjoy identifying them and will come up and tell me, ‘Oh, look, it’s an old air compressor valve’ or ‘Look, it’s a horse femur,'” she laughs.

To say her work is textured, or uses an incredible mix of materials to shape what are really classically perfect sculptures is almost to miss the point – of course her works are composed in this way, but it is the spirit that infuses them through these techniques that makes them so fascinating. They are dream-like yet real, mysterious yet richly comprehensible. Her works feel inhabited – they have gravitas, wit, and soul.

One of the reasons Korbel says that she is so drawn to using assemblage is a philosophical ones. “I actually like the idea of assemblage being a metaphor for us, human beings. We are certainly the sum total of many things sewn together.”

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Artistically, Korbel says one of the things she loves best is “the license to indulge my imagination, to be open to new ideas, projects and materials. It’s much more motivating to stumble across unexpected inspiration.” She adds “I tend to work on a couple of sculptures at a time and am very focused until I complete them.  However, I don’t like to plan too many projects in advance, as that starts to feel like a to-do-list and kind of kills my creative mojo.”

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For Korbel, the freedom to make impulsive choices in her work adds the serendipity. “I feel that I am able to maintain a level of excitement this way.”

Viewers can certainly feel that palpable excitement in her  inventive work when they see it, and will be able to do so, soon.

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Korbel will be participating in an open studio event at the Hawthorn Arts Complex in Hawthorne, Calif. August 5th from 2-6 p.m., and exhibiting in the show About a Box at Shoebox Projects in DTLA, August 12 through 26. She has shows upcoming with Red Tie Promotions in October and November as well, with dates TBA.

 

  • Genie Davis; photos: courtesy of Debbie Korbel

Martin Cox: Visual Poetry Both Epic and Haiku

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Martin Cox is a visual poet. He engages heart, mind, and soul with his photographic art; beautiful images that once seen, remain etched like a memory in the mind of the viewer.

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His exhibition Snow Drawings, closing at Fabrik Gallery on La Cienega this Wednesday, is a gorgeous series, an enchanted selection of Icelandic landscapes that both depicts a very specific place and transcends both space and time. A dichotomy? A graceful one.

Cox discussed his work Saturday, describing the heart and soul of his minimal archival pigment print photographs, which depict a recent trip to northeast Iceland. Each image reveals the vastness, the beauty, and the fragility of what the artist terms the “vulnerability of the arctic natural world.” His work seeks not only to reveal the intricate beauty and indelible images of the region but to bring viewers’ attention to the rapid climate change in the region. He is fearful that the greatness of this environment may be lost forever.

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Images are spare, almost as if they were woodblock prints. The wide mountains, the tiny home, the fragile imprint of a tree – this is what Cox wants us to see.

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Along with his photographic art, Cox is also working to preserve the area by introducing other artists to its wonder. He’s established and officially opened GilsfjordurArts, a residency program in a wonderfully isolated part of Iceland in which he is establishing 3-week residencies starting August 26th. 

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He describes the landscape and his experience in it while working the create the residency space. “I went for a walk. Just the sound of wagtails warning me I may be straying near their nests, and the fast flowing river and falls nearly, and this odd realization that no one was observing me. Despite the vastness of the landscape it was completely devoid of humans, just the sheep giving me a once over.”

That Cox loves this land, this landscape, this earth is evident in all of his work. Snow Drawings offers a shimmering vision of the icy beauty, and the threat posed to it by global warming.

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In his exhibition talk last Saturday, Cox revealed “Wild blue berries are vanishing due to lack of snow. The grass is being over taken by moss, also due to reduced snow. Winter rain never used to happen, now it rains in winter. Autumn is changing more than Spring – it is getting warmer and longer.”

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The works themselves are riven with light, with frozen beauty. We think of the cold climate, the ice, and the snow as something temporary. It vanishes with Spring. We may even love that temporary quality. But as Cox’s glowing, moving visual poetry  shows all too clearly, that transitional quality to the cold is only welcome when the transition to Spring is natural, not when it is a permanent state of transition, erasing the very existence of cold itself.

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The artist exhibits – in the spare, sparkling quality of his work – visual haiku as it were, deep passion for this landscape and its images, and deep understanding and kindness for its fragility, and in fact, the fragility of the earth itself, and man’s existence upon it.  His tiny houses, his small farms, set against a backdrop of such amazing vastness that it is even more shocking the effect man has had on the seemingly endless scope of nature.

The other poetry structure his artwork evokes is an epic saga – each fleeting poetic vista is part of a greater, vast whole, representing all of humanity.

There is a glimpse, in Cox’s lustrous landscapes, of a grand beauty, a great possibility – hanging from a thread. It could all, literally and figuratively, melt away.

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Above, Cox’s photography by day and by night.

 

In the meantime, Cox will show it to us, in spare and insightful works that make the fingers tingle with the cold; he will show it to us with his residency project, introducing his love for the land in physical proximity to it. 

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Cox says “It was my mind that placing artists in the big silence would offer a place to disengage, recharge, engage.” And to connect them to this environment, and show them, gently, show us all, what is at stake. “There is an Icelandic expression þetta reddast, it means ‘it’ll all work out in the end.’ Sometimes things works out, sometimes they don’t, but we don’t stop trying.”

He will photograph the soul of the earth, and reveal it in poetry.

For more information about Cox’ Iceland Artists Residency program, visit www.gilsfjordurarts.com 

To catch the closing of Snow Drawings, visit Fabrik Gallery at 2636 La Cienega Blvd. in Culver City.

  • Genie Davis; photos courtesy of the artist

Magical Pairing at Fred Tieken Gallery: Karrie Ross and Sabine Meyer Zu Reckendorf

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On the face of it, Sabine Meyer Zu Reckendorf’s delightful, zany, whimsical sculptures and the light-filled, delicate paintings and mixed media work of Karrie Ross might not seem a match for a gallery presenting two solo artists. Different styles, mediums, all of that.

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But together at the Fred Tieken Gallery in Chinatown – the two artists’ diverse solo shows merged perfectly. The beautifully curated work of both Zu Reckendorf and Ross felt magically aligned. With a gallery show both packed with fun and meaning, the two artists created a vibrant show.

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With her exhibition Uncharted Encounters, Ross offers lush, highly intricate works which she calls “visual details of personal survival.” Highly detailed, each of her pieces flow with light and motion,  captivating viewers with the layers of color, line, and touches of gold. Wirework as fine as a spider’s web, small totems, woven things are a part of a number of pieces here, which include images from the Ross’s Kimono series.

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There is something both eternal and ephemeral about the artist’s work; one feels a sense of wonder in these pieces. Abstract yet personal, these pieces shimmer and dance. Viewers would be unsurprised if the moment they looked away, the works flung themselves into motion, merely suspending their movement to allow a closer look into their depths. Ross makes the minute details she creates seem almost effortless, as if they had created themselves from within.

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Zu Reckendorf ‘s Utopic Creations “the discipline of science brought into the exuberant play of creative art” are crafted from discarded materials, designed and fabricated into vibrant, often amusing, always intriguing, and incredibly alive sculptures. They’re simply wonderful, filled with a wild and rich, highly tactile energy that’s contagious to viewers.

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From a silver rat with glowing red eyes to robotic-like creatures with standing-up multi-colored plastic hair, she is shaping beings as well as art.

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A wonderful miniature draws viewers into a glowing little world; brilliantly colored lights glow within highly textured works. 

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The pairing of the two artists is as smooth as it is unexpected. Touches of color are a match.

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The curves and sweeps of Ross’s lines mesh well with the fascinating creatures and worlds that Zu Reckendorf has shaped.

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Together these two artists have assembled shows that are like a beacon of light and magic.

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Both, despite the diversity of their mediums, have created complex work with unique materials; by drawing viewers into their journeys, the world is a brighter place.

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It’s a neat trick indeed to pair such diverse work and make it sing together, a joyous chorus of art in really almost perfect harmony.

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The show closed July 21st, but Ross and Zu Reckendorf are out there creating, both LA-based artists you should pounce upon seeing,  serving up a magical concoction called art.

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  • Genie Davis; Photos: Genie Davis

 

Los Angeles Diversity Film Festival Seeks to Inspire, Embrace, Empower

 

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Running July 26-28 at the Let Live Theater in Hollywood, the Los Angeles Diversity Film Festival offers screenings, panel discussions, and guest speakers – all focusing on the festival’s tag like to “Inspire, Embrace, Empower.”

The 3-day event begins with an opening night party, a block of international shorts, and a Q & A with filmmakers. Now in its 5th year, the festival is dedicated to establishing an inclusive and multicultural experience through independent films.

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Independent film producer and educator Sonja Mereu is helming as festival director for the second year. She says a record-breaking number of submissions were received this time around, with the final selection offering “unique perspectives on the human experience” that audiences just won’t see anywhere else.

Mereu has been involved in LADFF since the festival began. “Our founder Hollis McLachlan and I bonded over our shared passions for special education instruction, feminism, and film-making, so when she decided to launch the festival, she asked me to be involved and help to realize her vision.”

When McLachlan left the LA-area, she selected Mereu to take over as festival director. “In my second year, the things that have remained the same are the venue, the Let Live Theater in WeHo, our programmer Nicholas Ybarra, and our support from the City of West Hollywood and WeHo Arts,” she says. “Throughout the life of the festival, our mission has not changed, but this year we did change our slogan from ‘Celebrating Multi-Culture’ to ‘Inspire. Embrace. Empower.’”

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According to Mereu, this shift, along with a change in the logo to include a globe and clenched fist “reflect that while the event is still a celebration, it is also a global call to action.  We aim to empower our film makers and audience to not only celebrate people of all kinds, but to fight for equal rights, equal representation and a safe place for all people to be themselves.”

Along with this supportive emphasis, the festival has also added an event, an opening night reception held next door to the theater at The Other Space. The gathering is designed to create community among the audience and filmmakers, and encourages networking and socializing before and after the screenings.

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What Mereu most wants people to know about the festival is that LADFF screens a truly diverse set of films. “Rather than festivals that focus on a particular population, whether that’s LGBTQ, African American, Native American, our festival screens diverse and international set of films in every screening block,” she attests. “For example, in our opening night shorts block, we are screening 8 films. The films come from 6 different countries, telling stories that involve physical disability, aging, homosexuality, living with autism, child abuse, and cultural gender roles.” She adds “I also want people to know that the event is thought provoking, while also being a really fun experience.”

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To truly experience the festival, Mereu recommends that attendees buy the VIP pass that offers access to every screening of the weekend. “The VIP pass includes the Opening Night Shorts block and reception, which is a great way to begin the festival experience and meet the film makers.” However, she notes “For people who only have time on the weekend, we have a number of guest hosts throughout the day on Saturday who will be moderating the Q&As. The day ends with the awards ceremony on Saturday night.”

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Among the offerings, festival programming includes a child-friendly block, “Power to the Young People,” which runs at 3 p.m. Saturday, and includes two inspiring short films, followed by the documentary film Purple Dreams, about an inner-city high school production of The Color Purple.

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Other highlights include Mind Over Matter, a documentary about the life of musician Brandon Mendenhall of Korn and the Mendenhall Project, who overcame cerebral palsy to become a celebrated rock ‘n roll guitarist; and the Come As You Are LGBTQ block, featuring seven LGBTQ stories told from a wide range of perspectives.

For tickets to opening night and other festival programming, visit:  https://filmfreeway.com/LADFF/tickets

For more information about programming, visit www.ladff.com

LADFF is presented with the support of the City of West Hollywood’s WeHo Arts program. The Let Live Theater is located at 916 N Formosa Ave. in Hollywood.

  • Genie Davis; Photos courtesy of LADFF