Coming up in July, CA 101 will offer a new site for its pop-up, site-specific gallery, which features artists from San Diego to Santa Cruz. Last year, the installation was at the AES Power Plant in Redondo Beach, this year – it’s the South Bay Galleria mall in Redondo.
As an early teaser, go visit the mall now, where artist Kristine Schomaker has inhabited an empty storefront on the first floor near Macy’s with her sculptures.
“The Avatars are a stand-in for me. They are virtually my ‘ideal’ self. Since my work is about body image, self-acceptance and society’s perception of beauty, I will eventually have a mannequin made in my likeness to show that every body shape and size is beautiful,” Schomaker says.
When you take a look at these store windows, for once, it’s not the clothes on the mannequins you’ll want to buy, it’s the mannequins themselves, beautiful examples of abstract expressionism, and one of the best commentaries on consumer culture, fashion, and body image around.
Not much of a shopper myself, nonetheless I’ll be making many trips to the mall this summer.
- Genie Davis