Spiderman Would Love It Here

Posted on by Diversions LA

The Spider Pavilion at the Natural History Museum has done the seemingly impossible – created an engaging, magical walk-through space to see spiders crafting their lacy webs, making a visit just as appealing as a visit to a butterfly pavilion. You know – the kind where you walk by and butterflies land on your shoulders and everyone oohs and ahs?

Well, these spiders don’t land upon you – never fear – but you can get up and personal with red, white, and patterned arachnids as they weave their zig zag, circular, truly stunning orbs among flowers and plants. Misters moisten parts of the mesh-enclosed walk-through experience, because some of these amazing creatures are more at home in jungle weather than what Los Angeles can provide.

In an enclosed space, behind glass, you can take a look in at enclosed spider homes that house the kinds of spidery personnas you wouldn’t want to walk under, such as jumping spiders or tarantulas.

Museum educators are standing by to identify types of spiders and webs and arachnoid habits. It’s incredibly fun and engaging all around – but sorry to report to all you Spiderman wannabes out there – no radioactive arachnoids here.

Be sure to roam inside the museum, too, to experience the beautifully revamped and welcoming dinosaur exhibition, an interactive, well-curated display that include a massive triceratops, the only pregnant plesiosaur fossil ever discovered, and a trio of T-Rexs, another “only at NHM” exhibit, featuring a baby, juvenile and sub-adult alongside other prehistoric predator companions. You can also view informative displays, view dinos from the mezzanine level above, and watch techs at work on uncovering dinosaur artifacts.

A new multimedia exhibition packed with fossils, video images, and plenty of history explores LA Underwater, locally-discovered fossils the define the topography of the city’s past and present.

And of course – the magic of classic animal diaramas, birds, bugs, and lustrous gems both cut and raw are also on exhibit, providing a full day of experiential pleasures. Exploring the natural world has always been a personal delight; the museum’s thoughtful curation makes it even more so.

Visit this wonderful resource any time, but The Spider Pavillion at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum is one more excellent reason to visit the museum this fall. If you’d like to experience a Halloween two-fer, come see the friendly spiders, stay for the whimsical Halloween fun at Boney Island.  The spiders alone are so worth web crawling your way over for a visit.

The Spider Pavilion is open for viewing until November 26th. NHM is located in Exposition Park at 900 Exposition Blvd.

  • Genie Davis; photos, Genie Davis

The Season for Spells – And a Special Incantation

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Now at OCCA through October 28th, Incantation, curated by Chenhung Chen is a pure delight of an exhibition, converting this bright and airy gallery to a mesmerizing space filled with joy and wonder.

Featuring astonishingly lovely work by Marthe Aponte, Chenhung Chen, Annie Clavel, Catherine Ruane, Jane Szabo, Nancy Kay Turner, and Lisa Diane Wedgeworth, in the curator’s words,  “the artists in this exhibition are the vessels that channel this [ritual] energy from one place to the other while using traditional or non-traditional materials and often blending craft techniques with industrial materials. Using photography, installation, mixed media, picote, paint, graphite and electronic waste, their works are a bridge between the known and the unknown, the seen and the unseen, the remembered and the forgotten. Moving effortlessly between past, present and the future, the very creation of their art is as mysterious and intriguing as an incantation.”

Each artist weaves her own distinct and seductive spell, through the use of inventive materials and masterful image-making. The show vibrates with textural components, as well as color, light, and shadow, weaving a potent portal to the magic that can find us if we are open to it – as open as these artists have become.

Nancy Kay Turner‘s use of unusual – yet often mundane – materials belies the fact that her works are encompassingly evocative, enchanting the viewer with their complexity and poetry. Using materials as prosaic as ordinary wax paper and crumpled journal pages, antique wooden shoe forms and vintage photographs, feathers, and pins, and a dusting of silver leaf or curve of gold she creates startlingly immersive, riveting works such as “The Secret Life of Shards.”

Catherine Ruane‘s lustrous, delicate, perfect drawings of trees and other flora are created in detailed graphite and charcoal. Her large-scale “Witness at Antietam” is a fully branched wonder, one that has born witness and watchfully shaded many a human foible and battle. Other smaller works are taken from the same Antietam series, still others, sepia toned, reveal the heart of flowers. Each work revels in a compelling grace.

Exuding equal but quite different precision and delicacy, Marthe Aponte exhibits a display of stunning picote works, shields emblematic of protecting us from the vicissitudes of life, the spells cast at us by others, and at the same time weaving their own shimmering, sparkling protective magic. Aponte’s entirely exquisite works dazzle in their intimacy and intricacy, compelling us to look inward and see the world through her eyes.

Voluptuously vivid swirls of color soar through Annie Clavel‘s vibrant watercolor works. A mix of large scale and more diminutive pieces, her images are like liquid captured motion, as svelte as they are visually kinetic. They form clouds and winds, waves, sunsets and flora, wings in flight, and always evoke a sense of profound mystery and beauty, like flowers half-formed but still bursting into bloom.

For Jane Szabo, photography is the medium she “paints” with. Here it is landscapes, a portal to worlds both intensely real and mystically realized, serving as doorways into spiritual places even as they represent realistic territory. Her use of color and uneven printing combine to conjure a realm that is neither of this world or the next, but somewhere fascinating inbetween. The works are from her Damaged series.

Curator Chenhung Chen offers both freestanding sculptures such as “Entelechy” and lustrous butterflies and cocoons of wall work, each crafted meticulously from materials such as wires, cables, and found objects. Their symmetry and sensuality abound, whether exuded from suspended waterfalls of wire or assembled with the skill and perfection of mosaics, as in “I Ching in America.”

Last but not least, Lisa Diane Wedgeworth gives us shadows that hint at light and deep mauves within her primarily monochromatic abstracts,  hidden symbols and shapes fleetingly visible within her painted canvases. Elusive and illusive, Wedgeworth fascinates with ghostly, grand gestures.

Closing reception is October 28th from 3-5 p.m., and oh-so-worth the drive to Orange County. In fact, Incantation places its magical journey in the heart of any art map.

OCCA is located at 117 North Sycamore Street in Santa Ana.

  • Genie Davis, photos by Genie Davis

 

 

Soar Through a Cloud Renewal with Karen Hochman Brown

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Karen Hochman Brown’s solo exhibition Cloud Renewal, now at Gallery 825 in Los Angeles is a transcendent exhibition created while the artist was sheltering in place during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using her photographic images of flowers,  waves and clouds that she alters and merges, she presents three distinct and beautiful series.

The first presents larger scale works titled by where sky and clouds were photographed and the name of flowers she merges with these views, selected from her own garden. Each is a mounted, shiny acrylic print with a protective layer.

“Dusk on Honolua Bay With Roses” is one such work, vibrating with pink and gold shades against sections of blue sky, and darker cloud arising like streams of smoky incense at the center top of the work.

Her “Twilight in Ojai with Magnolia” is equally evocative, but here, there is less of the recognizable burnished gold sunset, which has instead become like glowing orbs, or a mysterious lamp suspended within a mauve-toned, gentle, near-evening sky. “Sunset in Tel Aviv With Orchid” transforms the flowers depicted to white shadowy filaments of the blossoms, making them dance together like faeries or angels.

Making a deeper dive into a world she could not then visit physically, she created the mixed media series “In the Bubble,” once again focusing on clouds viewed on her travels in the past. These smaller works allowed Hochman Brown to experiment in medium, using resin to create smaller works that are as experimental and experiential in technique as they are in image. At 10 x 10 x 2, these works are like small jewels, or their own permanent bubbles of light and magic cloud. There is the silvery blue of “In the Bubble Maui,” the seashell-like shape of “In the Bubble Galapagos, the lively orange, blue, and white mixed with gold of “In the Bubble Mexican Riviera.” She captures a vivid sense of place within each work, in her shapes, colors, and patterns. For example, her “In the Bubble Home” provides a richly recognizable orange, pink and blue sky – the color of fall sunsets over Los Angeles.

Later in her year in relative confinement, Hochman Brown and her husband wintered in Kauai, Hawaii. There she says that she brought her cloud panoramas essentially down to earth, “where the sky meets the ocean and earth…anchoring them to the horizon line.”

These works are presented on wood panels and on fabric tapestries. Where her other two exhibited series offer a focus that is sky/clouds/floral images or sky and clouds alone, here she creates full realized worlds, magical places veiwers can feel connected to. Along with the lush dark green palms and island shrubbery in “Bananas,”  there are radiant pink, white and gold flowers with banana-like curves emanating  from the vivid golden yellows of their stamens, a fully realized flower resting within a green globe sitting on the heart of the island which reflects downward into a glassy sea.

“Parting” provides the viewer with three golden orbs, a dark gold and inky colored seat which wraps around these balls, clearly the last of a glorious sunset what has set fire to the clouds and charred the ocean with its light. “Loopy” is a meditative, transfixing image in which swirls of blue sea form ribbons and arcs around a luminous pink, mandala-like center. “Welcome” shapes a vivid near-chartreuse green and deep rose watery portal – with hints of orange flaming wave – around a rocky shore line and a cloud dotted, still glowing sky. In the middle of this portal rises a full moon. “Breathe” offers a shape within a rectangular shape, reminiscent of a pillow. On this restful place foamy ocean spray rises; the sky and clouds have a lighter pink cast than Hochman Brown’s fiery sunsets.

Also a part of the gallery exhibition are two looping videos, each exuding magic and mysticism. Both were inspired by her residency in Kauai as well. “Meditation” gives us a stunning seascape with soothing ocean waves crashing to shore, and the only sound is that of the sea itself.  In “Respiration,” the ocean is contained with a portal shape, rising and falling white and blue and darker midnight colored waves flow like a perfect breath, while behind it, a sensuous, sinuous colorful background unfolds. The soundtrack is both delicately musical and the sound of waves.

The gracefully exhibited gallery room is well-curated, creating a highly sensorial world of intense visual beauty that connects the color and sense of motion in all the artist’s work from video images to her luminous clouds “In the Bubble.” The artist never disappoints. Breathe in the beauty.

Cloud Renewal is ready to renew you through October 28th, reward yourself with a visit – by appointment – at 825 N La Cienega Blvd. There will be an artists’ talk on the 21st at 11 a.m.

Also at the gallery: Peter Hiers new exhibition Burning Question features a body of work made from tire fragments he finds along highways; Ted Rigoni‘s Bygone Patterns represents a contemporary artistic presentation of the Mojave’s remains; and Sean Young offers profound mixed media work in TOUCHING THE TRUESELF WITHIN deals with The Four Noble Truths. 

  • Genie Davis; images provided by the artist

Gabba Gallery Wish List 11 and Heading Toward Change

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What could be a better way to spend an evening in October than with Gabba Gallery’s Wishlist 11? It’s a delicious invitation, and you don’t have to wish on the first evening star to attend.  Featuring more than 75 artists working locally, nationally, and internationally, this annual and always- anticipated group exhibition offers a full range of art mediums at accessible prices.

The ever-changing exhibition will vary throughout its opening night and throughout the run of the show.  When an artwork is purchased, the gallery removes it so that the collector can take it home, and a new piece is hung in its place. Not only does this make for an evolving and lively evening, but each subsequent visit to the gallery provides a new experience. Curated by gallerists Jason Ostro and Elena Jacobson, this year’s stellar art roster includes:

Alex Achaval
Douglas Alvarez
Donna Bates
Cody Bayne
Terri Berman
Andrea Bogdan
Nicholas Bonamy
Nicole Bruckman
CANTSTOPGOODBOY
Kate Carvellas
R.B. Cole
L. Crosky
Matt Dey
Jackson Dryden
Emek
Fin
Jaq Frost
Gadget
Frank Gentile
Peter Greco
Patrick Haemmerlein
Mary Hanson
Shlome J. Hayun
Hero
Bruce Horan
Cyrus Howlett
Iskar
Warren Jacobson
JSpot Jr.
Nagisa Kamae
Ahmed Khoko
Konecki
Jennifer Korsen
Hope Kroll
KrossD
Andrea LaHue
Margaret Larabel
Taylor Marvenko
Jason Mascow
Nichole McDaniel
Bobby Moore
Morley
Scott Moss
MRSN
Jules Muck
Jeremy Novy
Jason Ostro
Judy Ostro
Isaac Pelayo
Phobik
Olga Ponomarenko
Dave Pressler
Christina Ramos
Jermaine Rogers
Ricky Sencion
Jeffrey Sklan
Bisco Smith
Jawsh Smyth
Nicolette Spear
Marq Spusta
Matthew Steidley
Sarah Stone
Sonya Stone
David Swartz
Teachr
Jordan K. Valdez
Shawn Waco
Em Wafer
Sébastien Walker
Sya Warfield
Christine Webb
Pastey Whyte
Caleb Williamson
Jared Yamahata
Essi Zimm
and others to be announced…

Along with this event marking 11 Wishlist events, it also stands as the gallery’s 11th year, at an extremely special and changing time for Gabba’s current location.

According to gallerist Jason Ostro, when the gallery began, the neighborhood was a bit uneven at best. Today “[There is a sense of] community, beautiful art where there was once a lot of trash in the alleys.”  He adds that over the years, conducting art tours, getting to see so many artists creating exhibitions with Gabba, and playing a part in advancing the art careers of talented creators, have been among the highlights in this incarnation of the gallery. “So many amazing artists have careers only in art now,” he notes.

So why these elegaic notes? Gabba is moving. “The gallery has borught joy, community, beautiful art, amazing conversations and inspiration for [our] neighbors, and so much love to us. We love our neighborhood here, and really are so sad to have to leave it,” Ostro relates.

Yes, Gabba is currently looking for a new home. “We don’t know where we’re going yet, but we are looking all over LA to find a fun new home,” he reports. And wherever that ends up being, one thing is certain, you can make a “wish list” on Gabba – to achieve the same kinds of community, happiness, and cool opening events the gallery has been known for from the start.

As to Wishlist itself, he describes the annual holiday show as “a buy and take show that constantly gets recurated with every piece sold. A new piece takes the place of the piece that sold.. Everything is affordable as far as art goes and it’s first come and buy for the person who takes it home.” The fast-paced, engaging exhibition also offers amazing deals because the contributing artists know this is a special holiday show.

The yearly show is a rich part of the art community that Ostro loves, and which he notes “has supported us for the past 11 years…  some of the happiest days of my life. Seeing so much creativity and love for expression is so beautiful and keeps us going,” he attests. “Wishlist is a show we feel gives back to the collectors and also helps new collectors start colllecting. Why spend money on something mass produced, when you can have the original for not much more?”

Ostro asserts that “Art is something that is shared and loved and bought as gifts for oneself and others. Wishlist and Gabba together are perfect for that. We always try to have something for everyone,” he says.

Several days after the opening, the gallery will also offer an online print archive sale and the online sale of any of the original work that is still available.

For now, the gallerist describes himself and Jacobson as being “thankful for our art community. We would not be here after 11 years without them. We’ve all supported and trusted each other, and in some ways, Gabba has felt like a community center for me. Having some of the same patrons for the past 11 years means so much to us.”

As to the exhibition space itself, according to Ostro, “Gabba is and always has been something special, a labor of love. Something that we wanted to always be fair and honest and supportive of our artists. In the past 11 years, we’ve gotten to support so many beautiful creative souls. We wish we could stay here as it’s [been] home, but we’re very excited for whatever the next chapter of Gabba Gallery is. Stay tuned because we hope to keep the magic in the air.”

Undoubtedly, that will be the case.

And in the meantime, plan to attend this weekend’s show, or visit the gallery during the exhibition’s run for a fond and fun farewell. Wish List 11 opens Saturday, October 21st, running 6 to 10 p.m. with DJ and complimentary beverages; the exhibition, located 3126 Beverly in Fillipinotown mid-city, appropriately enough, closes November 11th. Don’t miss!

  • Genie Davis; photos provided by the gallery