Sages Marks a Grand Return for MOAH

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The word Sages connotes great experience and wisdom. A sage herself, Betty Brown beautifully curated this exhibition along with MOAH’s Robert Benitez.  As the main reopening exhibition for the Museum of Art and History in Lancaster after its year-long closure, the 19-artist show makes a perfect tour de force of beautifully created “wise” art. Along with their consummate skill as art creators, the artists featured in the exhibition have taught and mentored others, influencing and nurturing a new generation of emerging artists. In short, their commitment to community dovetails that of MOAH’s own.

All Southern Californians, the artists exhibiting include: Judy Baca, Bruce Everett, Suvan Geer, Gilah Yelin Hirsch, Connie Jenkins, Ulysses Jenkins, Sant Khalsa, Suzanne Lacy, Andrée Mahoney, Jim Morphesis, Catherine Ruane, Ruth Weisberg, John M. White, Kay Yee, and Hiroko Yoshimoto. Additionally, presenting artist solo exhibitions include Joanne Julian, Alexander Kritselis, Gerri McMillin, and Tom McMillin.

The works are laid out graciously and with space around them, allowing each artist’s work or group of works, to breathe and be seen and savored.

From the triumphant runner in Judy Baca’s big mural “Hitting the Wall,” which jubilantly greets visitors to the museum from both gallery levels, to the exquisite span of delicate leaves in Catherine Ruane’s glorious graphite “Witness Tree,” and Bruce Everett’s dazzlingly detailed quintessentially California landscape, there is a wide mix of work and artistic wonder here. Sant Khalsa’s light-filled sculptural work is mysterious, recalling an orb from another dimension or plucked from the sea. Ruth Weisberg creates a figurative, fascinating narrative that pulls the viewer into the unfolding of its story. Ulysses Jenkins’ video work shapes a vibrating musical call to action. Andree Mahoney’s work is pure Zen bliss.  John M. White’s lustrous work spills abstract flora and fauna.

Each piece is honestly a perfect artwork, a portal to the precision and profundity of excellence in art, work that excites and enligtens.

Along with the compelling group show, museum visitors can enjoy four small solo shows of Sages artists, including Joanne Julian’s work in “Starry Skies,” which gives viewers a sense of magic and wonder in varied landscapes that ache with longing. Gerri McMillin’s delicate hanging sculptural work in “Mystery Beneath” evokes Moroccan nights and the work of celestial looms. Tom McMillin’s clay wall sculptures in “The Way of Clay” is as brown and beckoning as earth. Alexander Kritsilis “Travels in Blocks of Time, Spooky Actions at a Distance,” taken from his series Descendent Dialogues is excitingly immersive in its storytelling.

Besides presenting the continuing living legacies of these artists, MOAH also honors departed art sages with Sages in Memoriam.  Serving as an elegy to these masters, this is also a varied and lovely mix of work by artists Craig Antrim, Bob Bassler, Hans Burkhardt, Carole Caroompas, Bee Colman, Dave Elder, Rachel Rosenthal, June Wayne, Roland Reiss, and Charles W. White on display in a smaller downstairs gallery.

Joining the three fine separate groupings of works curated by Brown, the museum also features strong solo work in Marsia Alexander-Clarke: Llamando, a gorgeous, vibrant, and dream-like video work that reflects both nature and aspects of cultural transition; and the reclamation of embroidered work far beyond domestic craft applications in Orly Cogan’s rich Threads of Entanglement. Cogan uses vintage fabric as a backdrop for highly of-the-moment art.

Combined, the museum’s reopening exhibitions reflect the inclusive, varied exhibitions that are MOAH, and mark a terrific welcome-back for the museum. Brown’s compassionate quest for and support of the best in at is sage indeed. The museum is open Tuesday-Saturday, and these opening exhibitions are up until August 20th. Make the drive!

  • Genie Davis; photos: Genie Davis and provided by MOAH

You’re Probably Not Thinking What He Was Thinking.. But See for Yourself

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Are You Thinking What I’m Thinking? is whimsical, witty, experimental and fun. Now in its third iteration at the Muckenthaler Center in Fullerton, this lively exhibition comes from the mind of arts writer Bondo Wyszpolski, curating a massive group show.

Each artist created an original piece for the exhibition, which began by chosen artists being encouraged to think outside their usual brush strokes.

Wyszpolski laid down a challenge to make the work unlike each artist’s usual style or technique, or to use different materials. He provided random, quirky titles for each to work from. Their titles were assigned with the spin of a wheel.

The curator (above, left) was inspired to take this unusual curatorial path after seeing what he felt was one too many shows on his home turf in the beach cities with “sunsets and the beach and the cliffs of Palos Verdes and pets and flowers…”

He worked with artists associated with the Palos Verdes Arts Center, where the show was first mounted, with artists Debbie Giese and Bernard Fallon adding a few more friends.

He relates that “who we thought of and invited to participate was done randomly. Sort of like, ‘Hmm, how about if I ask so-and-so?’ A few people declined, but most people said ‘Yes! It sounds like a fun idea!’”

According to Wyszpolski “What people will see who come to the show is how inventive artists are when you give them an offbeat title, although clearly some titles were much more offbeat than others, like Steve Shriver’s ‘Who’s Whistling at My Antiquities?’ or Ross Moore’s ‘I Could Tell She Was Mad By the Way She Parked Her Car’ or Karen Wharton’s ‘I Woke Up in King Kong’s Body.’ But also what I discovered is that when all the artists with their unusual, whimsical, or surreal pictures are seen together it really is more than the sum of its parts… and I think it is an amusing and intriguing show. Each brick in the wall has added up to quite a lovely mansion.”

He also worked to co-produce musical scoring for the show, writing lyrics to composer and friend Brad Webster’s music to fit some of the pieces in the show.  This unusual adjunct to the artwork occurred because of a certain long pandemic that delayed the opening of the show, originally scheduled for March 2020, significantly.

“Brad proposed the idea of me writing lyrics based on my impression of the pictures, and then he would add music to my lyrics. I was up for the idea, and since we knew the show would be on hold for quite a while, we were able to complete about 22 or 23 songs [now on the show’s website].”

 

There are over 40 works by 35 artists in the show. Among my favorites are a poetic abstract from Hung Viet Nguyen, with a hint of gold in a sea of pink; and a richly textured 3D table-setting featuring an errant crab, created in layered cut canvas  – a style she calls called exsculpainting, from Eileen Oda.

Susan Whiting‘s lush and lovely realism (shown below, first) and Larry Manning‘s charming and graceful acrylic work (shown below, second) are both terrific. Lynn Attig and Drica Lobo also stand out, among many other fine artists.

For a full list of all exhibiting , click here.

And for artworks that are cleverly subversive and sure to elicit smiles, go see the show. It’s a bright summer treat. 

Muckenthaler Cultural Center, 1201 W. Malvern Ave, Fullerton. Closes July 31. Call (714) 738-6595 or visit TheMuck.org for hours.

– Genie Davis; photos by Genie Davis

10th Annual Spectrum Gestalt Kicks Off Summer at bG Gallery

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It’s the 10th Annual Spectrum Gestalt and we arrive at Bergamot Station and watch as guests spill out of bG Gallery with an energy and crowd that is just as colorful as the exhibition. Many of the attending artists are dressed in their respective color palette and I am no exception.  Joined by my two young boys, I made certain to have a serious talk before entry. You know, the Do Not Touch Anything talk, matched with the No Running in the Gallery talk. My intent eyes linger affirmingly on the littlest, spunkiest of the duo and is followed by a required “Yes, Mom,” before we proceed. We work our way through the crowd and into the gallery and are immediately hit with powerful waves of color. I look to my 10-year-old and find him wide-eyed, jaw ajar. We pause and allow the chromaticity to settle in.

The exhibition is arranged in a classic salon style that flows in the respective sequence of each hue in the rainbow. It’s almost impossible not take a step back and look at the installation in its wholeness. Each band of color is refracted with a range of art styles and media that take the viewer on an electromagnetic & multi-dimensional journey. From visually captivating paintings and detailed drawings to tactile works of embroidery and sculpture to photographic feats that all bode their own greatness, yet meet the viewer’s eye on a level playing field— gestalt indeed.

Spectrum Gestalt was the exhibition that initiated bG’s inception at Bergamot Station Arts Center 10 years ago. Gallerist, Om Bleicher, shares that although they had a location on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica and another in La Brea, when a space at Bergamot presented itself for a one-month pop-up, the opportunity to make a big splash in this creative hub was one not to be missed. Bleicher aimed to activate the space by involving as many talented artists as possible, knowing that the scale of people taking part would amplify and even permeate bG’s presence. The timeline to prep for such a show was short. So much so, that artists were asked to make their own art labels in the color of their work. But it all came together and the scale of people that attended the launch of Spectrum Gestalt energized bG in a new and exciting way, and a sense of place here at Bergamot was born. To be nestled amongst over a dozen fine art galleries that gather both artists and collectors from around the globe was undeniably alluring, and the one-month pop-up subsequently turned into a permanent lease signed & roots were formed. Now, 10 years later, this flagship exhibition serves as an annual reminder of bG’s beginnings at Bergamot.

Chromatecton #5, Sung-Hee Son

This year’s exhibition was heavily reliant on the curatorial direction of Sung-Hee Son, who is an artist her own right. While the unification of impact was achieved, there was a rhythm found in the grounding consistencies presented. Whether through the color wave itself, or the fact that several artists had multiple pieces throughout the exhibition, there was opportunity for the viewer to seek out congruencies that offered an overall fusion.

An Act of Hypnosis, Michelle Kingdom

Established artists such as Michelle Kingdom showcase narrative embroideries in keeping with her recent bodies of work, while emerging and student artists like Trevor Coopersmith shared a handful of playful ceramic wall-hung sculptures sprinkled throughout.

Linkage, Trever Coopersmith

Houlihan, Tamara Tolkin

I found myself absolutely enthralled with both the painted and threaded lips of artist, Tamara Tolkin.  Pretty in pink, the toothy pout of one piece is acrylic on canvas and another is a textile dream of wool, cotton, and linen that speaks to my inner (and let’s be real, outer) appreciation for detailed, yet playful precision.

Laffy Lemon, Isabella

Fig and Water Drop, Paul Art Lee

Windows and Doors 1,  Angela Kent.

No matter what color you find yourself among, the subconscious intuitively stirs. And although my work hangs along the wall of black, I find myself smiling at all the yellow.

Catch your favorite pantones at the closing reception this Saturday,  July 1st 5 – 7 P.M., before all the colors in the rainbow are wrapped up and hauled out until next June.

bG Gallery 2525 Michigan Avenue, #A2, Santa Monica, CA 90404 | Gallery hours Wed-Sun 12 – 5 P.M.

– Written by Aimee Mandala; photos by Aimee Mandala, Paul Art Lee, Zoe Silverman

 

Quick Takes on Hot Art: Mon Dieu Projects Goes Abstract and Shockboxx Heads to Summer Camp

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Two terrific group shows have started the summer season off right in LA.

Mon Dieu Project‘s sophomore exhibition, Absctract Adjacent, is a lovely, lush show that gets its title from being, in many cases, somewhat figurative, or at least elements of the figurative dance through this group show.

Shadowy white figures, both ephemeral and graceful, dance through the vivid red background of lustrous works from Nadege Monchera Baer, created with acrylic and colored pencil on Vellum. Baer’s pointillist style here is new to me as a long-time follower; but like past works, it is poetically perfect.

Lucas Biagini combines wax with oil paint to shape visceral, dimensional images that flow like colored lava.

DL Alvaraz offers surreal and colorful sci-fi shapes; working in graphite and colored pencil the effect of his color and medium is that of a collage. Jaehong Anh is more surreal still, Dali-esque, perhaps and texturally deep.

Eva Blue’s astonishing giclee on glass depictions of the Northern Lights, dazzles with color.

Rick Boling’s vivid crowd scenes, even blurred or dotted with confetti, edge toward the figurative with one eye on abstract wonder.

 

Christopher Kuhn devotes swirls and layers of acrylic and oil paint to creating ropey, fascinatingly complex abstract puzzles.

Jeffrey Nachtigall gives viewers a lavender sky and an alien space craft in his single work in this show, a glossy and absorbing mix of spray paint, latex, and acrylic.

Shadowy, nearly submerged images in more muted shades mark the work of Bernardo Montgomery, who works in mixed media on copper and steel here.

The exhibition just closed, but it will be exciting to see what’s next for the gallery, which is new by a few months to the LA art scene. The light filled space offers inventive, smartly conceptual work that feels bracingly fresh in the DTLA art scene. Abstract Adjacent is available for viewing online, here. 

Also fresh in the summer heat, Shockboxx Gallery‘s group show, Summer Camp delights with a wild array of artists in full seasonal splendor. From the campy (yes, pun intended) to the haunting, from stunningly detailed landscapes to fuzzy textile sculptures, this exhibition is as welcome as a cold glass of lemonade (spike it if you’d like) on a hot day.

Eileen Oda’s large-scale “Spring Flowers” is a jaw-droppingly detailed field of poppies in a quintessentially Californian landscape that draws the viewer straight into the sunny meadow.

Aimee Mandala’s wonderfully mysterious glowing blue house in a dark wood, created in charcoal, is both elegaic and grand, a slice of summer memory.

Debbie Korbel delights with a hilarious Barbie narrative.

Emily Wallerstein’s perfectly detailed sunset pink desert sky and Joshua Tree in “Full Moon Covid Camping, Mojave Desert” is all ethereal light. From Amrta’s golden textural swirls to gallerist Mike Collins’ wittily subversive “The Buzzards Left, so it wasn’t me they were after,” there is something for everyone here.

Viewers will find an embroidered “Homeless Man’s Skewer” by Priscilla Vincent; a sensual oil painting from Celina Bernstein;  a whimsical yet fraught paper bag enclosed figure from Isabella Fernanda and Lori Markman’s equally fraught ballpoint pen on paper monster in “I’ve Got My Eye On You.”



You better check in to this summer camp, no tent required, as the show ends July 2nd. You can also view many, but not all of the 39+ works on exhibit here.

Mon Dieu Projects is located at 720 E. 18th Street in DTLA, open 12-4 Tuesday-Saturday.

Shockboxx is located at 636 Cypress in Hermosa Beach and is open on weekends or by appointment.

  • Genie Davis, Photos: Genie Davis