Dani Dodge: Then/Now – Always

Posted on by Diversions LA

D9Then/Now, the just-ended residency by Dani Dodge at Shoebox Projects, held its closing reception on the 17th, but like the ringing echoes of the car crash the installation depicted, the aftermath of the exhibition lingers in the mind and heart.

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Above, the artist with the soft-sculptural portion of her exhibition.

The room-sized installation Dodge created in her month-long residency took the incident of a pile-up the artist was caught in, and used that as a springboard to depict survival – and the choices one makes after having survived.

There is an almost lighthearted feeling to some of the installation, which really makes sense when you consider Dodge’s approach to the situation: the seriousness of the accident, the jolt of realizing she had emerged from it more or less physically unscathed, her vulnerability and her strength, all coalesced to form a recognition of our fragility and, more importantly, of our resilience.

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Viewers entered through a soft, spinning mobile gauntlet, velvety fabric sculptures resembling a steering wheel here, a tail-pipe, a hubcap there.

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Dodge, center; video projection behind her. Left to right, artists Hung Viet Nguyen, Chenhung Chen, Dodge, Shoebox Projects’ founder Kristine Schomaker, artist Francisco Alvarado.

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Photo above by Mark A. Dodge Medlin

Ducking through this somewhat random collection, an experience of the tumult of the very-LA morning commute, we were then presented with video footage of driving Los Angeles freeways, childhood photographs, and LA scenery. The full-wall projection incorporated music by The Proclaimers, terrific driving music — I used to drive to it all the time, “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles).”

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Suddenly the music stops, the projection goes black, and viewers are compelled to turn to a small analog TV on the opposite wall, which comes to staticky life with a shadowy image.

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Photo above by Mark A. Dodge Medlin

Surrounding the TV are broken windshields, painted and decorated windshields, and what speaking personally were the most affecting images: a series of ghostly white and grey cars caught in a web of traffic, a shattered car windshield in front of them, and a painting of an orange vehicle with the license plate reading “Then/Now.”

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Dodge seems to be positing the question: can everything change in a moment? Well, yes, of course it can. Can that moment, however dark, be shaped into something quite wonderful by the sheer strength of our own humanity? When it comes to this exhibition, the answer again is affirmative.

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Photo above by Mark A. Dodge Medlin

Dodge’s 101 Freeway smash-up was surreal in the moment, and all too real in the aftermath when she checked on her own injuries and those of others, and surveyed her broken vehicle. But ultimately, the crash led to something like understanding: having survived, she examined her own sense of purpose. She made a conscious decision to turn the event into a work of art, one that has a visceral impact on viewers.

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Dodge with Schomaker.

We are indeed fragile and vulnerable beings, despite the crunchy shell of the metal and fiberglass wheeled boxes in which we spend so much of our lives.

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Photo above by Mark A. Dodge Medlin – author at the exhibition

Emerging from that cocoon, what exactly is our destination? Dodge posits that life is short, driving LA’s freeways can make it shorter still. Carpe Diem. Seize the day and that car insurance policy.

There’s no insurance against the vicissitudes of life – except living. And art.

Genie Davis; Photos: Genie Davis, and by Mark A. Dodge Medlin

Static Clears the Air at Durden and Ray

Posted on by Diversions LA

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With a politically and socially powerful exhibition in Static, at Durden and Ray through December 30th, the art collective marks the perfect end to their empowered year. Static investigates the electric buzz of communication and its effect on the tellers and receivers.

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Taken as a response to and protest of our current political climate, the show offers pointed insight into both the nation’s emotional state and political system. Curated by Dani Dodge (above) and Alanna Marcelletti (below right, with artist Samuelle Richardson, left) the opening began with a half hour panel discussion Fake News, Real News, and Trust in Journalism. 

 

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And words and discussion are in part the medium – along with sculpture, paint, mixed media, and video – of the show. Including the art of journalists, and of artists speaking about the impact of media, the show thematically explores the emotional context of art and the factual content of journalism and whether the pairing offers a comprehensive view of the world at present or is just a “more beautiful form of static.”

Artists and Journalists exhibiting include: Lili Bernard, Jennifer Celio, Molly Crabapple, Dani Dodge, Jose Galvez, Emily Goulding, Kio Griffith, Anne Elizabeth Moore, Danial Nord, Sean Noyce, Max Presneill, Walter Robinson, Steven Wolkoff, and Samira Yamin.

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Above, “Macy’s 5-day Special” and “Shoes,” two acrylic on paper works by Walter Robinson, the former news editor of Art in America and founding editor of Artnet magazine, bases his paintings on department store flyers inserted into a newspaper. His interpretation of the ads can be seen as a commentary on merchandising, capitalism, and the seduction of objects.

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Above, Dani Dodge, who spent two decades as a newspaper reporter and editor, blends the voices of Republicans and Democrats in a video installation that is a kind of unintelligible auditory poetry accompanied by abstract video images.  As always with Dodge,  her work here with “News Cycle” has an immersive quality;  listening for the indefinable inflections that make – or don’t make – those registered for different political parties “different,” one is struck by the detail, precision, and beauty of both the visual images and the buzzy sound. We are all, to some extent, abstract ciphers, as lovely as we are discardable – our words like analog TV monitors on an AV cart,  as quickly dated. What remains, perhaps, is the perpetual, unintelligible buzz.

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Above, Jennifer Celio’s “Just like a work of art, baby,” watercolor on Yupo and cut paper with spray paint on Duralar. The image evokes the crudity of American politics, media, and the dumbing down of just what is worthy in U.S. culture.

Below, Max Presneill’s “RD 170” offers bold and abstract images that resembles letters, computer screens, television screens, and the overall visual performance of communication.

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Below, the lush, passionate self-portrait in mixed media by Lili Bernard. “Self Portrait as Yemaya Under Attack” uses sequins, acrylic paint, photos, pills, glitter, a section of nylon Afro-wig, ribbon, pipe cleaners, and costume jewelry among other mediums on canvas. Beset on all sides, the titular character may be slightly bowed, but she is unbroken. A gorgeous, powerful, commentary that takes on the voraciousness of our culture – and our news cycle.

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Above and below, Steven Wolkoff’s “Static Pile” pile consists of shredded acrylic paint on a mirror top, referencing shredded tweets by Donald Trump. On the wall behind Wolkoff, below, is “Interference,”  an all-black digital print that contains the complete collection of Trump’s tweets from January 20 through November – an appropriate black void, as dense as it is bleak.

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Below, artist Kio Griffith with “I have nothing to make and I am making it,” a mixed media work of painted wood and vintage butcher paper with text. His impactful description of the piece expresses both the poetry and the self-expressed emptiness he intends.

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Above,  Danial Nord offers a different type of poetry of repeated language patterns and facial images in televised politics. The piece, titled November 28, 2007 has analyzed and reconfigured facial expressions and rhetoric from the 2007 Republican presidential campaign debate of that year. Yellow-shoed feet emerge from analog televisions, rendering the boxes, and the video images on them, into robotic creatures with a life of their own – possibly a life more fully realized than that of the politicians on screen.

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Above, Alana Marcelletti’s “Hive Mind” is a construct of crocheted newspaper; it also is a pointed reference to both the ways in which we are connected via the news cycle and condemned to be a part of what the media presents.

Special holiday hours are Tues.-Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, December 23rd and Saturday, December 30th. On the 23rd, meet artist Jennifer Celio; on the 30th, Max Presneill and Dani Dodge. Taking this exhibition in is the perfect way to celebrate the end of the year.

Durden and Ray is located at 1923 S. Santa Fe Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90021

  • Genie Davis; photos: Jack Burke, Genie Davis; Alana Marcelletti image provided by gallery.

 

The Brewery Art Walk – Spring 2017 Edition

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Above, the work of Sean Sobczak Sandman Creations.

As always, DTLA’s awesome and eclectic artists lofts, studios, and galleries – the Brewery – offered up a tremendous wealth of art to peruse at the April edition of their twice yearly art walk.  Take a look at some of the artists and art – and if you missed it this spring, be sure to mark the walk on your calendar for October. So much to see, intimate conversations with artists, brilliant art work at reasonable prices. Hard to top that, but this being LA, we threw in a bright, sunny day, some gourmet food trucks, and beer. The Artwalk IPA was perfect.

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Above and below, artist Samuelle Richardson with her wonderfully haunting “Ghost Dogs” sculptural installation. Richardson created these beautiful pieces especially for Art Walk.

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A magical energy in these sculptures, which use fabric and wood to shape powerful and poignant beasts.

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Chenhung Chen’s fluid, alive wire sculptures dance with kinetic energy, below.

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The artist’s wall art, many utilizing staples, is a fresh take on abstract imagery, works that shine literally and figuratively.

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Below, Glen Waggner creates intense and diminutive drawings that tell succinct, perfectly realized impressionistic stories. The prolific artist creates both figures and landscapes.

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Kristine Augustyn, below, offers both lush abstracts and figurative pieces that edge into the surreal. Both Augustyn and Waggner showed works at the Brewery’s Jesus Wall Gallery.

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Below, a work inspired by a trip to Disneyland.

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Randi Hockett’s studio-grown crystals dazzle, below. These raw and glittering works offer a wonderful contrast of sharp crystal textures and the softness of the wax surfaces. This is work that is hard to look away from, which evoke the feminine and the fairy tale.

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Kristine Schomaker, below, has reconstructed and reimagined her own work in an exhibition titled “An Ode to a Lost Love.” Tackling complex issues from body image to gender identity, her sculptural installation below explores both the personal and the universal – and still evoke a fantastical candy store.

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Bill Leigh Brewer, below, creates photographic works that are painterly in style, mysterious and magical in perception.

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From the California desert to the snowy hills of Vermont, Brewer fills his landscapes with a subtext of wonder and loss.

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Winnie Brewer, below, has painted bees and other creatures great and small in exquisitely detailed works that glow with light and color.

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Below, Tony Pinto, in residence at Shoebox Projects, created dimensional paintings and photographic portraits in his exhibition “Art Seen.” His ability to capture the innate essence of artists, writers, and gallerists in LA’s art scene is revealing and insightful.

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While her studio was not open for art walk due to deadlines on completing works for other exhibitions, we had a sneak-peak at a piece currently on exhibit at Durden & Ray’s “Going Native” show from installation and sculptural artist Dani Dodge. Here a deeply layered image invites second, third, and many more looks beneath the surface.

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Her work, above, is like accessing an archeological dig: there is so much going on beneath the surface, an intense energy breaking through.

Below, Ryan McIntosh and Kati Milan share studio space and a wealth of evocative art.

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Artist Ted Meyer, below. A little bit Picasso, a little bit Modigliani in great faces, forms and familiars. These are portraits that tell a story worth “reading” often. Stylized, riveting, and exotic, Meyer’s figures also serve as a healing document for those affected by trauma. Brewery ONE

Below the incredibly rich partnered work of Anna Stump and Daphne Hill blossoms with life – lush and sensual florals.

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There is such an overflowing cornucopia of art at The Brewery that we could not do justice to all the artists here – or even those in this article. Find your own overflowing artistic joy at the next art walk come October.

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  • Genie Davis; Photos: Genie Davis

 

Durden and Ray: New Space, Same Passion

Posted on by Diversions LA

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Art collectives are a wonderful thing. They bring together and support groups of artists whose eclectic and powerful work deserves a showcase which it might not find with a solo approach.

Durden and Ray are one such collective, and they have recently made a move – from a loft space across the street on Santa Fe Avenue to a pristine, white-wall gallery in the same complex as CB1.

Above, left, Tom Dunn’s “Mesopotamia #36,” a marvelous mix of the abstract and figurative in oil. Alongside, to the right, the brilliantly textured acrylic on canvas of Jenny Hagar, “Roja.” Both leap off the wall, as different as they are well-matched.

Yes, the space is lovely and airy, the light dancing off the walls and works, but it is the art itself, and the passionate spirit the collective represents that shines.

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Above left, artist Dani Dodge with curator Steven Wolkoff.

The opening exhibition in the new space, Round Won was curated by Steven Wolkoff, the show features artists: Dani Dodge, Tom Dunn, Roni Feldman, Jon Flack, Jenny Hager, Ben Jackel, David Leapman, Alanna Marcelletti, Max Presneill, David Spanbock, Jesse Standlea, and Alison Woods.

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Above, Alison Woods with her “Utopia,” acrylic on canvas, we have geometric patterns and vibrating lines so intense that the canvas appears layered; there are elements that evoke a collage or puzzle pieces. Viewers see a city landscape that is exploding with flora and fauna.

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Above, Allana Marceletti, left, near her “Daae,” a sculptural collage of found objects, acrylic, and metal on organza with seatbelt straps. Hang on for the ride. Next to her is Dani Dodge, whose installation, “Ashes,”  is comprised of glass containing the burnt ashes of articulated, written fears.  While very different conceptually, both pieces feature sheer, almost fragile visual depth, and pull the viewer into a landscape that is shimmery and mutable.

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Max Presneill stands before his oil and enamel “RD 141.” Bold graphics and lines, shapes that stand entirely on their own yet coalesce into a vivid whole.  Presneill wants viewers to experience his bright, visceral work from the perspective of the “system of languages we call painting.”

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David Spanbock’s candy colored acrylic on linen, “The Politics of Transformation,” is a dimensional, unique take on urban life and environment.

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And what would an urban environment be without a few fire hydrants? Ben Jackel’s “Large headed hydrants (youth, middle age, elder) are stoneware and beeswax, and serve as a kind of ‘in memoriam’ to the vicissitudes of city life. The black color renders them tomb-like, yet the overall affect is lighthearted.

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Jon Flack’s “Backyard Sermon,” rear wall, takes an entirely modern approach to an iconic American subject, the itinerant preacher. Juxtaposed with Marcelletti’s sculpture and Dodge’s installation, the three works make an engaging commentary on things both profound and redemptive.

Both collectively and through each artist’s work, Round Won is more than ready for prime time.

This will be a two-part opening introducing the 24 members of Durden and Ray  – Round Too, curated by Max Presneill, will open April 1st.

The show runs through March 19th. Hours are Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sunday noon-4 p.m. The new space is located at 1923 S. Santa Fe Ave. in DTLA.

  • Genie Davis; photos: Genie Davis