Photographic artist Jeffrey Sklan presented a stellar exhibition at Kopeikin Gallery in the Culver City arts district last week. ELEGY offered beautiful and poignant images as a call to action against violence and mass shootings, and offered that call with grace and resonant, delicate botanical imagery. At his June 22nd opening, the gallery was packed with supporters for a lively opening.
Filled with a glowing light and using a deep, rich color palette that reflects the artist’s love for Baroque-era artists such as Rembrandt and Caravaggio, Sklan pays tribute to lives lost in mass killings and murders. The works are both radiant and lovely, solemn yet ethereal.
The artist first exhibited this series at Photo LA in January; at Kopeikin, he added new images including those dedicated to Parkland student Sydney Aiello, Nipsey Hussle, (above) and celebrants of both Easter in Sri Lanka and Passover in Poway, California. They are glorious images, quietly lush.
Sklan’s inspiring works are now moving on, he says. “I’m starting to design a book of the images,” he relates. “And we are going to hang the show after July 12th at Finishing Concepts in Monterey Park.” While the exhibition is on display at that location, a documentary short film will be made about the work.
Designed as a traveling show, Sklan relates that ELEGY will “most likely be exhibited at a university on the East Coast in the fall, and in North Dakota in the spring or summer of 2020.” As plans solidify, Sklan hopes ELEGY will continue to find new venues for future exhibitions. To defray shipping and installation costs, limited edition fine art prints are for sale so that “even more people can view it, and, ideally, be inspired to remedy the wrongs they perceive in the communities where they live.” He adds “The message is simple: we are each, in our own way and according to our capacity, capable of affecting change.”
The artist explains “This project is no longer mine. It belongs to every community memorialized. It belongs to the families whose loved ones are honored. It belongs to those who want to change their world. There has never been any other motive for me in this. The edition of prints is intentionally small: my net proceeds will always go back to defray transportation, insurance, and exhibition costs.” He suggests viewers reach out “if your school, entity, or gallery would be a good fit to exhibit this.”
Finishing Concepts, where the show will next be viewable in the Southland, is located at 1230 Monterey Pass Rd.; stay tuned for updates as to hours and dates. For more information on purchasing prints and supporting the exhibition, visit the artist’s website store, here. Or contact the artist direction at jeffreysklan@aol.com
– Genie Davis; photos Genie Davis, and provided by the artist.