Connect with Gabba Gallery

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Another great show runs at Gabba Gallery through June 18th – Connect, featuring four very different – yet connected in terms of their visual intensity – artists. The four solo shows also connect with their audience: these are immediate, exciting, stimulating works that grab the eye and poke at the heart.

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Jeff Kravitz’s Photography for the Soul is this fine arts photographer’s first solo show. “It’s a labor of love, it’s what I do for a living. I put everything through Photoshop. I want my work to be colorful. I see everything in bright color and I really like to accentuate that.”

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Originally shooting on film, he’s gone digital, using Nikon gear, for the last fourteen years. He’s captured historical moments of all kinds, noting self-deprecatingly that he’s “witnessed incredible iconic moments.” And captured them perfectly.

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“I’ve been working on this a long time. I have photos I shot in high school. I’ve been working on building a body of work I felt comfortable enough to show the world.”

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Jules Muck’s Available made the artist herself feel edgy.

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“I usually do street art. Having a gallery show is a little uncomfortable, so I wanted to do something fun with it.”

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Her idea, fully realized: to set herself up in the center of her exhibition room with a tattoo gun and many willing participants. “I do tattooing every now and then. This is something I felt could really reach people.”

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Along with tattoo art, Muck’s exhibition features large scale, hyper-realistic pieces painted in oil.

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Stormie Mills’ A Fish Tale exhibition is both witty and dark, a Tim Burton-esque take on life created in mixed acrylic, including spray paint.

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“Ultimately the work is about connection, it’s a tool for communication, an outlet that facilitates communication which leads to connection,” he says.

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The Australian artist has created an insightful body of work that tells a riveting story about a man and his friendship with a fish. The story is based on the writings of filmmaker Mark Strong who was himself inspired by Stormie’s work “I miss my friend, I want him back.” In short, the subject of this show is also its purpose – inspiration and connection. Overall, the show has the look of a lushly detailed dreamscape.

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Across the street from the gallery, Mills has created a gorgeous wall-size piece of street art. It’s not a permanent mural installation – “it’s like a bunch of flowers, it will only last so long,” Mills attests. More reason to hurry to the gallery and see the show as well as the art visible through it’s windows.

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Noah Emhurt’s The Doheny Challenge is a body of intimate, poetic work created on acrylic. The artist sourced much of his material from 1960s era magazines and fashion magazines, creating a template for figurative work and images transfers in a chaotic yet delicate atmosphere.

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“When I was younger, I would write a lot of poetry, I would write my ideas. A lot of my work is translating words into sketches into painting to get that look of writing ideas into a painting. I want people to look at each piece and find something new all the time,” Emhurt says.

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His love of travel and other cultures is also on view. Having spent time living in Japan and New York, the influence of these locales is very evident in his work. “I stole a wine list from a French restaurant,” he notes. “I’ve incorporated that menu into my work, too.”

Emhurt’s work absorbs his surroundings and experiences, and the viewer absorbs his experiences through his work, connection as cultural zeitgeist.

Go ahead and plug in: this solo show runs through June 18th, and the Gabba Gallery is located at

3126 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90057
(310) 498-2697

Gallery Hours are Wed-Saturday 12- 3 or by appointment.

 

Royal Curation at Gabba Gallery

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Looking for a group show that’s got a kingdom’s worth of artistic treasures? Then hasten lords and ladies to Royal Curation at Gabba Gallery through May 14th, where four such shows are on display.

Curators Jim Daichendt, “Word;” Mat Gleason, “Blood on the Track Lights;” Isabel Rojas-Williams, “I am More;” and Cindy Schwarzstein, “/Brit-fluence (d)/;” have each assembled unique exhibitions that drew an enthusiastic crowd to Saturday’s opening. Not that energy plus art plus enthusiasm are a surprise at Gabba.

We caught up with some of the artists – and you should, too.

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Macha Suzuki’s exciting sculptural pieces have a story behind their letter grade “F.” According to the artist “These pieces started off as a reminder to myself that there are always things to gain when you fail. You should be proud of the moments when you failed, because it means you tried. If you don’t go for it, you can’t propel yourself forward.”

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“This sculpture is made from welded steel. I started welding not so long ago, this was my third go at it,” the artist reports.

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John Hammersmith draws and then digitally converts his pieces. “I show my works in different venues, the medium is the message, the symbology creates an icon.”

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Artist June Edmonds started off with a single circle theme and was “inspired by meditation. I got more detailed and elaborate with my color relationships. There are explorations of space and rhythm.” Her works are rich, layered, textured oil on canvas.

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Ester Petschar created a work of art that was placed right on the floor of the gallery.  “In Leonardo’s painting the eyes were closed…this is my version of his work, with the eyes opened.” She worked in oil pastel on canvas.

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Christina Ramos comes from a long line of artists; her father worked in figurative oils. “I work in acrylic but I have always admired the work of the masters, the work of Norman Rockwell, paintings that tell a story. There is a little air of expectation in each of these pieces as they’re looking into where they are going; there’s an air of mystery in each piece, but they are also very illustrative.”

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Artist Mei Xian Qiu explains her work here as a part of a series, “Let a Thousand Flowers Move.”  She says that the art “ultimately is about individualism and cultural identity in an increasingly global society.”

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Works by artists such as Teale Hatheway, above –

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and Nicolas Bonamy, above, are also included in the show. Both artists create quintessentially LA images in radically different interpretations.

And of course there’s a full royal court of other art to see as well.

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The exhibition is available for viewing Wednesday – Saturday 12-3 pm or by appointment until May 14th. The Gabba Gallery is located at 3126 Beverly Blvd.

  • Genie Davis; Photos: Jack Burke

Layers Upon Layers: Four Solo Shows at The Gabba Gallery

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The four solo shows that make up Gabba Gallery’s current exhibition, “Layers,” are complex and multi-faceted. Each collection delves deep into and through their visual surfaces, presenting a multi-faceted prism through which viewers can see beyond what meets the eye.

The artists are Essi Zimm, Toshee, Nicholas Bonamy, and Joey Feldman,  and the sum of their work, when viewed together, adds yet another layer to the show.

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Essi Zimm’s work takes viewers into a land of fairy tales and spirits.

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Delving deep into the world of the Japanese supernatural creatures known as the Yokai, Zimm’s work creates a wonderous world of mysterious birds and the glowing streaks of fish.

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In “Kappa” three astonishingly life-like frogs appear ready to jump from a canvas alive with lily pad flowers, spheres, and collage elements that appear like the work of taggers across the surface.

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Like all of Zimm’s pieces in this series, she develops the backgrounds to her work first, and her representative figures second. “I figure out what story comes from that, and it’s a fairly long process, usually two to three weeks. Because of the time considerations involved in this exhibition, I tried creating the backgrounds to multiple pieces at once to develop the stories,” Zimm explains.

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“I tried to pick characters that spoke to me, or are major supernatural figures – there are hundreds to choose from,” Zimm says. “I research the fairy tales I want to talk about and paint about.”

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Toshee’s mixed media pieces share a common element with Zimm: Japanese story telling. “This collection is based on personal experiences traveling through Japan. I’ve been interested in Japanese art and architecture since I was a little boy,” he explains.

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“These pieces take elements between order and chaos to form harmony.” Toshee grew up in New York City, and was influenced by the graffiti he saw throughout the city. “My inspiration comes from that urban visual landscape, as well as techniques such as animation cel drawing and Japanese wood block prints.”

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The artist builds layers by taking on the shapes first, then “attacking the background, using several layers of resin that gives me multiple layers to build over.” His pieces have a strongly sculptural quality, as in “Himeji,” a carefully realized vision of a Japanese pagoda and impressionistic cherry blossoms, transports the viewer to another place and time, or in a single, depth-filled painting of a rose.

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Nicholas Bonamy’s collage panels depict familiar, iconic Los Angeles landscapes enlivened with vibrant colors, graphic shapes, and paint drips and splatters. Each element that Bonamy builds, from collage to paint, is a progression that pulls the viewer into a new way of seeing the City of Angels, giving it wings.

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“I try not to be afraid of messing up my detailed work. It’s apart of the same process when I mix in drops and other layers. I build the background first and then build up the foreground,” Bonamy explains.

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“I get my inspiration for locations from simply driving around. Everyone drives around. I just see things out the window that I want to take a photograph of, and then I paint that.” Once he’s decided on an image, the artist say he takes that image and thinks about what he can do with it to make it still recognizable but incorporate “crazy color.” Bonamy says he wants to make Los Angeles as beautiful as it can be. “LA is a grey city. It’s beautiful, but it’s grey because it’s sad in a way, a rat race. People’s dreams die every day here.”

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“I put the color in. I love LA, it’s home, I’m trying to paint that girl, put make up on the city,” the artist notes.

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“My paintings are impressionistic, but it’s not about brush strokes, it’s about graphic shapes and letting the paint do what it wants to do.”

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In his own words, Joey Feldman does “Character portraiture. I’m an artist, illustrator, cartoonist, all spontaneous. I don’t do any penciling. All the mistakes are part of each picture. I go straight to ink, there’s nothing pre-planned.”

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Feldman draws every day, and frequently works on a piece that represents pop culture, politics, birthdays – whatever inspires him at the moment.

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“When David Bowie died, I did a portrait of him. I made twenty four prints, twelve standard, twelve special editions that have hand-drawn elements. I donated the proceeds to the City of Hope.” From icons like Bowie and Hunter Thompson to politicians from Bernie to Trump,  Leonard Nimoy, Han Solo and Chewie, Bill Murray, and a self-portrait, the layers that Feldman exposes are emotional and intimate.

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Fairy tales, foreign lands, Los Angeles landscapes, and cultural icons – that’s a heady mix of subjects and rich territory for mining many layers of artistic vision and meaning. Check out The Gabba Gallery’s fine exhibition through April 2nd. The gallery is located at 3126 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles.

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Yes, Curate This 2, Too

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Always a treat, the group shows at The Gabba Gallery seem to pulse with more excitement every time. Curate This Part Deaux is no exception, with art -works created by some of Los Angeles’ top curators. Featuring something for virtually every artistic taste, the show takes viewers through a panopoly of vibrant, quintessentially LA art. There was a look and feel to the show that could absolutely only happen in SoCal, and only at Gabba, and only if including the work of artists whose taste aesthetics have been sharply honed as curators.

Below, book designer, collage and mixed-media artist David Brady pulls viewers into an astonishing visual quilt with his “Esperanza.”

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Highly detailed, frieze-like sculptural paintings by Nathan Cartwright tell detailed, fantastical stories. Cartwright is an LA-based mixed media artist and founder/curator of The Hive Gallery and Studios in DTLA. Feel the buzz.

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Dicapria’s glowing mixed media mandala’s are crafted from gummy bears and resin in a light box. Her back story: she travels the U.S. in a 1971 bus.

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Mitchelito Orquiola was born in the Philipines, and resides in LA. His self-taught works create a mosaic of color and line.F23C8702

So what could be more a part of the City of Angeles than Kristine Schomaker’s beautiful little convertible? The Ideal Sex (The Little Pink Corvette) drives us into the SoCal sunset on a road dotted with the sign posts of gender roles, power, and the healing community of art itself. Schomaker also runs Shoebox PR, promoting art and artists throughout the Southland.F23C8703

Baby, you can drive Schomaker’s other cool ride, too.

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Photographer Osceola Refetoff’s ethereal, sun-drenched desert and urban visions haunt and inspire. The artist takes viewers down a road not just less traveled, but one most people have never experienced before.

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Below, the delicate, precise images photographed by Shana Nys Dambrot reflect an intimate thoughtfulness. Dambrot recently curated the stellar Painting by Scott Trimble, Photography by Osceola Refetoff show at Chungking Studios in Chinatown.

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Ted Meyer’s beautiful acryllic “Woman Napping with Cat,” holds all the golden light, curves, and angles, of a Hollywood summer, kissed with expressionist flavor. Meyer is currently curating Scar Stories at Muzeumm.

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Performance and installation artist Dani Dodge creates compelling, often autobiographical and catharctic works. As a former journalist and war correspondent, she tells stories that vibrate with humanity. Collage, assemblage, and video are components of her works, below.

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Up close, these layered fragments of wallpaper compel viewers to look beneath the surface layers of life itself.

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Phil Santos co-curates Gabba Gallery with Jason Ostro. His beautifully detailed watercolor pencil rendering of Pasadena City Hall transports the image to something that could exist in Venice or Paris. Santos is currently at work on a triptych mural for Angel City Brewery. F23C8718

Gabba Gallery owner, director, and co-curator Jason Ostro contributed this brilliantly blue, intrinsically floral, and kaleidoscopic piece to the exhibition.

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Below, Juri Koll’s mixed media paper on board evoke water, light, and an unheard aural component in their patterns and colors. Koll is founder, director, and often curator at The Venice Institute of Contemporary Art, and the producer of the Fine Arts Film Festival.F23C8724

Venice artist Mark Satterlee is a self-taught traditional and digital artist working primarily in fiberglass and pigmented resin. His work below uses an assemblage of Poloroid portraits.F23C8725

Skye Amber Sweet’s pink fish float off the canvas. Love, kindness, and self-expression are the driving forces of her emotional and emotive art.

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Daniel Rolnik curated at the self-owned Daniel Rolnik Gallery, and recently hosted one of the most enjoyable booths at the LA Art Fair,  the “Kilduff’s Bakery” art installation.  Below, some of Rolnik’s cheerful, fun, and vibrant work. F23C8732

Even at the end of the night, Gabba drew appreciative viewers.

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Below, another piece by Gabba’s co-curator Phil Santos. His classic dog portraits are much sought after by collectors. F23C8742

Artist Radhika Hersey creates stunning art fantasies  based on meditation, dreams, and folklore. Her spiritually magical paintings are closely aligned with her curatorial works at Temple of Visions and the Do Art Foundation,among other venues.F23C8747

Ever versatile, Phil Santos dishes up a plate of mixed media zombie spaghetti.

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Curate This 2 runs until February 28th. The Gabba Gallery is located at 3126 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles.

F23C8751Genie Davis; all photos by Jack Burke