Take Your Sweet-art to the LA Art Show Opening February 14th

Posted on by Diversions LA

With exhibiting gallery spaces from New York to New Mexico, the U.K. to Peru, the LA Art Show roars into the Los Angeles Convention Center from February 14 to 18. Along with the enormous mix of galleries – over 120 of them –  offering a far reaching collection of mediums and artists, there are a variety of other offerings to engage attendees.

Among the standouts this year are 7 participating non-commerical art institutions exhibiting in DIVERSEartLA.  Exciting solo projects  explore the intersection of memory, humanity, and AI. These include:

The Museum of Art and History in Lancaster with the lustrous multi-media work of Osceola Refetoff, “Repairing the Future,”  focusing on global sea level rise. The work includes a large-scale immersive projection of the artist’s 8-minute film Sea of Change shot by Refetoff in Svalbard, Norway, near the North Pole. His visuals are paired with those of NASA satellites and AI-generated animation of possible future climate outcomes. The original soundtrack is written and performed by award-winning composer Paul Cantelon. The exhibition will be accompanied by a performance from Hibiscus TV artists Kaye Freeman and Amy Kaps on February 17.

The Nevada Museum of Art presents “The Journey” by contemporary artist Guillermo Bert, curated by Vivian Zavataro. The installation features a series of 20 highly-detailed, life-sized wood sculptures of actual immigrants employed as frontline workers. Bert’s multimedia work explores how ancient traditions and modern technology merge to create narratives of
identity, human memory, immigration, culture, and humanity.

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Bogotá offers “Mythstories” by multimedia artist Carlos Castro Arias and curated by Gustavo Adolfo Ortiz Serrano. Appropriating the style and iconography of medieval tapestry, Castro uses anachronisms and the re-
contextualization of found objects to create connections across times and cultures. His work experiments with myth, history, and AI, and explores individual and collective identity.

MUSA Museum of Art University of Guadalajara, Grodman Legacy and Guadalajara Foundation (Mexico) presents “Fake Memory of a True Past” curated by Moises Schiaffino. This project seeks to create a reflection on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool to generate a historical archive. This video installation tells the same story from two different visions: the human and the artificial, making a visual comparison of the memory that the human being has preserved with the one that, through algorithms, the AI ​​has generated.

AAL Museum (Santiago, Chile) is exhibiting the visual narrative, “Be Water” from contemporary artist, Antuan. The immersive installation explores the significance of this vital element with Antuan’s creation of the Human Net, a human geometric structure,
symbolizing the symmetry of the universe. The characters within represent humanity’s urgent need to address the global water crisis, highlighting the essential collaboration between humanity and AI to create a new network of human consciousness.

Raubtier Unicus Productions (Los Angeles) presents “Bridging Emotional and Digital Landscapes,” exploring the intersection of human emotion and advanced technology to create a digital mural of individual and collective experiences. The audience engages with a touchscreen to input words or phrases that resonate with their memories. Through the utilization of AI-driven word-to-image conversion, tangible printing, and large-scale projections, the evolving correlation between personal memories and their emotional and physical manifestations is revealed.

Red Line Contemporary Art Center (Denver, Colorado) presents Laleh Mehran’s “Entropic Systems,” an immersive installation that considers the politicization of ideologies. In this work, a drawing machine inscribes a sort of memory into the mineral bed, much like a rudimentary hard drive. Each day the past is erased, but at the same time, the grains will never sit the same again, containing remains of history much in the way that AI is trained with billions of words and yet “remembers” none of them.

Celebrating Black History Month, the Tanya Weddemire Gallery will exhibit four pioneering black artists, exploring a range of themes, including identity, culture and resilience.  LP Gallery from South Korea will feature renowned artist Dain Yoon known for painting on her skin to create surreal self-portraits that trick the eye with 3D shading.

LA’s own Fabrik Projects Gallery  welcomes The Soul of Your City exhibition, the culmination of a global photography competition aimed at capturing the hidden spirit and true identity of cities through the lenses of local photographers.

The Young Masters Art Prize, presented by Cynthia Corbett Gallery, London, represents an international initiative committed to supporting emerging talents from diverse backgrounds, with strong representation of female-identifying artists in 75% of the works.

In a new collaboration, the LA Art Show, Expanded Learning (EXL) and Athletes for Life (AFL) Foundation—founded by former NFL running back Greg Bell– launch the Southern California Art ‘n the Schools Art Contest, inviting SoCal students to submit their artwork. The result should be fresh and exciting.

Finally, opening night attendees take note: “We’re grateful to Lucy Hale for joining us as the official host of the 2024 LA Art Show Opening Night Premiere Party,”  Kassandra Voyagis, LA Art Show Producer and Director has announced. “Ms. Hale’s support
and influence will encourage and inspire a new generation of art collectors and shine light on the important work of the American Heart Association, which funds research that improves health outcomes for heart disease and stroke patients as well as supports lifesaving CPR education.”

Hale herself adds “It’s an honor to host the 2024 LA Art Show Opening Night Premiere Party and bring further awareness
to a beautiful evening that unites the importance of art, culture and philanthropy. On a personal note, I couldn’t be more excited to celebrate Valentine’s Day with the American Heart Association whose mission touches people all across the world.”
Lucy was introduced to the LA Art Show by its inaugural charity beneficiary, the American Heart Association, which is celebrating its 100th birthday this year.

And, speaking of heARTfelt love – this publication will publish opening night photos of LA Art Show later this week.

For tickets to the event, visit here.

  • Genie Davis; photos provided by LA Art Show

 

LA Art Show: Stunning Video Art and International Galleries

Posted on by Diversions LA

The LA Art Show is the oldest art fair to occupy Los Angeles’ burgeoning fair season, and it is still a vital presence. This year, the 28th iteration of the fair, produced by Kassandra Voyagis, offers abundant highlights including works from six Japanese galleries, a variety of work from 14 South Korean galleries and artists, and the return of the European Pavilion.

The work in DIVERSEartLA, curated by Marisa Caichiolo provides a variety of haunting video installations that are as lush and captivating as they are prescient social commentary on global climate change. In conjunction, the Mueum of Latin American Art offers work from Judy Baca; AMA showcases the work of Mexican photographic artist Alfredo De Stefano.

Baca’s double-sided triptych “Thirteen Women in the Volcanic Eruption” (Side 1) created on acyrlic on wood panels, a part of MOLAA’s permanent collection explores the worship of a female goddess. The second side, on display as we visited, is a visionary look at Mother Earth, “The Birth of the Vision of the Heart,” above.

Immigration policies and the heartbreak of border crossings is the topic of an exhibition that combines video images with the clothes worn by immigrants in “Uninhabited,” an installation from Carmen Isasi.

With a sand covered floor and gorgeous images and sound, De Stefano’s “The Pulse of Silence (El Pulso del silencio)” is an absolute must-see exploring our planet, its future, and the terrible poetry of its possible demise.

Davis Birk’s work is equally fascinating, nature through a surveillance camera in “Project: Rendevous: Esta tierra es Mi Tierra.”

Petro Eiko’s riveting 3D sculptures are also rooted in an exploration of climate change and fragile state of water; she uses six 3D sculptures and video to create a mysterious and involving installation.

Curated by Beate Dusterberg, viewers can walk through a series of cylindrical metal sculptures containing images of eyes and bodies, illuminated by an eerie, glowing white light. Both futuristic and cautionary, the experience is otherworldly.

Artist Robert Vargas created a mural on site opening night, expressing the plight of missing indigenous women.

“IL GIARDINO PLANETARIO (The Planetary Garden)” from artist Pietro Rufflo collaborating with Noruwei, provides a prescient look at earth as a garden with haunting visual images.

At Building Bridges Art Exchange, an amazing cocoon of softly falling fabric provides a walk-in experience that evokes memories of a visit to Antelope Canyon. Other sculptural pieces are also on exhibit from the miraculous hand of artist Carmen Mardónez.

At the Rebecca Hossack Gallery, hauntingly luminous paintings by Laurence Jones were standouts, evocative of Los Angeles life both remote and glamorous. Luminous in an entirely different way, the works at Taguchi Fine Art by artist Regine Schumann utilize glowing flurorescent acrylic glass. Hayoon Jay Lee offers fascinatingly textile work that looks like feathers but is actually crated using rice, modeling paste, and acrylic on wood panel. The works were featured at Artego Gallery. More locally, Melissa Morgan shows off the futuristic glass, LED, and steel work of Anthony James among its sculptural offerings.

At the Los Angeles Center for Photography space, a bevy of fine work shines, including poignant, hauntingly delicate cynotypes from artist Cathy Immordino; works by Carolee Friday and Sarah Hadley were also lovely.

Hung Viet Nguyen at bG, above

At bG Gallery, a series of lush works with a lavendar edged palette from Susan Lizotte were joined by a wide variety of works including the charming dog sculptures from Alessandra Pierelli, witty ceramic cats and dogs from Linda Smith, and masterful California seascapes and skyscapes from Gay Summer Rick. Hung Viet Nguyen’s splendid, deeply textural Sacred Landscape series was also included in the exhibition space, along with abstract cyanotypes from Richard S. Chow, among many other outstanding works.

Over at Fabrik Projects, Nancy’s Wise’s oil on aluminum flowers bloomed vividly; the gallery is also showing works from actor and artist Val Kilmer. Fabrik is also behind the massive sculptural work, “Launch Intention” a mega metal paper airplane in design, from  artist Griffin Loop, seen above. Thematically, the work stands as a call to action; visually it is an inventive geometric stunner.

At Art in Bloom, astonishing works from Britney Penouilh and Angela Izzo include the Mystical Creatures Tarot Deck,  Penoullh’s exceptional clay sculpture cast in resin, “Gothic Altarpiece,” (above) and more.

EK Gallery, features the work of Chuni Park, (above) with perfect and precise images of nature.Ukrainian artist Denis Sarazhin offers beautifully crafted work at Arcadia Contemporary, whose gallerist, Steve Diamant, was able to secure the artist a safe place to work in the U.S. as the war wages between Ukraine and Russia.

The Maria Elena Kravitz gallery shone with bright and gorgeous images from Adeola Davies-Aiyeloja, Peter Zelle, and Mark Davis among the artworks that compel with textures and patterns. Touchon Gallery’s evocative underwater photographic works from Alex Sher were a rewarding deep dive.

Throughout the exhibition, viewers will find a variety of awesome surprises such as whimsical and delightful plexiglass image-shaped letters hanging from the ceiling in the wonderful “Raintype: Lorenzo Marini” (above) presented by Bruce Lurie Gallery, which also exhibits the work of painter Michael Gorman.

Around one corner, “Shai Kremer: The Edge of Knowledge, ” a photographic lightbox; around another, hyperrealistic scultpural works from Carole A. Feuerman startle and delight at Markowicz Fin Arts; in other spots, viewers will find sinuous metalic figures prance while brightly colored strongmen and super heroes flex their muscles.  Red aliens, sardine can sculptures with video installations, Chagall reinterpreted on fabric, a deconstructed typewriter: it’s all there, and it’s all well worth seeing.

Tickets to the event, running Thursday through Sunday are available for purchase here. Don’t miss. LA Art Show is the longest running art fair in the region for a reason – it’s good.

  • Genie Davis; photos – Genie Davis

 

LA Art Show 2022 Sparkles

Posted on by Diversions LA

There was a great deal of awesome art eye candy at the LA Art Show, which ran in the South Hall of the LA Convention Center January 19th through 23rd. From glittery NFTs to a dazzling series of installations by DIVERSEArtLA, there was plenty to take in.

Opening night also saw the return of a food court and cocktails, as well as art talks held throughout the event.

Daniela Soberman

DIVERSEartLA, curated by Marisa Caichiolo, returned this year with an evocative, environmental perspective, shaping immersive experiences focusing on global warming and human relationships to nature. Each of the participants provided fascinating work, with TAM (Torrance Art Museum) presenting Memorial to the Future, a collaborative work curated by Max Presneill referencing Brutalist architecture in a large scale cityscape installation created by Daniela Soberman.

Both impressive and immersive, the structure was interspersed with photographic visual elements offering interpretations of nature, climate change, and danger in our environment. A dazzling piece.

Dox Contemporary-Prague, the Czech Center New York, and The General
Consulate of The Czech Republic present “THE SIGN,” a site specific
installation by Swen Leer used a mimicking of freeway signage to communicate trenchant messages that began in the entrance lobby to the South Hall. The largest and perhaps the most pointed was “Your children WILL hate you – eventually.” But, equally memorable as we all snapped photographs of art and masked but well-dressed guests posed for social media photos, was “Enjoy Your Life on Instagram or TikTok.”

Other installation pieces included work from MUSA, Museum of the Arts of the University of Guadalajara, and MCA Museum of Environmental Science presenting “THE OTHER WATERFALL & CHAPALA ALSO DROPS ITSELF” by Claudia Rodriguez, both of which reflect the contamination and lack of water that has affected the state of Jalisco, Mexico in the last decades. The result on exhibit: stunning visuals approached through a cave of netted curtains.

MUMBAT Museum of Fine Arts of Tandil and the Museum of Nature and
Science Antonio Serrano of Entre Rios Argentina presented “THE EARTH’S
FRUITS” by Guillermo Anselmo Vezzosi curated by Indiana Gnocchini, a
scientific research project and an installation work of
a specific ephemeral site, where the waste that takes on a second life is dignified. Vezzosi’s graceful trees, built into a darkened space, were beautiful.

Caichiolo curated “The Environmental Digital Experience” by A.Ordoñez delivered by Raubtier Productions & Unicus, an immersive experience
revealing a range of climate phenomena, with the culmination a representation of the positive growth of new flora. The sculptural construction of the images pulled viewers into a new space.

A startling, and even tragic look at the melting Arctic was presented in the large scale video installations from The Museum of Nature of Cantabria Spain in the work “Our turn to change” by Andrea Juan and Gabriel Penedo Diego, depicting on large screens how drop by drop, large amounts of ice are lost every second as the oceans levels continue to rise. UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center’s “Mound” by María Elena González, curated by Chon A. Noriega revealed the process of attempts at restoration; while “Recognizing Skid Row As A Neighborhood:Skid Row Cooling Resources,”
curated by Tom Grode highlights the neighborhood as a community, including the Skid Row Cooling Resources, a collaborative
planning effort and think tank.

Debbie Korbel

But of course, there was so much more. A series of sculptures by artist Debbie Korbel; a collection of NFT art from Fabrik NFT Salon; a wide range of beautiful work at bG Gallery including stellar LA artists such as Gay Summer Rick, Susan Lizotte, Glenn Waggner, Richard Chow, Barbara Kolo, Hung Viet Nguyen, and many others. Each artist’s unique work is somehow quintessentially born of Los Angeles, and it was fitting that this exhibition space, filled with their beautiful work, was the first I explored at the exhibition hall. Arcadia Contemporary offered a fascinating collection of works, from a series of portraits to an evocative Yoda looming from a movie screen in a heartland farm field from artist Stephen Fox.

There were artistic homages to other creators from Picasso to Kerouac, as well as an actual Picasso; rich rainbows of stained glass from Judson Studios; strange mysteries of civilization, such as London underwater, from Thitz; glowing jelly fish from Mario Pasqualotto at Pigment Gallery; Jacob Gils dazzling landscapes at InTheGallery; the quilt-like images of Heimyung C. Hyun; Wyoming Working Group’s ongoing Jackson Pollock project; and at John Natsoulas Gallery, whimsical and involving sculptural works and wall art. Minoru Ohira’s forest of small sculptures has an otherworldly glow.

Alexandra Dillon
Matter Gallery
Nathie Katzoff
Cinq Gallery

Sponsored by bG, there was Alexandra Dillon’s portraiture on unusual objects; LA’s Matter Gallery presented the works of JonMarc Edwards; Nathie Katzoff out of Seattle exhibited a series of dazzling cast and fused art glass works and sculptural wood furnishings. Also notable were the post-apocalyptic cats and dystopian landscapes at Cinq Gallery.

Cathy Immordino
Luciana Abait
Jorge Rios

Los Angeles artist Cathy Immordino’s portrait cyanotypes haunted in blues, golds and beige at Fabrik Projects; while Luciana Abait’s startling lime green and hot pink landscapes seared at Building Bridges Art Exchange. And, one of my favorite images throughout the entire vast banquet of art on exhibit this year was Jorge Rios “This was the first reflection.”

Moberg Gallery, Des Moines, Iowa

Art tells us a story that resonates visually, emotionally, and in the soul. The LA Art Show served up a big, sprawling novel for 2022.

  • Genie Davis; photos: Genie Davis

Art Fair Season in LA Begins: LA Art Show Marks 25th Year

Posted on by Diversions LA

And so it begins.

Los Angeles’ major art fair season commences this month with the city’s largest and longest-running fair. That would be the LA Art Show celebrating its 25th anniversary, once again at the Los Angeles Convention Center on February 5, 2020.

According to the fair’s founder, Kim Martindale “Twenty-five years ago when I began the LA Art Show, there weren’t any big art fairs here.” Now of course, this major fair serves as the beginning to a wide array of art fairs throughout the city. And it’s still seminal.

There will be over 100 galleries from 18 different countries; the opening night preview and premiere party will donate a portion of ticket revenue to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Actress Sofia Vergara will helm the celebration.

Sogen Chiba

The re-branded Feature Exhibitions area of the show includes the return of INK, the largest presentation of both contemporary and traditional ink painting of any art fair outside of Asia. New this year, the LA Art Show will be hosting a live ink painting demonstration, by Japanese master Sogen Chiba. Chiba is from Japan’s 2011 disaster-hit Ishinomaki district, and has created intensely moving imagery as an outgrowth of this experience that can only be expressed in calligraphy. Walker Fine Art will be presenting a the works of M.C. Escher, including never-before-seen VR experiences, and Oscar-winning artist Kazuhiro Tsuji premieres a brand new Iconoclast portrait sculpture.

Kazuhiro Tsuji

Viewers will also find work the 70s era photographic work of John Wehrheim in his depiction of Taylor Camp: The Edge of Paradise.

Work from the Danubiana Museum

The third edition of the DIVERSEartLA showcase focuses on cultural diversity from Southern California, around the Pacific Rim, and beyond, with over 20,000-square-feet devoted to these works which are not for sale. They include exhibitions from LACMA, The Broad, Japanese American National Museum, La

Neomudejar Museum from Madrid, MOLAA, Art Al Limite, LA Art Association, the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, and more, such as the Danubiana Museum of Bratislava.

Performance programming for the series includes work by PSJM Collective from Spain and artist Miss Art World, presented by the LA Art Association.  Among the participants in the performance “Diversity Walks & Talks” will be LA sculptural and mixed media artist Chenhung Chen.

Mizuma Art Gallery

For the first time, LA Art Show will be hosting a special programming section named the European Pavilion, highlighting the world-class exhibitors hailing from Western Europe. Patrick Painter Gallery, SM Fine Art, Zeal House, Mizuma Art Gallery and Kamiya Co., LTD are all returning for CORE.

Presented by the Bruce Lurie Gallery, Lorenzo Marini presents his new art-installation ALPHACUBE.

Lorenzo Marini

Curator Sabino Maria Frassà explains that ALPHACUBE turns that paradigm of the the white cube as the best form for conveying contemporary art. The artwork is a large white cube, that immerses guests in a space animated by letters, light and sound.

Along with the LA Art Show’s global cutting-edge programming, a bevy of local artists will be exhibiting at BG Gallery, Coagula, and Wallspace.

Gay Summer Rick
Hung Viet Nguyen

AT bG Gallery, Susan Lizotte will show brand new paintings about LA; her aesthetic provides a visceral look at the city. Artists Barbara Kolo, Fred Tieken, Gay Summer Rick, and Hung Viet Nguyen with his Sacred Landscapes series will also be on display. Photographic artist Richard Chow will be at bG’s Gestalt Projects Wall with an image from his Distant Memories series. Each artist could be described as offering intensely unique work that is rooted in their home in Los Angeles.

Randi Matushevitz
Todd Westover

Coagula is helming four booths this year, showing six artists with two in each both. The gallery will be showing new work that includes a group show of Chouinard Art Institute alumni featuring Frederick Hammersly, Llyn Foulkes, Robert Irwin, Judith Stabile, Robert Williams, Chaz Bojoroquez and John Van Hammersfeld, including Williams’ limited edition skateboards. Contemporary LA artists Randi Matushevitz, with her expressionist HeadSpace body of work “combines pattern, figuration, and narrative to cultivate humanistic expressions,” she relates.  According to gallerist Mat Gleason, “Todd Westover paints retro floral abstractions, Mark Dutcher is the pre-eminent Los Angeles painter walking the line between dream representations and abstract longing. Lavialle Campbell quilts geometric modernist abstraction that politically nudges issues of race and gender without sacrificing aesthetics. Melinda R. Smith paints the icon of houses… Gabriel Ortiz investigates the many ways in which racial issues have been co-opted and suppressed by imposed religion.”

ViCA, the Venice Institute of Contemporary Art, helmed by artist and curator Juri Koll brings motion pictures to the festival. “We have our own screening space for curated short films from Fine Arts Film Festival 2019 – films from Russia, Australia, the US and Norway.”

Wallspace Art Gallery, which like ViCA also has space in DTLA’s Bendix Building, is also featuring a booth that highlights Los Angeles artists; gallerist Valda Lake says this is the first year at the fair for the gallery. Fabrik Projects hosts two booths, one featuring the innovative richly decorative work of J.T. Burke.

Cathy Immordino

The other booth features a range of artists that include Amadea Bailey,
Linda Stelling, Nancy R. Wise, Helena Hauss, Chris Bakay, Ted VanCleave, Cathy Immordino, Jung Yeon Bae, Jessie Chaney, Go Woon Choi, Jessus Hernandez and “guest artist” Eric Johnson. Immordino’s innovative photographic collage work is focused for 2020 on her Heads series. According to the artist “Heads features local Angelenos in collages with magazine elements conceptually discussing how society views others’ imperfections.”

Eric Johnson

Johnson’s dazzling large scale The Maize Project abstractly represents a lodge pole-like Native American structure, a sculptural gathering place that evokes a section of an ear of maize corn.

In short: art fair season has begun with a major bang from the LA Art Show.

OPENING NIGHT PREMIERE

Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Red Card & Patrons Preview 6pm – 11pm

Opening Night Premiere 8pm – 11pm

SHOW HOURS

Thursday, February 6, 2020 | 11am – 7pm

Friday, February 7, 2020 | 11am – 7pm

Saturday, February 8, 2020 | 11am – 7pm

Sunday, February 9, 2020 | 11am – 5pm

LOS ANGELES CONVENTION CENTER – SOUTH HALL

1201 South Figueroa Street Los Angeles, CA 90015

https://www.seetickets.us/event/THE-LA-ART-SHOW/381725

  • Genie Davis; Photos courtesy LA Art Show