Maggi Hodge: Women, Chaos, and X

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At Mash Gallery through November 2nd, Los Angeles-based artist Maggi Hodge exhibits a large body of vibrantly colored work both figurative and abstract. Women, Chaos, and X is a mix of large scale and smaller canvasses that depict nudes, beach scenes, languid assignations, and the power and empowerment of women, along with a look at the rampant voyeurism inherent in today’s social media. Graceful, evocative, and above all else, viscerally gratifying, the works occupy an exciting emotional space as well as an artistic one.

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Hodge explains “My work really is about women, and all the different choices we have today. And yet some women are still really shackled, whether they realize it or not. They are overexposed, and participate in that overexposure willingly, it’s as if we’re hypnotized to do this. Posing on Instagram, in public – we expose ourselves in so many ways.”

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According to Hodge, the current exhibition was at least in part inspired by spending time at the beach and seeing women go about their lives there. She spent time in Huntington Beach, spotting women she included in these works, including a tattooed girl in a bikini.

Working primarily in acrylic with elements of oil stick and charcoal in the first layer of her work, she says the vibrant palette that she chose was in part because “It’s alive. I love the aliveness of it. Once in a while, I paint in monochromatic shades, but I love color, I love laying down the color pattern, and the mixing of the color.” While she also finds working in acrylic deeply satisfying, the oil stick also holds great appeal. “It’s so immediate,” she says, “you can work even more quickly.”

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Her pleasure and sense of immediacy shows in these works, which have a sensual quality as well an inherent sent of power, as if her subjects – whether women, couples, or abstracted images – were claiming theirs.  “I did a few images in black, white and gold in this series, mostly because not everyone wants the bright colors. But honestly, I prefer color,” she enthuses.

The tropical beach feeling of many of these works also seems to require the use of a bright, sunshine-drenched, color-saturated palette.

Over the years, Hodge has painted many women as her subjects since she first began working as an artist. This exhibition, she says, incorporated what she describes as a freer style, both in terms of subject and brush stroke. “My brush work felt looser…and I tend to address things more metaphorically now. These works were more fun and less structured than in recent works,” she says, adding “I always use a lot of color, even though sometimes people try to persuade me not to,” Hodge laughs.

71186962_10218221066265289_2406472289072709632_nDescribing this series as both powerful and nurturing, the artist relates that she feels these two elements are intertwined. “Nurturing gives abundance and love – which are also elements of power — without having to battle everything.”

Her propensity for painting nude female figures is due partly to the history of classical fine artists painting nude subjects. “The nude figures is a powerful statement, and I always had a passion for them, from the classic to Picasso.”

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The work in this series incorporates the letter ‘X’ within many works, and in several of the titles. She says there is no specific reason why she incorporated the letter. “I was doing several paintings at once, and the ‘x’ kept showing up. I felt it needed the statement as a subject without actually being a subject. And I like the graphicness and mystery of it.”

And of course, the letter symbolically manifests a crossroads; and also literally represents the female chromosome.

Representing both the quintessentially female and the duality that is often a part of women’s lives, Hodge uses the letter as pattern, place marker, identifier; as background, decorative enhancement, as a subject, and as a stand-in for an exclamation point.

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In the piece “X-rated,” the letter somewhat playfully represents the lively pink and rosy nakedness of her couple, reclining, the man’s body hidden in a lattice of x’s. In “Heart-tat 1,” another couple embraces, behind another cross-hatched camouflage of x-patterns. The woman’s arm is also tattooed with x’s.

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In “Wrapped,” another couple is sheltered from prying eyes by a dazzle of yellow marked with the letter.

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“Web X” is a woman with a theatrical style, which Hodge posits is a contrast to the “beachy type” of many of her other female figures in this series. The figure could be appearing on stage, or perhaps live on the internet; her attire includes an x pattern.

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In “X,” which Hodge describes as “the final work in this series,” the letter is the penultimate exclamation point. “This was x-out, the end, the last of the show, we are done,” she says. The work, which resembles both quilt and game board, arrays x’s around a small square of o’s as in a deeply lovely version of tic-tac-toe.

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In “Xcellerate,” we are mainlining creative signals, haste, tire skid marks, racetracks, and fast cars; while

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in “Xposed,” the graceful female figure, her image snapped by dozens of cameras, is clad in a dress which binds her in x’s – the blessing/attention/objectification/curse of being female.

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In the abstract work “depth of x,” with its thick application of gold paint and mica chips as it’s off-center heart, the viewer feels as if the “X’s” opposite the glittering space may mark a secret entrance, a buried treasure, something hidden beneath that marker. Hodge describes this work as being about “openings and closings, about everything that’s expected of women, and what it means to be female.” In a sense, here, a woman is a hidden treasure.

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With the work “XY,” we get the rare deviation in this series from the female figure as main subject to a male portrait – the letters/title represent the idea of being male.
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Other images, such as the lustrous purples and pinks of the abstract “Rapt,” eschew the letter. This work Hodge describes as a “delightful happening energy, a walk, a garden” – or perhaps hatchlings, abstract stand-ins for mother and child.

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The undaunted gaze of the figurative “Blue Lady,” was inspired by the idea of ancient Persian or Indian paintings, Hodge says – here, the x’s are background patterns, a fence or porch wall behind the reclining yet powerful figure.

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With “Mask,” once again the x’s are background – on a pillow, a wall. The figure here seems removed, hidden, even as her face is exposed and the black cat face at her feet represents the mask that she once wore to cover visage, if not body.

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In “13 Roses,” we see true duality, the symbolic, at-a-crossroads-x found in the links of dangling chains next to the apprehensive face of a white-attired bride to be.

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In comparison, “red head” gives us a free-spirited beach girl with the sea as her background and wind in her hair.

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Throughout this extensive exhibition, the letter appears to represent, above all else, the feminine, the powerful, the choices, the dualities, the crossroads which women collectively stand poised upon today. Intuitively, we have all felt at a crossroads, at one time or another in our lives – whether walking down an aisle whose trajectory may be expected but unknown, enjoying a casual encounter, reveling in attention, or embracing the tattoos we choose and those that are, willingly or not, emblazoned on our hearts.
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Above, Hodge with gallerist Haleh Mashian

Mash Gallery is located in DTLA at 1325 Palmetto Street.

– Genie Davis; photos: Genie Davis, and provided by Mash Gallery

 

 

 

Radiant Spectrum Offers a Rainbow of Color at MASH

Color, color, color.  Like spring flowers, carnival rides, and kaleidoscopes, colors are popping from the gallery walls at MASH Gallery in downtown Los Angeles. Opening this Saturday is Radiant Spectrum,  a group show of 16 contemporary artists working in a wide range of mediums including sculpture, painting, and drawing. Curated by designer Mark Murphy, the show’s exhibiting artists include: Michelle A. Benoit, Jud Bergeron, Kelsey Brookes, Jill Carlock, Christian Clayton, Nate Harris, Terry Hoff, Shaelin Jornigan, Tasha Kusama, Kevin Long – aka – Spanky, Joe Roberts – aka – LSD Worldpeace, David Shillinglaw, Bonnie Marie Smith, Tricia Strickfaden, Kellesimone Waits, Marco Zamora. The opening March 9th is just the beginning for the exhibition, which will also feature an appearance by color psychic Sarah Potter on March 23rd.

According to Murphy, “Radiant Spectrum establishes color as a central character.” Whether abstract or cubist, the work here has all been created specifically for the installation, which he terms “salon-inspired.”  

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LA-based Christian Clayton, above, offers ten mixed media works that utilize a wide range of textures and patterns; the works are part of “Emotion,” a series of textures and patterns utilized to shape portraits that evoke the spirit of Picasso.

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The work of Nate Harris, above, is sleek and dynamic, a piece that reminds the viewer of an optical illusion of sorts; while a single miniature painting packs a powerful punch from San Diego artist and former biologist Kelsey Brookes in his “Untitled Molecular Study,” below. In the latter work, tiny jeweled bits of color form a kind of universe in a wheel-like shape.

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Below, the work of Terry Huff is candy-coated psychedlia, a vibrant rainbow of color that looks good enough to eat, or at least to sink the viewer into a devouring dream.

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Tricia Strickfaden’s “Nobody Walks in LA,” below, brings to life a surreal and abstract version of stop lights and caution signs, a lively puzzle piece that has elements of throw-back moderne style.

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Surealism is the undercurrent for Kevin Spanky’s “Long,” below. Large red head, small blue car; highly dimensional checkered platform for the driver and vehicle.

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With the color palette the main conversation in this intense and vivid exhibition,  the lush LA sunset depicted in “Milennial Blood, Sweat, and Tears,” below, sets even the bones in this piece by Tasha Kusama on fire.

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Murphy says the entire show is a “reflection of artistic radiance.” He adds that the theme of the exhibition was truly an outgrowth of his own design work in books and catalogs over the years and the recognittion that “color really provides a pathway or imprint upon the work itself.

Color of course adds a riveting dimension to the entire exhibition, but there are many sculptural works, including Bonnie Marie Smith’s lustrous work, below, that are dimensional in their own right. Smith’s piece here is a gorgeous crayon-box of color.

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After the opening, on March 23rd a tarot reading is in the cards when New York-based color psychic Sarah Potter celebrates the power of color in a unique presentation from 6 to 9 p.m. March 23rd at MASH.  Potter will present an exciting free event that should bring the color spectrum into even more vivid perspective.  As she says, “Each color has its own vibration and has the ability to stimulate powerful feelings. I can’t wait to share how this works and how you can apply it to your own life right away.”

In the meantime, experience all the color in the world in one gallery, this Saturday, when the exhibition opens at 7 p.m. Mash is located at 1325 Palmetto Street in DTLA.

  • Genie Davis; photos provided by curator

Haleh Mashian: Meditative Magic

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At first glance, the body of work in Haleh Mashian’s latest series of large scale paintings on wood panel reminds the viewer of the glory of rain. It reminds the viewer of the wonder of water falling from the arc of the sky and nurturing the earth below. Of rivers and fields nourished, of clouds softening the landscape, of vision turned inward.

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In Figurine, Mashian has created images of the female figure, and of a woman’s tears – not just one woman, but a collective feminine humanity, she says. The figurative images of women are lush and highly textured – like all of the work here, they are mixed media paintings, large and yet intimate, layered with resin, glitter, gels, fabric, paper, jewels, and beads; or as Mashian describes her work, “Whatever moves me. I wanted all of them to be in a jewel tone, because …of the richness of being a woman. We have a lot going for us,” she laughs.

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Mashian certainly does. A life-long artist, she opened Mash Gallery in the DTLA arts district last August, and has from the start drawn large crowds to diverse shows with skilled curators. “I like to create a place of creativity. I don’t want to be put in a box, I want the space to be fresh and heartfelt. My energy affects it a lot.” It’s her first foray into running a gallery. She has an eclectic mix of shows scheduled for the remainder of the year and ahead into her second. This year, exhibitions covered nature, fashion, and the color red in its inaugural event, Incarnadine.

“In November of every year was are going to have fashion and art. I’ve launched a fashion line,” she attests. Her Maison H fashion line made the cover of American Apparel News, her vivid and prolific designs gracing blankets, bathing suits, shawls, bomber jackets, T-shirts, dresses, bags, and leggings among other items.

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Of the impetus to take on so many new projects, she says “I just feel ready. I feel a lot freer than in my 20s. I feel I keep getting younger, so I might as well do it, it’s an energy exchange.”

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The energy emanating from her work in Figurine is highly emotional, and distinctly, as she puts it, “feminine.” She attests that “The pieces came to me through meditation. I’ve been studying meditation for 25-years. Love is a big part of the journey, what does it mean to be feminine, what is my journey as a woman?” Mashian adds “It is like being an archer. You have to aim high, you cannot go after the feminine until you go after divinity, and connect to the silence there. Then you find you’ll fall into the feminine.”

In a gallery note on the show, Mashian writes “This series is a dance in color and a flowering expression of receiving sacred silence, love, and ecstasy.”

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The exhibition features images of women, each created with unique textures: layers of paper or fabric, for example, mix with the thick applications of paint. Lines, softness, and even dark backgrounds converge to create that kind of blurry, rain-soaked vibe; its furthered by the thoughtful curation of the show by Helene Brown, who has alternated the figures of women with Mashian’s stunning, light-filled tear drop pieces and dewy flowers.

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Like translucent raindrops on wet roses – both flowers and tears glow.

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The tearful images radiate complex emotions, some opalescent, some sparkling, one, “Jeweled LED Backlit Tears,” illuminated in such a way as to resemble teardrops morphed into fire opals; Mashian says the intent was to represent the clarity and illumination one feels after crying.

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“Jeweled White Tears” evoke peace; “Jeweled Black Tears” tears of pain. Her “Jeweled Red Tears,” two paired panels, represent tears of passion. “Jeweled Gold Tears” appear to represent the pure worth of tears.

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“Unless you have really cried you don’t know who you are,” Mashian says. “There is something so majestic about getting in touch with your feelings. The images of tears were all formed from crying meditation. Sometimes you don’t know if you are crying your own tears, or the collective memory of women that we carry inside us.”

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She feels that women are blessed to be open, attuned to nature, and connected to the cycle of life and death. “We are in constant flux, we are magical, one minute we are cold as ice, the next hot as fire. That’s what makes us interesting,” she laughs.

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Her figurative works, which she created working with live models, include “Mona Hissa,” whose fabric elements remind one of the scales on a snake or the feathers of a very hardy bird. The woman’s arms appear to sheathed in red wings.

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“Femme 2,” soft and impressionistic, very much resembles an image seen through rain or tear-blurred glass.

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So, too does “Femme 8” a bathing-suit or lingerie-clad figure who could be standing behind a curtain of image-fracturing rain. It is what is hidden, or partially concealed in these works, as much as what is revealed, that make them powerful. “There is the pensive innocent, the warrior, the complicated Medusa,” she says. “It all comes out at different times in us. There is no need to apologize.”

Below, “Femme 6.”

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Mashian says that all her works represent a narrative of her personal journey to her femininity. “I want people to know that this all comes from an inner knowing; it’s experiential, it needed to come out and be expressed, and it carries a certain energy of something that moved me.”

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The exhibition also includes a variety of intense floral images in red, hot pink, bright yellow. “The roses came from a meditation of looking into someone’s eyes and giving that person a rose. They come from the idea of defining beauty. How do you do that? It’s from the beyond, and always changes, there is a surrender in it.”

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The swirling, liquid beauty of her flowers – whether a single rose or a group of scattered blooms – look upon closer inspection as if one were seeing the dynamic nature of the universe contained within the petals of a single flower.

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While Mashian likes working on a large scale, and with series of images, such as her deeply textured large-scale series of trees, above; she also creates smaller pieces, as with some of the stained-glass-like images she uses for her fashion design, which she creates digitally on her iPhone, below.

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She calls art a “mysterious process” for her. “They say an artist should be known for only one thing, but so much is happening inside me all the time. I tap into that.”

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Figurine was a plunge into the unknown for Mashian. “The work came from a more courageous place inside me. I love not knowing what’s going to come out, but trusting my gut, trusting what you’re going to put into the work. It just brings you more courage in life.” According to Mashian, “At some point the painting tells you what feeling it conveys.”

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For the viewer, what the work in this show – whether roses, women, or a dazzling world of embryonic tears – tells you overall, is to experience the radiance and magic of the work, and fall into their spell and their depth.

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Mashian plans to continue her work with illuminated tears, and create an ocean series following that. For the gallery, next up in March will be a large group show featuring 15 to 18 artists, Radiance Spectrum.

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But for now, it’s time to revel in Mashian’s own works in her solo show Figurine, which opens this Saturday night and runs through March 2nd.

Mash Gallery is located at 1325 Palmetto Street in DTLA.

  • Genie Davis; photos: Genie Davis; “Femme 6” and image from Nature Worship provided by Mash Gallery