Literally and figuratively haunting – the iconic MOAH Cedar building in Lancaster, Calif., itself is said to have a resident ghost or two – Joy Ray’s gorgeous, ghostly, somber, yet uplifting exhibition A mirror with breath like stone possesses the viewer’s spirit.
Filling all three gallery spaces in the building, transparent archival images cover the windows; strangely broken words cast a spell on black textiles; heirlooms culled from Lancaster’s history archives are displayed in cases; and wavering black banners trail ceiling to ground with images and words that compel close viewing.
Ray has often had an interest in the spiritual and otherworldly, using tactile materials and often textile. Here, that interest is allowed to fully express itself in an entirely immersive setting that can’t help but move viewers and hijack the soul as she elegantly offers the spectral its full due.
Using textile sculptures that resemble gravestones, she depicts historic news from the Antelope Valley Ledger-Gazette, adding layers of charcoal and sand in “Spectres,” in which fabric on armature shapes these suspended, eerie worlds and words. Other works, less floatingly ephemeral, are created from paint, twine, and fiberfill on fabric with impressions from the newspaper’s front page, such as in “longtime companion” and “to dream, to fall.”
Her “hall of shadows, hall of mirrors” is created from silk modal, utilizing markings from historic microfilm the artist poured over to uncover. There are hand painted words, sentences spoken by voices of the past.
The glass plate images on the gallery windows include photographs of families and children such as those shown in “Lancaster Hotel New Year’s Day.”
In another gallery room, the lustrous, long-gone landscape of an undeveloped Antelope Valley is represented with “Lancaster looking toward ‘Old Baldy’ after a heavy snowstorm” covers the existing view. Masking and utilizing the shifting light through the gallery windows is an inspired element of the show, casting a mysterious light and illuminating, literally and figuratively, the haunting past. The entire exhibition is cast in a sepia light, adding to the honestly transfixing nature of experiencing the artist’s works. Perhaps it is the power of ghostly attraction, or most likely, the alchemic miracle of her art. Audio tracks such as 1922’s “I’m Gonna Get You” by Mamie Smith and Her Jazz Hounds and other thematically edited musical riffs support the immersivity of the exhibition and add an additional layer of experience.
Joy Ray, like the spectres and shapes, history, hopes, loss, and small miracles of the past that she depicts, is a force to be reckoned with. This is a major show that captures the brevity, fragility, and enduring nature of human life – and the eternal of the great hereafter.
MOAH Cedar is located at 44857 Lancaster Blvd. in Lancaster. The exhibition runs through November 19.
Through January 22nd at MOAH Cedar in Lancaster, Dani Dodge holds forth with an installation that soars as widely and wildly as a desert sky. Prime, like many of the artist’s exhibitions, is immersive. So much so here, in fact, that viewers might almost catch a whiff of desert sage andthe fragrance of a Joshua Tree in bloom.
The exhibition, which fills all three galleries at Cedar, is comprised of three parts. The main room is layered with translucent panels, on which Dodge has created gold leaf and delicately painted acrylic work depicting an ephermeral, mirage-like shimmer of desert images. The experience is a walk-through installation, with viewers able to walk behind and within the panels. Adding to the experiential nature is a soundtrack of cello music the artist created herself and recorded sounds of desert animals at dawn.
Along with the gauzy painted panels, a sculptural form created from a twisted mattress spring hangs in the center of the gallery, with the panels waverying around it. It stands as a kind of monument to how human inhabitants intrude on the quiet grace of the desert, and how the desert itself may banish that habitation in its own good time.
The artist has provided pencils and slips of paper on which to write what types of places bring them peace – as the desert brings piece to Dodge. Safety pins are also provided so that viewers can pin what they’ve written, adding them to their thoughts to the exhibition itself.
Across the hall, Dodge displays images from three separate bodies of work, as seen above. These include a quite wonderful video installation of desert animals captured during her 2019 artist-in-residence stay at the Prime Desert Woodland Preserve in Lancaster. Here we see animals from jackrabbits to coyotes and desert mice as they come and go during the night. Also on display is a wonderful, glowing collection of painted gold leaf and photography that was part of an earlier exhibition held at Black Rock Gallery in Joshua Tree.
The artist’s love for the shape, form, and fragility of the Joshua Tree is resurrecting. Dodge is intent on helping to preserve the land, creating a sense of hope that with her passion directed at preserving them, these wonderful living flora can survive man’s worst intentions. There is also a second recovered metal mattress spring displayed in this gallery, its form twisted by nature and time after being discarded in the desert.
If you love the desert, love immersive finely wrought art, or simply want to experience desert wonder without trudging through the sand, Dodge’s exhibition is a must-see. The fine spiritual sense of her work here is both uplifting and poignant, speaking to the ruthlessness of human contact on the desert, the fragility of the desert itself, and the ways in which we can help to preserve it, if we love those aqua skies and golden sands, those brown hills and small brown creatures that inhabit them, those glorious, uplifted arms of the Joshua, and the land’s spectacular, raw sunrises and sunsets.
Above, Dodge with MOAH’s Robert Benitez (left), and Jason Jenn (right).
Like the artist does herself, we can come visit the desert every January and pay tribute to it, and this year, we can also head to the Cedar galleries to see how Dodge has done so. The exhibition runs through January 22nd.
It also includes a series of lovely desert images created by children participating in activation classes the artist provided at the Preserve throughout her residency.
Just before the pandemic struck us numb, artist Kristine Schomaker opened a stunning exhibition of works not by her, but about her, at the Ronald Silverman Gallery at CSULA.
Today, a new iteration of that exhibition, Perceive Me, replete with fresh curation and artist’s talks, is currently on display at Studio Channel Islands through September 25th. It will move to the Museum of Art and History, MOAH Cedar location, in Lancaster October 9th through December 12th. Whichever venue you choose to view the show at, you will not be disappointed. It’s as meaningful as it is magically fun.
Kristine Schomaker had an idea. It started with the personal and has become a galvanizing collaborative project that reaches and speaks to a wide-range of viewers. It’s a conversation starter, it’s a collection of absolutely unique artworks, it’s an exultant vision of personal spirit, a creation from and of the soul that’s grounded – both literally and figuratively – by the body that holds it.
Artist: Kim Kimbro Taylor Artist: Emily Wiseman
According to Schomaker – artist, curator, publisher and founder of Shoebox Arts – the concept for the show started with a conversation between herself and artist Amanda Mears. Mears was drawing Schomaker at the time. “We were talking about body image, ideas of beauty, modeling nude, and I brought up the story that I had only been asked out on a date a couple times in my 46 years of life. I think unconsciously I took that as this validation that I wasn’t worth anything. Of course I know it is much more complicated than that,” Schomaker laughs, noting that the first time she expressed this out loud was in a previous interview for DiversionsLA.
Artist: Holly Boruck
Describing the idea as having come “full circle,” Schomaker says “I never realized that that was where a lot of my self worth came from. The need for outside validation. Or the idea that we often take our own self-worth from how we imagine others perceive us. Working with Amanda and looking back to a collaboration I did with J Michael Walker for his Bodies Mapping Time project as well as Chris Blevins-Morrison for a photographic project, I thought it would be an interesting ‘research project’ to see how I look through another person’s eyes. It was like a lightbulb.”
Artist: Austin Young
Over the next several months, Schomaker put together the idea of how Perceive Me would work, meeting with 57 different artists between November 2018-August 2019.
Schomaker selected the artists for the exhibition beginning with artists she knew who created work using a figure. “I have a folder on my computer of ‘Artists to Watch’ and culled from that. Plus, I looked at my walls, my art collection and invited those artists. And I invited friends, of course. I started off with the idea of 20 artists, then it went to 40; because I couldn’t say no then it went to 60. Most of the artists were invited, but there were a few who contacted me and after looking at their websites and seeing how their art practice was aligned with mine, I knew they were a perfect fit.”
What she mosts want viewers to take from this powerful and poignant exhibition is to “feel free to be themselves. I want people to be less afraid of ‘going for it,’ whatever that means for them. I want people to not be afraid to be different, unique, authentic and to not hide from others or themselves.”
Artist: Geneva Costa
What led Schomaker to create such a vital piece of the project, or as she calls it, performance, is her belief in its social practice/impact and community engagement.
“I think my thesis was to see if my perception of myself changed as I saw myself through others’ eyes. Or maybe by inviting the many talented artists to collaborate with me, I thought they could make me beautiful? I am just now at this moment asking this question. This is just one project in many in my art practice that will continue helping me develop my own identity.”
Artist: Sydney Walters
“I have a story to tell, a message to relay. I want to educate and inspire. I knew an exhibition would not be enough to get the message out there. I knew a catalog would help get the word out there more,” she relates. “We are also doing artists talks; I am working with classes at the colleges, and there will be a video. I want to support others as much as I can. The catalog was one way of sharing the artists’ amazing work.”
Artist: Dani Dodge
Schomaker terms the exhibition a continuation of her own work, which focuses on challenging and finding herself. “I don’t think I will ever get to an end-point, because life changes all the time. Our identity changes all the time. Our weight changes all the time. My art practice is about telling my story of my eating disorder, struggles with weight and self-confidence. So, it will continue on.”
Artist: Nurit Avesar
The genuinely brave and beautiful show is uniquely notable from its lush and individually terrific images to the concept and Schomaker’s willingness to literally and figuratively expose herself.
Artist: Anna Stump
A wide variety of styles and media fill this powerful and delightful show.
Artist: Bradford Salamon
Participating artists include: Amanda Mears, Anna Kostanian, Anna Stump, Ashley Bravin, Austin Young, Baha Danesh, Betzi Stein, Bibi Davidson, Bradford J Salamon, Caron G Rand, Carson Grubaugh, Catherine Ruane, Chris Blevins-Morrison, Christina Ramos, Cynda Valle, Daena Title, Daggi Wallace, Dani Dodge, Debbie Korbel, Debby/Larry Kline, Debe Arlook, Diane Cockerill, Donna Bates, Elizabeth Tobias, Ellen Friedlander, Emily Wiseman, Geneva Costa, Holly Boruck, J Michael Walker, Jane Szabo, Janet Milhomme, Jeffrey Sklan, Jesse Standlea, John Waiblinger, Jorin Bossen, K Ryan Henisey, Karen Hochman Brown, Kate Kelton, Kate Savage, Kerri Sabine-Wolf, Kim Kimbro, L Aviva Diamond, Leslie Lanxinger, Mara Zaslove, Marjorie Salvaterra, Martin Cox, Monica Sandoval, Nancy Kay Turner, Nurit Avesar, Phung Huynh, Rakeem Cunningham, Serena Potter, Sheli Silverio, Susan Amorde, Susan T. Kurland, Sydney Walters, Tanya Ragir, Tony Pinto, Vicki Walsh.
The exhibition at Studio Channel Islands, through the 25th, is located at 2222 Ventura Blvd. in Camarillo. MOAH Cedar is located at 44857 Cedar in Lancaster, and there the exhibition runs October 9 through December 12th.
You owe it to yourself, your body, and everybody to “perceive this.”
With work that is always personal, compelling, and rich in both spirituality and narrative story, Leonard Greco is bringing his latest body of work, Fairyland, to MOAH Cedar, in a solo show opening February 23rd and running through March 31st. The show looks to be a grand tour de force: epic, slightly surreal, and intensely powerful.
Greco describes this upcoming bravura exhibition as having “a definite camp sensibility, not dissimilar to the theatrical confections of Cecil Beaton in the 1920’s. Camp, having been described as the lie that tells the truth, is an innate language I have been reticent to explore until recently.”
He says that the immersive exhibition will be touching on “the weighty tableau of the Temptation of St. Anthony of the Desert and the perilous trials of Herakles. My aesthetic expression is influenced by my instinctive inclination to lighten somber, somewhat ponderous existential themes with a gay touch.” Greco adds that he is consciously using the word “gay” in two ways, both in its “current identity-laden fraught understanding, and the anachronistic yet more delightful sense. Perhaps internalized homophobia has previously left me hesitant to make work so boldly queer – in every sense of the word – yet making art so openly flamboyant has been liberating.”
A recently completed figure for the exhibition, his six-legged Pluton, Prince of Fire and Governor of the Region in Flames, is an embodiment of this new work, a vibrant depiction of one of “a cadre of tempters” that will be a part of a major piece in Fairyland, “Embodied: St. Anthony & the Desert of Tears.” Brilliantly colorful, rich in detail, it is a large-scale work that’s alive and dimensional. And as with each of the works in this show, in it Greco continues to draw from a wide range of resources, mythology, Catholicism, British folklore, and the operas of Wagner.
He says that the work presented at Fairyland are shaped by “familiar themes, explored many times over by countless artists; yet this time reimagined through a prism of my own.”
The exhibition is at once whimsical, witty, and spectacular – or as Greco says, “it is my intention to create a theatrical spectacle that is peculiar, visually arresting and deeply personal.Although the work is made solely for my own delight, I hope others find the work meaningful in some way.” With his painstaking creative process in mind and the density of these works, Greco is hopeful that visitors will resist what he terms “the siren call of selfies” to take it all in and absorb its drama and dynamics.
Asked to describe his aesthetic overall, Greco asserts that “it is never ironic, as is so often the current fashion.” He finds irony cynical and mocking, whereas his wit and humor is far kinder in its expression. “My work is never cynical for no other reason than the inherent affection I hold for my motley crew of heroes, saints, and sinners,” he explains.
Asked about his strong ties to Catholicism as both inspiration and redefinition in his work – and his mixed feelings about its mythology, he says “There are moments in the studio when I hesitate adding yet one more cross to a piece or stitching the Corpus to a crucifix. Catholicism is a touchy subject for a great many people and I can empathize with their ambivalence, and frequently their out-and-out pain.”
According to the artist “For me, the Church and her saints have been a life-long refuge, a place of art, beauty, ritual and faith, a place of rest from a chaotic, frequently violent childhood to the present, with the quotidian angst of living in an overextended and distracted age.”
Greco adds “I feel the questions the early Church Fathers first grappled with in the 3rd and 4th century are still weighty, still relevant, and still unresolved to this day. How do we as a people, given life, live it fully and truly, steadfastly avoiding the distractions and temptations of a chattering world seemingly hellbent upon inane conformity?”
He relates that he is deeply interested in the “seemingly insignificant distractions that prevent us from embodying our truest selves. In essence, what interferes with your being authentic? What is your demon? Who, what, shadows your path?”
The dichotomy between his own devotion to the church and its frequent intolerances is not lost on Greco.
“As a gay man infatuated with the Roman Church, one that has been historically hostile and intolerant to LGBTQ people – and to other folks, I’ve had to re-contextualize narratives to suit my own perspective. But isn’t that what art making is meant to do?” he asks, noting that art is always “the retelling of stories in new and personal ways.”
Describing the mythological aspects of his art-making, he says that “like humanists in the past, I feel a kinship to our storytelling ancestors. I’m just spinning the yarn a little further.”
And in some cases, he is almost literally spinning it – his work with fabric is unique and filled with brilliant colors and design elements, although his stuffed paintings are hardly the only aspect of his work. From intricate embroidery floss to acrylic on canvas, Greco weaves a storytelling spell with his art.
“I draw, that I think is my strength. Whether with a pencil or ink, or brush or needle, I draw. It is my greatest love. While Fairyland has an absence of actual drawings on paper, the works are drawn with paint and thread. After Fairyland closes, I intend to retire the needle and thread for a bit and focus on putting pencil to paper for awhile. But I’m certain the call of the sewing basket will beckon me back.”
Overall, Greco has been working as a fine artist and decorative painter and muralist for more than 25-years, creating a body of work that is highly detailed and truly riveting in terms of texture, context, and yes, story. “While my commercial and artistic practices are separate entities, they’re also connected,” he says. He calls his work an exploration of the “extremes of human existence” presented through archetypal figures that are undergoing transformation and salvation, rebirth, and entlightenment. He creates these figures in an illustrative, narrative, and realistic style with backgrounds that may lean toward expressive abstraction. Overall, he explains “I am searching to find the divine in the everyday, to show that all life, in all its incarnations is indeed sacred and beautiful.”
With that journey in mind, step into Greco’s Fairyland for a view of exuberant redemption, sacrifice, loss, and passion. Join the artist on a spiritual trip that takes viewers into a magical realm where religion, fantasy, and wonder shape their own world.
