Maria Lynch: Spaces and Spectacles runs through July 24th at downtown LA’s Wilding Cran, a vibrant, participatory look at childhood through the eyes of an adult, and a rumination on what fills the space in your mind and heart. Above, artist Lynch nestles among her multi-colored plastic spheres – and you can, too.
Lynch is a Brazilian multi-media artist. Her exhibition here includes large paintings, soft sculptures, and an interactive installation consisting of translucent, vividly colored balls – a fantastical version of that ball pit toddlers crave at Chuck E. Cheese. Accompanying the installation is a soundscape by Brazilian musician Rodrigo Amarante.
Above, the “ball pit.” Step inside the exhibit’s gate, and move inside. It’s like entering a world of soft, shifting jewels.
Below, Lynch with one of her large scale, brightly colored oil paintings. “You can create a fantasy that links childhood and memories, you can come back to that place of freedom. You have to regain that freedom and interact with it. As a child you are just naturally a part of it,” she says.
Below, some of the soft cloth sculptures that are a part of the exhibition, deconstructed teddy bears.
The exhibit is joyous, packed with a deceptively simple, childlike-approach to color, light, sound, and space. Lynch says that the installation is site-specific; the fenced in section of the gallery containing her bubble-like spheres captures and reflects the light from Wilding Cran’s front window.
Enter Lynch’s magical kingdom and feel the years drop away as you run off to join the circus of this artist’s candy-colored, blossoming art.
The gallery is located at: 939 S. Santa Fe Ave., Los Angeles 90021
- Genie Davis; All Photos: Jack Burke