ART

AMERICAN
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DECEMBER 2010
11 SEPTEMBER - 30 NOVEMBER

JORDI ALCARAZ
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Exercicis de Desaparicio II (Exercises of Disappearance II), 2010, painting on cardboard and plexiglass, 67 3/8 x 87 inches

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 ART
11

AMERICAN
CONTEMPORARY

CONTENTS DECEMBER 2010

20
FEATURES EXHIBITIONS
Allie Pohl 11 20 New York
Letter from DC 14 22 Los Angeles
Gallery Spotlight 16 29 San Francisco
ARTISTS 32 Philadelphia
Alexa Meade 38 34 Boston
Christine Binns 40 34 Denver
Natalie Gray 42 35 Phoenix
34 Ashleigh Sumner 45 35 Charleston

38

On the Cover
Samantha Magowan

25

PUBLISHER Richard Kalisher Advertising Inquires

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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
F. Lennox Campello
Three Month Fever, 2010, Roberta Carasso © 2010 R.K. Graphics. All Rights Reserved.
Content courtesy of represented institutions.
acrylic, collage, mirror, on canvas,
75”x60”. Courtesy of Edgar Varela
Gallery in Los Angeles.
Mira Schor:
Paintings From The Nineties To Now
November 20, 2010 - January 9, 2011

207 W. 5th Street

Los Angeles, CA 90013

www.cb1gallery.com
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F. LENNOX CAMPELLO

“Superman flying naked and low to the ground in order to avoid radar”
Charcoal on paper. 20x24 inches. Circa 2009.

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 Feature Artist Allie Pohl In Her Own Words

Allie Pohl, Ideal Woman: Jennifer Love Hewitt, 2010, porcelain, Swarovski crystals, 16”x6”.
 Allie Pohl, Ideal Woman: 36-24-36, 2010, polyurethane rubber and polyurethane memory foam, 19.5”x9”x12”; mirror pedestal, 26”x28”; high definition two-channel video.
I
am interested in critiquing how social norms and
gender roles throughout Western history have influ-
enced the desired physical form that the female body
takes on. Women are constantly inundated with images
that culturally outline feminine beauty. Commercially
packaged versions of beauty are often simply illusions
created by advanced technology, such as digital image
alteration and/or plastic surgery. My work reflects this
repetitive effect. Society’s addiction to the ideal image
has transformed beauty from an ideal to an attainable
product. The image of the Western ideal has changed
and evolved, and in response to the evolving technolo-
gies, the materials I have used to represent the ideal have
changed and evolved. I developed the “Ideal Woman”
series by taking a “My Size Barbie” and dissecting her
into pieces to make porcelain sculptures. I chose Mat-
tel’s Barbie because she has been held up as the ideal
since her creation over fifty years ago.
A strong social contract that women endure is hair
removal. It is one of the most basic forms of feminine
upkeep that women must abide by in order to maintain
cultural acceptance. The works Ideal Woman: Herma-
then, Enkolpizo, and Ankulopous have natural sprouts
growing out of places where women often remove
12 A|C|A December 2010
(shave, wax, pluck, laser, etc.) away their unwanted hair:
in the armpits, on the legs, and in the pubic area. Femi-
ninity, by Western society’s standards, requires regular
upkeep, just as in my series of pieces, the growth pro-
cess of the sprouts require maintenance. The growth of
sprouts articulates that, unlike Mattel’s presentation, the
female condition is not plastic and shrink-wrapped.
Just as women have been forced to “maintain” their
body hair, the Ideal Woman: Astroturf A is an artistic
commentary on society adapting technology to elimi-
nate body maintenance. Astroturf, a synthetic material,
does not require maintenance or upkeep. It is a material
that is more “perfect” than the “real”.
Ideal Woman: Evolution uses minimalist materials
and aesthetics to guide the viewer through the evolution
of hair removal on the bikini line and the progression of
technologies through the stone, bronze, iron, and digi-
tal ages. I compare the evolution of female hair removal
with the historical progression of tool making technolo-
gies to illustrate that women have altered their bodies
throughout history consistent with the progression of
these technologies. The advancements and progression
of tools and materials have allowed women to easily al-
ter their bodies, beginning with small cosmetic changes
 Allie Pohl, Ideal Woman: 36-24-36 (see left page). Detail: mirror pedestals, 26”x28”.
and leading to larger modern day surgical procedures.
The image of the ideal in today's globalized and tech-
nologically connected society is now seen more quickly
and more often. The "perfect” woman is constructed
through the utilization of repetition, technology, and
the idea of virtual. The virtual world has allowed indi-
viduals to readily mediate what is projected and what
is communicated. Yet, simultaneously, the reality of the
"real" is getting much harder to find and understand. The
advent and progress of technology has vastly changed
our perception of what is real and of what ultimately
matters. Women today are pushed to attain the idealized
beauty that they see in magazines, on television, and all
around them. This quandary leads to a conflict between
the real and the mediated self.
Ideal Woman: 36-24-36 is a series that allows the
viewer to see, squeeze, and mold the figures, just like
society molds the ideal. It was important to me to create
a tangible object of the perfect dimensions (36” 24” 36”)
of a woman’s figure, using high-tech industrial materi-
als (polyurethane rubber and memory foam) to further
discuss the utilization of such technologies to augment
the female form. The emerging sculptural figures are
designed to sit on polished, uniform mirror pedes-
tals, which project the reflection of the viewer back at
them, allowing the viewer to compare themselves to
the ideal. The pedestals resemble pyramids and make
the sculptural figures appear godlike, further elevat-
ing the “ideal” woman. The emerging sculptural forms
and the pedestals are displayed and positioned in rep-
etition, reminiscent of factory lines, again demonstrat-
ing the cookie cutter nature of what our society sees as
ideal. The idea of the real is constantly changing. With
the advent of technology, it is easier to see and chan-
nel the “ideal” and allow the “real” to transcend reality.
Through the use of new social networks, everyone can
easily mediate and curate an online presence with the
“ideal” in mind. The media projects an ideal and that
ideal is repeated, reproduced, and continually executed.
This results in people starting to look the same in reality
and the mediated reality.
An exhibiton of Allie Pohl’s Ideal Woman works, enti-
eld Perfect, can be seen through October 15 at the Marina
Abramović Institute West Coast in San Francisco. For
more information, visit bit.ly/MAIWest or alliepohl.com.
Feature 13
Channeling Disallusionment into Art
In his recent exhibition at Long View
Gallery titled We the People, District of
Columbia artist Scott Brooks continues
to populate canvasses of all sizes with his
own unique vision of “people” and also
continues to advance the case for Scott
Brooks to be considered as one of the re-
gion’s leading artists.
To start, Brooks’ enviable technical
skill is of the level seldom seen these days
where theory seems to have all but buried
the need for an artist to have any techni-
cal facility. His remarkable ability to mar-
ry this technical skill with a Brooksian
vision of a world that both manages to
attract and repel the viewer, elevates the
artwork to the point where it goes beyond
high art and begins to do what some truly
great artwork does: deliver social and his-
torical narratives that have an important
point to contribute to contemporary dia-
logue beyond the visual arts.
But where in the past Brooks has done
this in a somewhat subtle way, in this
show’s 12 works he rolls back his sleeves
and assaults our visual senses with his
messages, agenda and positions on such
things as politics, culture and a populari-
ty-obsessed nation. He does this in a bla-
14 A|C|A December 2010
A Letter from Washington DC by F. Lennox Campella
tant but elegant manner that shouts with
paint instead of noise and attacks with
scale and numbers.
For example, in the painting We the
People, Brooks uses his fear of empty
space almost as a weapon by crowding
the large canvas with images and artifacts
full of almost Victorian-style clues and
fascinating objects. The four main figures
in the canvas, with the usual slight facial
distortions that make Brooks’ works im-
mediately recognizable, are presented to
the viewer amongst a backdrop of hu-
manity that assail the mind and eyes with
their oddity and visual noise. The wor-
ship of the “plugged in” hero (who just
happens to be a snake charmer), standing
on a symbolic money platform, all buff
and strong and perfect, highlights the im-
perfections of those worshipping him; all
but the figure in the top hat to the left, as
if a little dejection is creeping in. Mean-
while, tiny video cameras broadcast the
snake charmer’s victory to the world.
And if fear of empty space makes the
case in this piece, it all but overflows out
of Separation Anxiety: An Allegory for the
Conflict between Good and Evil where
Brooks truly flexes his artistic ideas in a
riot of color, forms, stories, mini-dramas
within the stories and a mind numbing
variety of figures and “peoples” within a
canvas so full of information that it is im-
possible to absorb it all in one visit. There
are probably close to 100 figures, animals
and things on this canvas, and yet, some-
how Brooks still manages to aim our fo-
cus and initial (and final) attention to the
God-like child figure sitting atop a circus-
like atmosphere bordering on madness of
the senses. Meanwhile, those other 99 fig-
ures and objects are punching your eyes
with their demand for attention.
Brooks says that his disillusionment
with Washington is central to this exhibi-
tion. He adds that he “sees inherent flaws
in a system that no one man can fix.” He
feels that “the world is distracted, choos-
ing to hide in denial behind such diver-
sions as religion, indifference and reality
television rather than face the dire truth,
which is what Washington intends.”
All marathons start with one step,
and in We the People Brooks succeeds in
grabbing our attention and hypnotizing
us into trying to react to his visual war
of color and narrative. We’re no longer
distracted.
Annie Wharton Opens A New Gallery in Los Angeles
Since making her home in Los Angeles a
scant five years ago, Annie Wharton has
been a force to be reckoned with on the
burgeoning LA art scene. A rare breed who
operates simultaneously as an artist, writ-
er, curator, and gallery director, Wharton
is at home in all sectors of the art world
and thus harbors a uniquely multi-layered
perspective on its workings. On Novem-
ber 18, Wharton opened her new gallery
venture, Annie Wharton Los Angeles, as
part of the Pacific Design Center’s Design
Loves Art program. Initiated by PDC own-
er Charles S. Cohen—who also sits on the
board of the Museum of Contemporary
Art, Los Angeles (MOCA)—and orga-
nized by independent curator Helen Va-
16 A|C|A December 2010
Carol Cheh Asks Her About Her New Venture
rola, DLA brings together a cross-section
of LA artists, curators, and gallerists for
innovative programming that takes place
in the PDC’s vast showrooms. I recently sat
down with Wharton for a brief chat about
all things art.
What kind of work are you attracted to
and why?
The artists I tend to gravitate toward all
share an elaborate approach to studio
and theoretical practice. They also take
painstaking measures in their processes
of thought and execution. The first show
I’ve curated for Annie Wharton Los An-
geles is called The Way the Morning Broke
Was Quite Unusual, which is a line from
a Front 242 song, but it’s also the title of a
work by John Espinosa that’s in the show.
Most of the artists in it are LA–based: Es-
pinosa, Alika Cooper, Peter Harkawik,
Davida Nemeroff, Mary Anna Pomonis,
and Bobbi Woods, all of whom created a
bit of buzz in LA before showing with me.
The two artists who aren’t local are Lina
Theodorou, whom I was introduced to
by a museum curator in Athens, Greece,
while working on a public art project
there in September, and Ingibjörg Birgis-
dóttir, a video artist from Reykjavik that
I’ve curated into several projects in the
past. The work in the show ranges from
sculpture to photography to works on pa-
per to video, and all speak to the aesthetic
sensibility that I’ll bring into play in the
future.
Tell us about your background.
I lived in Miami from 1994 to 2005, re-
ceiving a BFA in sculpture from the Uni-
versity of Miami in 1998. During that
time I primarily worked as an artist but
sometimes curated. I had shows in mu-
seums, galleries, and alternative spaces
internationally prior to moving to LA
in 2005. During my first two years here,
I spent most of my time in a studio in
Chinatown, but then I began to write for
art magazines, organize shows and video
screenings as a way to get to know the
artists in my community. The first show
I curated in LA was at the wonderful
but now-defunct JAIL Gallery in May of
2008. It was wildly successful in terms of
sales to important collectors (one piece
was purchased for The Whitney Muse-
um), and I think that gave me the confi-
dence to launch my own ventures. Since
then, I opened a commercial gallery with
a partner in what was the reception office
of a motel in Chinatown, I’ve worked on a
couple of public art projects and continue
to produce curatorial endeavors outside
of the gallery.
Is there any part of your practice that
you enjoy more than the others?
All the elements of my background have
gone into my present focus as an art
dealer. All of the components augment
each other—the writing, the art mak-
ing, organizing shows, doing studio vis-
its—the compendium of parts has sort of
amalgamated to form the intellectual and
aesthetic framework that I draw upon
when working as a dealer. I had over
2,500 people walk into AWLA on open-
ing night, and by the end of the first week,
we’d gotten about 10 very positive and
encouraging press mentions (including
being voted one of the top 10 shows in
Los Angeles for the month of November
by Saatchi Online Magazine). The posi-
tive feedback from the public has really
exceeded my expectations.
What next for you?
In addition to the gallery, I have in the
last few years been invited to do curato-
rial projects and video screenings inter-
nationally. I’m now curating a show of
video artists for the Frost Museum in Mi-
ami, which will open in April 2012. I’m
super excited about the scope of works,
which will range from established young
contemporary video artists like Kate
Gilmore and Shana Moulton to practi-
cally unknown artists like Tyler Calkin
and Carl Pomposelli.
What is your favorite art thing in LA
right now?
I cannot answer this without prejudice,
because Davida Nemeroff is one of my
artists, but the best conceptual art piece
in Los Angeles right now, is (in my opin-
ion) her project called Night Gallery. It’s
a quirky space located in a strip mall in
Lincoln Heights with black textured walls
that shows international artists and is
only open from 10pm to 2am, Tuesday
through Thursday. Do you know anyone
else who does that? It’s shatteringly bril-
liant.
What are your favorite pieces of art?
I recently saw The Spectacular Art of
Jean-Léon Gérôme, a 19th-century
French painter, at The Getty and was
utterly shaken by the work. Though
Gérôme eschewed his avant-garde con-
temporaries, he was someone who ob-
viously influenced the Dadaists, and his
approach to Orientalism was quite ironic
and a bit sassy. His painting The Snake
Charmer from 1870 would be one I’d love
(opposite page) John Espinosa, The way the Morning Broke was Quite Unusual, 2010, Grape Kool-Aid, memory foam,
UV sensitive acrylic paint, black dye, water pump, copper pipe, fiberglas, wood, polyurethane, plexiglas tanks. (above)
Ingibjörg Birgisdóttir, A Little Bit, 2010, videostill. Images courtesy of the artists and Annie Wharton Los Angeles.
to have. I’d also take a re-creation of Ant
Farm’s classic Media Burn from 1975.
Those guys have been delighting me
since I first heard about them while in art
school in the late 90’s. I’m not sure how
I’d archive the piece while on the island,
but it’d certainly be amazing to possess.
Finally, Davida Nemeroff ’s Bridge which
she is still in the process of making—I’d
never shed tears in a studio visit before
I saw this video work. There is some-
thing so beautifully engaging on a formal
level, but with an almost Plath-like sad-
ness about Davida’s creative output. Her
work employs a certain physicality of en-
durance-based single shots versus stun-
ningly framed imagery versus the sounds
or music she carefully selects. She sensi-
tively creates a sort of iconic visual and
aural excursion within each of her works;
it’s a language that absolutely speaks to
the culture of now.
Annie Wharton Los Angeles is located
in the Pacific Design Center, Suite B275,
8687 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood,
90069. Hours are 12 to 5pm, Monday
through Friday and the second Saturday
of the month. For more information, visit
anniewhartonlosangeles.com or call (305)
905-9304.
Carol Cheh is a writer and curator based
in Los Angeles. She is the founder of An-
other Righteous Transfer!, a blog docu-
menting LA’s performance art scene.
Feature 17
 Santa Monica Civic Auditorium
January 13 - 16, 2011

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Sponsors and advertisers who wish to celebrate

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Norman Kulkin, The Gallerist, 2008

 EXHIBITIONS
James Meyer
Morgan Lehman New York
[through Dec 23]
James Meyer: (from top) Summer,
48”x65“; Acrylic on birch panel
Untitled, watercolor on paper, 30”x44”;
Piston, cut paper, 96”x120”.
Trine Lise Nedreaas
Stephan Stoyanov New York
[through Dec 20]
Trine Lise Nedreaas, Mac Donaldi
- King of Soap Bubbles, 2009.
20 A|C|A December 2010
NEW YORK CITY
The strange, distant world of childhood
memory is a consistent theme in these new
sculptural paintings and works on paper
by James Meyer. While never explicitly im-
plied, the autobiographical nature of the
artist's own childhood, in 1960's suburban
America is the primary source of inspira-
tion in this exhibition, After Kapka. But
while these images, culled from seeming-
ly personal photographic sources are the
choice of the artist, they appeal to the view-
er as both instantly recognizable memories
from their own shared histories. Using a
variety of media such as paper, wood, and
brushed aluminum, Meyer creates mono-
chromatic sculptural paintings that utilize
repetitive images of children in motion and
at play. In the case of his wood and metal
works, negative space is created directly by
the white walls of the gallery. His imagery
is often repeated serially in different scale,
material and size elevating the subjects to
an iconic status. The black silhouetted im-
age of a young girl hula-hooping set against
a grid background of candy-colored squares
In this solo show, Trine Lise Nedreaas de-
buts a new 3-screen video installation,
Smoke and Mirrors, together with other
works created during her recent time in
Berlin. The title piece brings us first the
mystical Mac Donaldi - King of Soap Bub-
bles, a master of his own universe. Omnip-
otent and playful, he creates mesmerizing
smoke-filled bubbles that hover in the air,
their brief existence drawn to an inevitable
close in a puff of smoke; Iryna - Backbender
closes in on the fascinating, awkward and
discomforting shapes of a contortionist,
her unfaltering smile belying the efforts of
her unbelievable deformations; In Yana and
Noname a ventriloquist silently handles
her jester dummy, the childlike world of
make-believe revealing a sinister unspoken
violence. Together these films present key
elements in the artist's ongoing exploration
of the human condition: our insignificance
in a grander setting and our powerlessness
over our own nature; our attempts to ac-
commodate and navigate a complex world;
may not seem like a particularly ominous
image, but in this work by Meyer, a pal-
pable sense of dread is conveyed. As the
viewer approaches the work, a topological
"ball and stick" molecular model rendered
in the negative is revealed. The cognitive
association between the girl and the mol-
ecule range from the innocence of an el-
ementary school science class to the horror
of complete nuclear fallout. It is this juxta-
position of disparate, but psychologically
linked images that is of primary concern in
the artist's work. This level of reflection that
comes with non-sequential images is what
I want to capture in my work. The pieces in
this particular exhibition show the duality
of the molecule on the atomic level, as well
as the planetary level. The relationship be-
tween the two worlds shows movement as
a static drawing. These works break down
the image to a base of what the drawing is,
without any complex painting. The combi-
nation of images makes a new idea that the
two separate things did not necessarily rep-
resent on their own.
and the forces that manipulate and influ-
ence our everyday activities, both mundane
and profound. Pinned to the wall nearby in
the gallery's industrial basement, a motley
crew of ventriloquist dummies, illusion-
ists and monsters hang alongside studies of
spiritual leaders and their evangelized wor-
shippers; Fan is a rogues gallery of sorts - a
makeshift scrapbook of the artist's passing
obsessions. Exploring the dual notions 'See-
ing is believing / believing is seeing': Mind's
eye is a collection of Rorschach mirror ink-
blot images, mounted directly on to the
wall - each subtly reworked, these ambigu-
ous forms present a catalog of our own in-
ner visions; Marvels is a series of polaroids
in which the shape of a heart is captured
in celestial scenes; and Why is a stereo-
scopic toy where question marks leap out
from stellar nurseries. Is there anything out
there? Coupling wondrous curiosity with
the looming sense of instability, Nedreaas
circles around our hopes, fears, wonder and
awe in a world of uncertainty.

One of New York’s finest Pop Realist paint-
ers, Steve Ellis is well known for his tech-
nically virtuosic paintings. His dynamic
representational technique uses pop cul-
ture iconography to explore various issues
emerging from contemporary consumer-
ism, often favoring the depiction of single
objects rendered with near fetishistic focus.
The centerpiece of the new exhibition is the
monumental Manifest Destiny (You’re Either
On The Bus Or…?’), painted to appear as a
collage of torn print media pages. Previous
series have investigated the death of print
media and the damaged, transitory beauty
of American popular culture, featuring con-
sumer detritus such as torn magazines, cig-
arette lighters, knives, broken high-heeled
shoes, and crashed cars. Following the tra-
dition of Pop-art masters, the new exhibi-
tion demonstrates Ellis’ skillful explorations
not just of new content, but of a wider range
of media, including silk screens, wallpaper,
light boxes and mixed media installations.
The colorful, satirical works communicate
narrative with concision and economy, and
frequently feature wordplay. Not immedi-
ately apparent, the messages are placed sub-
Posed: Physique Photography from the 1940s,
50s, and 60s features works by Bruce Bellas
(Bruce of L.A.), Bob Mizer (Athletic Model
Guild) and Don Whitman (Western Pho-
tography Guild). The over one hundred
vintage works on display are coupled with
ephemera from the era. Bellas, Mizer and
Whitman were pioneers in photographing
the male nude, and instrumental in estab-
lishing the field of physique photography.
Working in tandem with physical culture
and muscle magazines of the era, they each
built a substantial mail order enterprise,
largely catering to a gay audience. They,
along with other photographers in differ-
ent parts of the country, created the world
of “beefcake”. Their broad influence can be
seen in the works of artists such as David
Hockney, Andy Warhol, Robert Mappletho-
rpe, Herb Ritts, Bruce Weber and numer-
ous others. Bellas, Mizer and Whitman de-
veloped unique styles, taking photographs
both in the studio and outdoors. There is
a quintessentially American look to their
EXHIBITIONS
tly throughout the
canvases or hinted
at in titles, compel-
ling the viewer to
look more closely
in order to engage
with the works on a
deeper level. Born
in Washington
D.C., Ellis moved
to New York City
in 1989 to study at the prestigious School of Steve Ellis
Visual Arts, where he excelled in realism. nine5 New York
Following his graduation, Ellis lived and [through Dec 10-24]
worked in downtown New York, cultivat-
ing his aesthetic by immersing himself in
the vibrant subculture of the city’s nightlife.
Ellis has exhibited extensively throughout
the U.S. in addition to several international
shows. These include exhibitions at the AC
Institute, the Gershwin Hotel, the Studio @
620, SoHo House, American Fine Arts and
the Lexington Armory. Ellis’ works are held
in private collections in New York, Los An-
geles, Chicago, Miami, and throughout the
world. He is currently a painting instructor
Steve Ellis: (top) Manifest Destiny (you’re ei-
at the School of Visual Arts. ther on the bus or…?), oil and acrylic on can-
vas, 2010, 86”x170”; (bottom) Scars and Stripes,
oil on canvas, 2010, 24”x24”.
work from this time period. Well-groomed
young men appear to be athletes, army or
navy recruits, aspiring actors or models, Bruce Bellas
and in real life they often were. Many were Bob Mizer
professional bodybuilders and most were Don Whitman
Jeff Bailey New York
straight. While some were hustlers, most
[Nov 18 - Dec 23]
just wanted some extra cash. Models were
posed in a variety of ways, evoking classi-
cal sculpture. Props would be used to sug-
gest certain types, such as cowboy, bandit,
or athlete. Dramatic lighting gave a Hol-
lywood aura to many of the studio works,
and the vast open skies and rugged terrain
of the American West provided a dramatic
backdrop for photographs of single models
or pairs,. It was illegal in America to depict
full frontal nudity until 1962, and illegal to
send nude images through mail until the
end of that decade. As a result, the models
were photographed wearing posing straps,
or G-strings. This allowed for the photo-
graphs to be considered as athletically or
artistically inspired material, and therefore Bruce Bellas (Bruce of L.A.), Don Hawksley,
not subject to censorship. 1955, photograph, 5”x4”. Series 2201-5.
Exhibitions 21
 EXHIBITIONS
Cynthia Ona Innis
Walter Maciel Los Angeles
[through Dec 18]
Cynthia Ona Innis: (from top) Hub, 2010, acrylic
and satin on canvas; Circuit, 2010, acrylic and
satin on canvas. Courtesy of Walter Maciel.
“Gray Day”
Robert & Tilton Culver City
[through Dec 18]
(top) Gray Day Installation View; (bottom) PJ
Risse, What, 2010, performance during Gray Day
opening reception. Photography by Tyler Jamison.
22 A|C|A December 2010
LOS ANGELES
Betwixt, a solo show by Cynthia Ona Innis,
consists of a range of materials and tech-
niques that challenge notions of the divide
between painting and drawing. The subject
of her work continues to be influenced by
the cycles of nature and the investigation
of forms under transformation. Exposing a
transitional pivot—a moment of exchange
as one thing becomes another—the surging
biomorphic organisms suggest a physical
and botanical reference amidst an environ-
ment caught in flux. The markings are in-
dicative of growth stages and changes with-
in plant and animal life during the course of
each season. Rather than interpreting sci-
entific investigations, the organic composi-
tions are loose abstractions that examine
the implications of process and experience.
Elements in nature change with the com-
ing of a new season and the rebirth contin-
ues each year. Innis explores the tension
between sexual/reproductive, stiff/limp/
buoyant, wet/dry, fresh/spent through a
narrative created with drawing, paint and
collage. The materials include the use of
For curator Noah David, this exhibition.
Gray Day, should “exist like the aftermath
of a failed suicide attempt; it should repre-
sent the line that has been blurred between
art, commerce and celebrity.” In order to
“demonstrate the apathy of the present mo-
ment”, Davis felt it important to bring to-
gether a large group of artists to work indi-
vidualism in seeking a single objective, “to
create a show that is entirely gray, an ode
to group shows like Tony Shafrazi’s Who’s
Afraid of Jasper Johns and the Metropoli-
tan Museum of Art’s exhibition of Jasper
Johns: Gray. Works on view range from
Larry Bell’s geometric drawings executed
in the 1970s to Marlon Rabenreither’s film
stills that formally echo Bell’s current col-
lage paintings. A slide from 2001 by Kevin
Galleazi displays a lottery ticket and a pho-
tograph of American women on a trip to a
third world country, surrounded by natives
whom the artist has adorned with stars
on their faces to illustrate the exploitation
satin, velvet and vinyl fabrics layered with
ink and acrylic pigments while maintaining
a strong emphasis on line. The composi-
tions are built up to create areas of texture
that are enhanced by the reaction to light.
Different palettes in the works appropri-
ately contradict each other to represent the
four seasons. Hues of hot pink and electric
orange are created with pigments on satin
and canvas to represent summer while
icy white and topaz blue are made with
stains on vinyl and velvet to denote winter.
The mood of fall is characterized by hues
of burnt sienna, muted pink and ochre,
while spring is shown using areas of mint
green, opaque white and faint yellow. The
controlled areas of collage nicely balance
the spontaneity of the poured stains with
tightly rendered clusters or pod-like forms
interacting in unison. From these bio-
morphic shapes, a series of linkage begins
with the use of drawn lines and patterning.
Some of the works are abruptly interrupted
with a separation to show a comparison of
application, contour and palette.
of the voyeur on the indigenous people.
A survey of contemporary local talent in
painting includes standout pieces by Al-
lison Schulnik, Charles Karubian, Joshua
Aster, Mark Dutcher and Kristin Calabrese.
James Brittingham’s acrylic and mylar wall
pieces are instantly iconic, while Bay Area
artists Michelle Blade and Mark McKnight
both contribute consistent work habits, one
in drawing and the other in photography.
A smashed disco ball by Daniel Desure lies
on the floor as if it has fallen ten feet to the
ground, declaring the end of the party. A
sizeable sculpture by Michaels Hayden is
like a severed building that has been rear-
ranged to comment on contemporary ar-
chitecture, and a new sculpture by Natas-
cha Snellman draws directly from the gray
days of Seattle. Juan Capistran’s felt floor
sculptures of a DJ mixer and speakers from
the earlier part of this decade literally turn
the volume up on Joseph Beuys’ sculptures
made of the same material.

William Eggleston: American Photogra-
pher presents a rich offering of unique and
historic prints dating from 1965 through
1985 including several of Eggleston’s most
iconic images. Eggleston is widely recog-
nized as one of the most important pho-
tographers of the 20th century owing to
his innovative and unconventional ap-
proach to composition and early adoption
and mastery of color photography. Over
a more than thirty-year career, the artist’s
selection of seemingly commonplace sub-
ject matter lays bare the fleeting qualities
of human existence while offering a tender
compendium of his home, the American
South. Designed to present insights into the
photographer’s working methods and phi-
losophy, this exhibition runs concurrently
with William Eggleston: Democratic Cam-
era Photographs and Video, 1961-2008, pre-
sented by the Los Angeles County Museum
of Art. Eggleston’s work offers epiphany-
like insight into the everyday. The interplay
of opulent color and nonchalant forms in
Eggleston's photographs honors his sub-
jects while providing an additional layer of
meaning, turning them into stunning visu-
al metaphors of an alienated world. With an
eye not to glorify the world in front of his
lens, but with the intent to show things for
what they really look like, Eggleston states,
“I think I had often wondered what other
things see -- if they saw like we see. And
I’ve tried to make a lot of different photo-
Zoe Crosher’s For Ur Eyes Only: The Un-
veiling of Michelle duBois is comprised of
images and ephemera bequeathed to the
artist by confidante Michelle duBois, one
of five aliases kept by the aspiring flight at-
tendant who turned tricks to sustain her
travels across the Pacific Rim in the 1970s
and 1980s. She took on many different
costumed guises and kept fanatical docu-
mentation of her many dramatic transfor-
mations. Until one day, she didn’t, which is
where Crosher’s project embarks. Crosher
explores ongoing themes such as identity,
travel, transience and obsolescence. She has
extensively re-photographed, scanned and
re-ordered duBois’ slippery self-portraits
into a re-contextualized archive, thriving in
the soft spaces between fantasy and fiction,
EXHIBITIONS
graphs as if a human did not take them.” William Eggleston
Refining this idea, exhibition curator, Car- Edward Cella Los Angeles
ole Thompson, notes, “Eggleston’s color [through Dec 31]
images flaunt their apparent formlessness.
Although the artist acknowledges a debt to
Henri Cartier- Bresson, his photographs
reject Bresson’s decisive moments.” Rep-
resenting a collaboration between Carole
Thompson, a private art dealer whose cli-
ents include several museums, and Edward
Cella Art + Architecture, the exhibition of
more than forty vintage photographs be-
gins with several one-of-a- kind black-and-
white, hand-developed photographs of the
1960s and also includes pristine examples
of the vivid dye transfer work of the early
1970s. To Eggleston, the richness of pho-
tography stems from the unexpected and
uncontrollable, and the exhibition’s inclu-
sion of the artist’s first experiments in color
photography, unique Chromogenic-cou-
pler prints developed in the late 1960s and
early 1970s, document his breakthrough
with impromptu encounters with various
individuals and scenes. Comprehensive in
nature yet approachable in scale, the exhibi-
tion features selected prints from six of the
artist’s influential series, including the land-
William Eggleston: (from top) Untitled (The
mark 1976 catalogue, William Eggleston’s Red Room) Tallahatchie Country, Mississippi
(from the William Eggleston’s Guide Series), 1972,
Guide, Los Alamos project, and, for the first dye-transfer color photograph, 11.38”x17.25”;
time in Los Angeles, offers examples from Untitled (Burning Brazier) Memphis, 1975
(printed 1981), dye-transfer color photograph,
the artist’s Berlin Series. His oeuvre has pro- 12.25”x18.87”; Untitled (Man in Car), 1968,
silver gelatin print, 6” x 9.5”. © William Eggleston
foundly influenced generations of photog-
raphers, curators, filmmakers, and writers.
Zoe Crosher
documentation and theatricality, and indi- Charlie James Los Angeles
viduation and anonymity. The Unveiling of [through Dec 4]
Michelle duBois opens with the final pub-
lished photographs in the archive. The West
Coast was Oklahoma-native duBois’ last
American port of call before setting off for
Asia, so it is fitting that Chung King Road’s
Hollywood-ized take on Chinese culture
should be the place to unveil duBois’ Ori-
ental escapism. Crosher has fixed in on du-
Bois’ transient obsessions, making pictures
of pictures—of obfuscated faces, of repeat-
ed shadows in dark black & white door-
ways, of arched backs, of backs of backs of
photographs and backs of necks—through
which we are momentarily granted access
into one woman’s fantastical worldview and
Zoe Crosher, The Unveiling of Michelle du Bois,
performed sexuality, framed and reframed. details from installation, 2010.
Exhibitions 23
 EXHIBITIONS

Doug Aitken Doug Aitken's work draws on a variety of
Regen Projects Los Angeles media genres, including but not limited to
[Nov 11 - Dec 18] photography, sculpture, books, sound, and
video installation; all in service to interests
in architecture, travel, technology and how
our experiences of them affect our percep-
tions of time, space, memory, and history.
Popular with LA audiences for years (he’s a
native), Aitken was catapulted to national
and international attention when his ex-
traordinary installation Untitled (Shopping
Cart) was the hit of the 2000 Whitney Bien-
nial and graced its catalog cover -- a bell-
weather for a new era of appreciation for the
contributions of LA artists on the national
stage. Aitken has been commissioned to
make a new piece for the MOCA Gala on
November 13, celebrating The Artist’s Mu-
seum’s mammoth two-venue exhibition of
Doug Aitken, views of installation House, 2010. works by over 140 artists who have helped
Courtesy of Regen Projects.
define the contemporary artistic landscape
in Los Angeles. Aitken plans to transform
the party into an experiential artwork. Ac-
Yigal Ozeri
cording to the artist, his work, entitled WE,
Mark Moore Santa Monica
will be a “cultural ambush,” during which
[through Dec 18]
gala guests will be immersed in a kaleido-
scope of light, architecture, cuisine, and
music, including performances by Aitken’s
longtime friend: indie-rock pioneer, LA
resident, and accomplished visual artist,
Devendra Banhart. These days, for better or
worse, Aitken must feel like something of a
rock star himself, between the MOCA en-
gagement, and a forthcoming monograph
from Rizzoli. If this is not enough, all of this
going in while he’s preparing for an antici-
pated show at Regen Projects. By contrast
with his exuberantly theatrical plans for
MOCA, Aitken show at Regen will feature
his newest film-based work, House, born of
the more reflective strains in his aesthetic,
such as manipulated time-lapse, expres-
sive architecture, imagined landscape, and
symbolic narrative. The film depicts a cou-
ple whose built surroundings disintegrate
around them as they sit motionless, star-
ing into each other’s eyes. Aitken’s extreme
technical skill and patient, detailed crafts-
manship makes him a master of illusion,
and he brings the full range of his talent to
bear on this ambitious, enigmatic bit of cin-
ematic poetry. —Shana Nys Dambrot

Yigal Ozeri, Untitled; Lizzie in the
Snow (5), 2010, oil on paper, 42” x 60”.
Katharina Grosse
Christopher Grimes
Santa Monica
[through Jan 8]
Katharina Grosse, detail of Untitled, 2010,
acrylic on canvas, 84.25” x 56.5”.
For its final exhibition before permanently
relocating to Culver City, Mark Moore Gal-
lery presents an inaugural Los Angeles solo
exhibition of new paintings by Israeli artist,
Yigal Ozeri. With tinges of Pre-Raphaelite
aesthetics, Ozeri, who has been widely ex-
hibited internationally since 1988, brings
an ethereal and uninhibited sensibility to
his photorealistic tableaus. His portraits of
distinctive young women in rich landscapes
bespeak art historical underpinnings in mi-
Employing an audacious palette and an
unconventional painting systel, Katharina
Grosse is perhaps
best known for
her site-specific
works that or-
ganically expand
over architectural
spaces and en-
able her to create
larger-than-life
paintings. In this
process, she ex-
mesis and romanticism, while also offering
contemporary notions of sensual feminin-
ity. Rooted in Carl Jung's concept of anima,
Ozeri's depictions of a revitalized connec-
tivity to nature prompt a confrontation of
a subconscious effeminate identity, and
reinstate the beauty of innocent authentic
experience. In this body of work, Ozeri il-
lustrates unadulterated freedom through
model Lizzie Jagger – whose lineage and
demeanor epitomize social autonomy.
plores the concept of transformation and
the experience of memory. With each col-
or indicating a multitude of layers, Grosse
"emphasizes color over brush-work, and
movement over statis". She looks at not
only the positive or painterly surface, but
the negative or blank spaces that may lie be-
tween the layers of paint. By dichotomizing
forms, Grosse departs from the confines of
the picture plane and explores the schisms
that lay between. Through this fluidity of
form, Grosse articulates the movement of
time and space.

24 A|C|A December 2010


In her new series of biomorphic sculptures,
Laurie Hassold creates a tension between
art and science, mind and body, as well
as beauty and horror; these ornamental,
bone-like structures are the future fossils
of creatures that have gathered themselves
together from the aftermath of human oc-
cupation. Meanwhile, Jocelyn Marsh  has
created an installation called The Penweath-
er House, a whaling lighthouse founded in
1712 by Archibald Penweather. In 1820, the
whale-ship Essex was struck by an 85-foot
bull sperm whale and sunk. This instal-
lation is an account of the tragic tide that
ebbed and flowed through the Penweather
House. The artworks are three dimensional,
sculptural objects depicting scenes of this
Alexa Gerrity’s solo exhibition, entitled
The Venus Effect, is a phenomenon in the
psychology of perception named after
various paintings of Venus gazing into a
mirror, such as Titian’s Venus with a Mir-
ror. The viewer assumes that Venus is ad-
miring her own reflection, but since the
viewer sees her face in the mirror, Venus
is actually looking at the reflection of the
viewer.  The single-channel video, Marked
by Mercury, explores this relationship with
the gaze. The myth of Narcissus is directly
concerned with an element of human ex-
perience. Narcissus mistook his own reflec-
tion in the water for another perso, and this
seductive doubling numbed his percep-
tions until he became the servomechanism
of his own extended or repeated image. In
addition, a selection of new paintings, in-
spired from the pages of OK magazine and
In easel-sized canvases, Greta Waller con-
tinues her investigation of the still life as
an exposition of painting's temporal char-
acter; a struggle to harness the ceaseless
motion or changing state of objects in the
world. With a tightly-focused haste to the
painterly surfaces, Waller's figurative works
are almost puritanical in their doubts and
convictions about the experience of see-
ing as it is evoked in painting. In a recent
group of works, Waller's stark palette de-
fines hovering, closeup perspectives on
large, irregular blocks of ice melting in
unassuming, periwinkle-trimmed dishes;
EXHIBITIONS
whaling narrative, displayed in a replicated Laurie Hassold & Jocelyn Marsh
section of the lighthouse. The artworks are Bert Green Los Angeles
jewel-like miniatures made from precious [Nov 10 - Dec 24]
metals and wood. [The gallery will also be
presented a trio of additional exhibits. Los
Angeles Loteria By Aardvark Letterpress is a
limited edition of prints of 18 artst's works,
based on the Mexican game of chance. In
the Project Windows, Jerico Woggons' Four
Seasons is a four-part installation that will
change with each season, including custom
shapes and flourescent paint. Finally, in
thte Project Window Annex, an installation
project, The Man With Anal Eyes, by Brian
Poor and Elizabeth McGraph presents an
animatronic sculpture on the streetscape of
our urban environment.
US Weekly, reflect common superficial
projections and assumptions made about
Southern California, from celebrity beach
towels to invented Malibu sunsets.  For the (top) Laurie Hassold, The Things You Left Be-
first time ever an artist will transform The hind, 2010, wire, tape, glue, resin clay, jewelry,
toys, acrylic, and oil paint , 9”x11”x8”. (bottom)
Company bathroom into a sanctuary space Jocelyn Marsh, detail of Chasing the Dragon,
2010, mixed media, 38”x32”x20”.
with a series of personal affirmations in the
piece titled True Potential. By repeating the Alexa Gerrity
statements into the mirror, the viewer is in- The Company Los Angeles
vited to unlock her true potential through [through Dec 11]
repetition. Meanwhile, the single-channel
video,  Forever Young, is the result of a
professional casting call, in which Ger-
rity searched for Los Angeles actresses that
shared the artist's physical attributes. The
audition of these doppelgangers becomes
strained, loses touch with reality, and the
gaze of the camera/artist and the gaze of
the actress become intertwined, feverish
and hallucinatory. Alexa Gerrity, The Venus Effect (part of Marked
by Mercury installation), 2010, single-channel
video, 5 min. Courtesy of The Company.
lit by artificial light. The ice, in the process
of changing states (melting into water),  Greta Waller
evokes the artist's iconographic prac- Maloney Los Angeles
tice:  The paintings carry out this Apollo- [Nov 6 - Dec 18]
nian task; penetrating the stasis of the im-
age on canvas by presenting objects that
—in being seen—are experienced as having
potential energy; for instance, melting or
burning. The recurrence of subjects allud-
ing to staples or necessities—blocks of ice
or cuts of meat, each with their ephemeral
textural behaviors—are paid a perverse at-
tention in these sparsely populated paint-
ings, as if luxuries in a context of scarcity.  Greta Waller, Melting Monument,
2010,oil on canvas, 18”x24”.
Exhibitions 25
 EXHIBITIONS

“Standard Deviation” Standard Deviation, a group exhibition, cu-
See Line West Hollywood rated by Jenny Le and Janet Levy represents
[Nov 18 - Jan 7] merging of the two idiosyncratic worlds.
As its title suggests, the exhibition marks a
shift or split away from the norm. In this de-
parture and escape from the expectation of
models regarded as the common value, the
works selected showcase a collective that
reaches away from any typical curation for-
mula. Standard Deviation assembles estab-
lished artists alongside  fashion designers,
photographers, directors, and architects in
such media as sculpture, installation, pho-
tography, and works on paper. Offering the
Rachael Neubauer, installation detail.
viewer an opportunity to look at a variety of
distinctive works interacting together rath-
er than formulating standards in which the
works should derive. Jenny Le is an avid art
connoisseur and director of Opening Cer-
emony in Los Angeles. Janet Levy, founder
and director of See Line, brings brings years
of curatorial, gallery and marketing experi-
ence to her success in promoting significant
projects by prominent contemporary art-
ists. The show features work by Alex Arti-
gas, Reggie Casagrande, Taska Cleveland,
Sam Combellick, Zoe Crosher, Sean Daly,
Jen DeNike, Christopher Haun, Patrick
Holeck, Seth Kaufman, Karen Lofgren,Sean
Brian McDonald, Lesley Moon, Rachael
Neubauer, Brooks Salzwedel, Natascha
Snellman, Andre Vippolis, and Jason Yates.

“Dark Entries”
Galerie Anais Santa Monica
[Nov 13 - Dec 30]
(from top) Llyn Foulkes, Mouschwitz, 2006,
acrylic on photograph on board, 10”x10”. Jim
Shaw, Cake (Ethan) [rotated counter-clockwise
90 degrees], 2010, oil on digital inkjet print, 37.5”
x 47.25”. Dani Tull, Stone Woman 1, 2010,
archival pigment print, 22”x24”.
Dark Entries, a group exhibition featur-
ing six Los Angeles-based artists use of the
portrait in various forms as their point of
departure, subverting and destabilizing the
genre. They investigate internal and exter-
nal realms, the psychological and the physi-
cal, presence and absence, the psychic and
the real. The works of the artists are char-
acterized by a concern with memory, both
personal and collective, often triggered by
pop-culture references. Drawing upon a
variety of fragmented narratives and ap-
propriated source material, the images exist
in a peculiar disjointed or dislocated space,
invoking a sense of strangeness, unease and
mystery. Influenced by illustrated medical
texts from the 1950’s and 60’s, Jim Shaw cre-
ates paintings populated by shirtless "men
in pain" who exist in a highly abstract space
and exhibit physical and psychic pain in
their contorted gestures. Building up layers
of imagery from inkjet prints of cakes fea-
tured in mid-century homemakers’ maga-
zines, expressionistic gestural brushwork,
the Surrealist technique of decalcomania,
and contrasting carefully rendered detail,
the works display Shaw’s ongoing inter-
est in revealing the emotional and psychic
depth of the individual within the formal
confines of the portrait. Similarly, Scott
Marvel Cassidy’s paintings draw upon pop
culture, particularly mid 20th century illus-
tration, to address underlying and hidden
psychological and aesthetic developments
drawn from the personal and familial.
Loosely based on the cut-up method of
Brion Gysin and William S. Burroughs,
Cassidy’s approach expands and collapses
space and makes the human morph with
the inanimate resulting in tableaux that
are at once familiar and inscrutable. In
Sarah Cromarty’s Dark Step, a lone figure
in an urban landscape walks away from the
viewer, going into a portal beyond, mov-
ing from the familiar to the otherworldly.
The surface, built up from painted layers
of sculptural materials, subvert pictorial
space, giving the work a compositional dy-
namism and dimensionality, resulting ulti-
mately in a profound sense of absence. Llyn
Foulkes has made a career of subverting the
portrait, destabilizing pictorial and com-
positional space and confounding viewers’
traditional pictorial expectations, while
harshly critiquing contemporary consum-
er culture. In Foulkes diminutive Mous-
chwitz, a monstrous portrait fuses with the
immediately identifiable cartoon features
of Mickey Mouse, the subject virtually ob-
scured in a mummified mask-like state.
Works from Dani Tull’s series Stone People,
the only photo-based work in Dark Entries,
obscures the subject’s identity and speaks
of “morphic resonance.” Referring to the
basis of memory in nature and to telepathic
interconnections between organisms and
collective memories, “morphic resonance,”
as Tull notes, manifests what Jung called
the Collective Unconscious within our spe-
cies. Finally, Derek Albeck’s “self portraits”
are highly abstracted objects of personal
memory and identity, using flannel motifs.

26 A|C|A December 2010


It's Mostly About Me and Much Less About
You,  a solo exhibition of new mixed me-
dia work by Los Angeles artist, Carol Es,
is a new series of work that includes oil on
canvas and linen mixed with paper and em-
broidery, as well as drawings on paper and
handmade dolls. Carol Es uses an amalga-
mation of characters from her family and
her apparel industry background to evoke
abstracted, childlike narratives that drip in
color and tattered threads to tell personal,
visual stories. Paintings with paper gar-
ment patterns and their scrap surround
cartooned family members, and a new
non-descript animal appropriately named
On Recognition, a solo exhibition of new
work by Los Angeles-based artist Christine
Frerichs, marks the artist's first solo exhibi-
tion and presents a series of paintings and
drawings demonstrating  her  ongoing in-
terest in repetition and memory.  In these
works, she playfully examines the process
of recognition or “knowing again”, by ex-
tracting the visually and emotionally potent
aspects of a memory—a person's flesh tone,
the lavender sweater her mother wore, the
particular green color of the grass in Bryant
Park, New York. Using color, composition,
texture, and form, she then systematically
reconstructs these memories with layers of
interlocking paint, resulting in expressively
psychological portraits. Frerichs developed
this language of pattern and portraiture
through the consideration of repetition, as
well the function of repetitive behaviors and
their psychological relevance. A structural
similarity exists between the construction
of the paintings and the way the psyche de-
New Baggage, an exhibition of paintings
by Los Angeles-based artist, Larry Mul-
lins. New Baggage celebrates Mullins’s re-
turn from a 6-year journey into the depths
of his human-ness and art practice. This
exhibition reflects a deeper, more ambi-
tious personalized painted ‘architecture’
for Mullins. Working under the influence
of his southern upbringing, a passion for
letterform and the raw, poignant lyrics
of John Lennon, Lou Reed and John Lee
Hooker, Mullins’s work is painted with all
EXHIBITIONS
Dan. Black holes, gumball machines, and Carol Es
what appear to be misfit toys as haphazard George Billis Los Angeles
characters crudely drawn, create a dark, yet [through Dec 31]
light-hearted comic aesthetic that is seem-
ingly as dichotomous as the artist. [Also
available at the exhibition are a limited
limited number Scribbles in a Sandstorm,
a hardcover, hand-bound, no-expenses-
spared artists' book published by Chance
Press. It contains a removable spine, en-
abling the accordion-folded text block to
unfold and display a 40" color-printed pan- Carol Es, Machine, 2010, oil, paper, pencil
orama. On the flipside is an instant Carol Es and embroidery on canvas, 40”x60”.
art collection, including several prints and a
bound-in excerpt from Carol’s sketchbook.
Christine Frerichs
Kaycee Olsen Los Angeles
velops through repetitive interactions with [through Dec 18]
one's environment and past experiences. In
the case of these paintings, the marks that
reveal themselves on the surface, also func-
tion in partially concealing the previous
layers beneath, simultaneously “showing
one's face” and hiding one's past. Her work
often calls up this relationship between ob-
stacle and desire—layers of interrupting
patterns, smudged or blurred faces—and
the emotional responses associated with
it, from longing or loss to humor and plea-
sure. These ideas of memory and emotion
materialize in the six-by-six foot painting, Christine Frerichs, The Approach,
Two Figures in a Landscape. One figure is 2010, oil on canvas, 18”x18”
represented by shifting shades of repeat-
ing purple hatches, each color shift noting
a different day Frerichs attempted to match
a particular purple sweater from memory. Larry Mullins
Through distinct formal means, the works Blythe Projects Los Angeles
of On Recognition  reveal  Frerichs'  candid [through Dec 21]
engagement with the process of recalling,
resolving and revising memory. 
the care and devotion a Baptist preacher
might lavish on a Sunday sermon. Layer
upon layer, words pop and fade. Colors
brighten and dim to create a commingling
of sweet high notes and low throaty growls.
These paintings pulse and hum with the
artist’s faith in his countless small deci-
sions…tiny paintings within the painting.
Of the work, curator, Christopher French,
writes, “What makes this work singular is
the boldness with which it fuses image and
Larry Mullins ‘She’s OK’, 2007-2010, oil, spray
text into an emblematic abstraction.” paint, alkyd resin on paper on panel, 44” x 36”.
Exhibitions 27
 EXHIBITIONS

“Densities: Line Becoming Beacon Arts continues its Critics-as-Cu-
Shape, Shape Becoming Object” rators series with Densities: Line Becoming
Beacon Arts Los Angeles Shape, Shape Becoming Object curated by
[Dec 10 - Jan 30] respected art writer Peter Frank. The exhi-
bition features works in a range of media
by artists Philippa Blair, Ran Harari, Tom
Jenkins, Joel King, John White, and Jae
Hwa Yoo, all with a sensibility that favors
visual complexity driven by a profusion of
active linear forms. Densities: Line Becom-
ing Shape, Shape Becoming Object brings
together six established and mid-career
artists who work in various media and in
different styles but with a shared sensibil-
ity. That sensibility favors visual complexity
Jae Hwa Yoo, Wind City, 2010, acrylic on driven by a profusion of active linear forms.
canvas. Photo courtesy of the artist.
The artworks themselves can be called ab-
stract, but still brim with references to the
Justin Cole
observed world. All the artists live or have
Pepin Moore Los Angeles
worked in Southern California, but their
[through Dec 5]
aesthetic is as reminiscent of work associ-
ated with Northern California (such as that
of William T. Wiley and other Funk artists),
New York (Jackson Pollock, for example),
or Europe (the elaborate painted images
of CoBrA artists such as Pierre Alechin-
sky and Asger Jorn fit with this, as do Sur-
realist automatists such as Joan Miro and
Andre Masson). In fact, this approach can
be found in “high” and “folk” art alike the
world over, and half the artists in Densities
come originally from the Eastern Hemi-
sphere. The artists work in oil and acrylic,
wood and ink, collage and photo media. As
curator Peter Frank says about his show,
"Life is complex, and life in Southern Cali-
fornia, genial as it may be, is especially
complex. In their art these six artists have
manifested both the intricacy of their own
minds and of the elaborate social and topo-
logical environment they share with us. You
can almost see your house from here.”

In his first solo exhibition, Historical Im-
pulse, Justin Cole examines the culture of
Los Angeles and its place within the Amer-
icas. Born in Detroit, Cole now lives and
works in Los Angeles. His holds a bachelor
degree from the Maryland Institute Col-
lege of Art in Baltimore and an MFA from
UCLA. He is also a founding member of
the performance group Ojo. With influ-
ences ranging from Pre-Columbian art to
American music from the 60s and 70s, Cole
addresses the complexities of these cultural
histories using drawing, photography, and
music to discuss the historical impact of
the ever-changing cultural landscape of Los
Angeles and the United States. Cole’s work
has been exhibited at galleries throughout
Los Angeles and San Francisco, as well as
the Centre Pour l’Art et le Culture, Aix-en-
Provence. Pepin Moore represents him.

Justin Cole, The Power of the lightjet,
2010, 16”x20”, edition of 5 +1AP.
“39 Now”
den contemporary
West Hollywood
[Nov 17 - Dec 17]
(below) Laurie Hassold, detail view of Trying
Not to Tell, 2010, mixed media. 29”x30”x7”.
(right) Marnie Weber, Freeing The Stallion,
2010, archival pigment print, 23.5”x29.5”.
39NOW unites thirty-nine exceptional
artists, from the emerging to the well-es-
tablished, living and around Los Angeles.
Curated by Sophia Louisa, 39NOW is a
conceptual exhibition wherein each art-
ist has created a new piece of work based
on the circumstances of the here and now.
The term "now" is a conceptual in and of it-
self. The moment passes and soon becomes
"then". Capturing the moment through art
specifically created with the perception of
now, through the talents of these artists—
all of whom are women—is the basis of the
exhibition. Initially inspired by Judy Chi-
cago's The Dinner Party (1974-79), wherein
thirty-nine artists collaborated on one piece,
Louisa brings together the same number of
artists to create an individual piece within
the same time period (June-Sept 2010) to
explore what is happening now, whether on
a personal or public level. Collectively, each
artist explores the elements of empower-
ment, strenght, fear, independence, and the
ability to keep moving forward.

28 A|C|A December 2010


SAN FRANCISCO
Yamamoto Masao’s new exhibition will
draw from his earlier series, A Box of Ku
and Nakazora, as well as the work from his
most recent series, Kawa=Flow. Yamamoto
is inspired by the Japanese philosophy of
Zen, and the belief that meditation and the
pursuit of beauty play an essential role in
the development of human beings. Yama-
moto’s philosophical and spiritual roots
contribute to his distinctive photographic
style, in which the ordinary is revealed as
something extraordinary. Yamamoto’s ear-
lier photographs are delicate small-scale
prints that have been toned, stained, torn,
rubbed and creased. The suggestion of the
antique encourages a meditation on time
and memory, a meditative quality that be-
comes magnified in a gallery installation.
Yamamoto displays the prints as a collection
of harmonious, relational objects, adhered
unframed to the wall in groups, which form
a visual language based upon the group-
ings of small details and moments. At the
John Yoyogi Fortes’ paintings have been
exhibited in California, Nevada, Chicago,
New York and Norway and are represented
in numerous private collections and muse-
ums. In his new show, Parallel Boondocks,
Fortes works with a term—“boondocks”—
believed to have originated in the Philip-
pines by American soldiers in the early
20th century, derived from the Tagalog
word “bundock,” or mountain. Fortes’ use
of boondocks in the title of his exhibition
is a reference to his Filipino roots, but also
his distance and isolation from it. Parallel
Boondock is for Fortes, a play on his strad-
dling the line between two cultures seem-
ingly running parallel to each other, while
attempting to find a place where they meet
through his artwork. The centerpiece of
this exhibit is a 7 foot by 10 foot horizontal
painting, Runt, which explores notions that
surround male sexuality. Fortes’ paintings
include a broad range of technique from
the dense layering of imagery, material
and content to smaller works that appear
to be fragments literally excavated from a
EXHIBITIONS
same time, the prints stand-alone visually, Yamamoto Masao
each delicate object a cause for rumination, Robert Koch San Francisco
and a trigger that encourages the viewers [through Dec 24]
to draw on their own memories and sub-
conscious. While the images are simple
and observational, their suggestive nature
is what gives them power. In his newest se-
ries, Kawa=Flow, Yamamoto explores “the
world where we are and the world where we
go in the future.” The images in this series
are a reflection on nature and the relation-
ship between the world and self. Evocative
of harmony and contentment, they reflect
Yamamoto’s philosophy that respect and
humility toward the universe is achieved by
Masao, Nakazora #1174, 2004, 4.94”x4.87”.
uncovering quietude in oneself, a process
found only through nature itself. Similar to
his earlier work, Kawa=Flow reveals the or-
dinary as something contemplative, as the John Yoyogi
images aide in the development of the hu- Jack Fischer San Francisco
man mind and spirit. Yamamoto finds that [through Dec 4]
the “idea that the photographs are looked at
with affection gives them meaning.
wall. All of his pieces in this exhibit beckon
closer examination. On the humorous side,
although with deeper reference, is a comic
collection of smoking monkeys painted on
discarded paint can lids arranged in clus-
ters like hanging fruit. Hidden within the
works of this exhibition, Fortes continues
to address issues of identity through his
quirky sense of humor and a raw painterly
aesthetic. [Fortes’s work will be included in
the IA&A rov-
ing exhibition,
Infinite Mirror;
Images of Am-
erican Identity,
opening in Jan-
uary 2011 at
Syracuse Univ-
ersity in NY.]
John Yoyogi Fortes:
(right) Runt, 2010,
mixed media on can-
vas, 84” x 120”.
(above) Art Is Evil,
2010, Mixed medium
on canvas, 18 .5” x
14.5”. © John Yoyogi
Fortes 2010.
Exhibitions 29
 EXHIBITIONS
Leonard Breger
Sandra Lee San Francisco
[through Nov 27]
Leonard Breger: (top) Homage: Whitman/
Ginsberg, acrylic on panel, 48” X 64”;
(bottom) Hang On, acrylic on panel, 47″x64″
Andy Goldsworthy
Haines San Francisco
[through Dec 24]
Andy Goldsworthy: (directly below) Stacked
branch, boulder, spire, Woody Creek, Colo-
rado, August 2006, unique Ilfochrome print,
15.5”x15.5”. (bottom of page) Elm sticks joined
with mud laid over the following day with
elm leaves, November 18, 2002, two unique
Ilfochrome prints, Mount/each: 29.5” x 29.5”.
30 A|C|A December 2010
This retrospective of works by Leonard
Breger, one of the Bay Area’s most colorful,
creative personalities, is a special, end of the
year event. It will feature a range of works
from the 90-year old Breger’s prolific and
varied artistic history, ranging from earlier
drawings and paintings to the distinctive
and boldly colored shaped Masonite can-
vases for which the artist is renowned. Bre-
ger points to a dramatic aesthetic epiphany
realized during a 1966 trip to the caves at
Lascaux, France and Altamira, Spain where
he viewed prehistoric art that were organi-
cally contiguous to their environment. This
point marks the break between his use of
rectangular canvases to the individually cut
Incidental Objects is an exhibition exploring
the conceptual process of British installation
artist Andy Goldsworthy.   Though popu-
larly known for his ephemeral pieces that
disappear over time, Goldsworthy has dedi-
cated a large percentage of his focus toward
the completion of over 120 commissioned,
permanent installations over the past 25
years.  For the artist, these permanent and
temporary works function symbiotically,
with temporary or experimental works of-
ten aiding in the development or realization
of these commissions.  Goldsworthy’s new
exhibition highlights some of these “inci-
dental” works, providing a rare view into
the conceptual nature of the artist’s process.   of his work in person, while his ephemeral
  Works in the exhibition include proposal
drawings for several permanent commis-
sions, including Spire  (a recently complet-
ed work in the Presidio Park of San Fran-
cisco), Wood Line  (a forthcoming work to
be completed in the Presidio) and  Stone
River  (at Stanford University).   These al-
ternative proposals elucidate the complexi-
ties of the artist’s practice. The exhibition
presents a wide range of media, including
a video work docu-
menting the cre-
ation of two  Rain
Shadows, in which
the artist lies on
the ground dur-
ing two subsequent
rainstorms, eventu-
ally revealing dry
forms in the shape
and contoured paintings that the artist con-
tinues to create today. His paintings are fan-
ciful, almost psychedelic recreations of his
personal impressions of the world, ranging
from the commonplace moments of every-
day life to homages of radical cultural icons.
Breger’s previous shows include solo exhi-
bitions at the Palace of the Legion of Honor,
the de Young Museum and, most recently,
at the Marin Museum of Contemporary
Art in July 2009. The artist has worked in
the San Francisco Bay Area for over 5 de-
cades, teaching at institutions such as the
University of California and San Francisco
State University. He continues to be active
in his community.
of his body.  His snowball drawings created
while in California for a permanent com-
mission at the Runnymede Sculpture Park
feature the remnants of snowballs collected
from his California travels.  Left to melt on
large sheets of paper, these snowballs leave
abstract traces of earth pigments and wa-
ter.  These preparatory sketches and experi-
mental works highlight the artist’s careful
consideration of place, paying close atten-
tion to the qualities of a given site, from
its topography and materials to its history.
The artist emphasizes that his permanent
installations allow for opportunities to ex-
perience the tactical, place-based nature
works can only be viewed through pho-
tographic documentation and the artist’s
written descriptions.   In the works, the
artist’s hand and the materiality of place is
ever-present, illuminating the artist’s pro-
cess of manipulation and experimentation.
[This exhibition opens in tandem with the
recent publication by The National Gal-
lery of  The Andy Goldsworthy Project, the
only monograph featuring fully illustrated
documentation of his commissioned instal-
lations from 1984 to 2008 – more than 120
works that span three continents - as well as
significant scholarly writing on the artist’s
oeuvre. It will be available at the gallery.] 
ART
AMERICAN
CONTEMPORARY
www.americancontemporaryart.net

German artist Joachim Bandau presents
Black and Red, new watercolors and lac-
quer wall sculpture, and Bandau belongs
to a protean group of German artists, along
with Gerhard Richter, Joseph Beuys, and
Imi Knoebel, who came out of the Kuns-
takademie Düsseldorf in 1961. Beginning
in the late 70’s, Bandau created steel and
lead sculpture which were anchored to the
ground by sheer weight, then eventually
pushed underground. Moving into the 80’s,
Bandau synthesized his political and social
commentaries in linear, geometric shapes,
one such, a series of lead spiked sculptures
titled Field of Tears that today are in the
Ludwig Museum collections of Cologne
and Aachen. In 1983, Bandau began mak-
ing large format watercolors that arose
from his densely hatched sculptor’s draw-
ings. Measuring several inches, or feet, the
watercolors resonate the lines of his sculp-
ture, a slow precise brushstroke of various
widths and density, layered on heavy deck-
led paper, using Japanese brushes. The veil
of pigments form a slow volume outlined
New York-based artist Mads Lynnerup
works in a variety of media often creating
humorous and poignant works based on
observations he makes of his immediate
environment. His new exhibition, The En-
tire Exhibition Will Be Worn, is comprised
of Lynnerup's recent sculptures, silk-screen
prints and videos. Taking his inspiration
from everyday life, Lynnerup's work com-
ments on and draws attention to situations
that might otherwise be overlooked in the
day to day. In the video Untitled (Everything
has a price), Lynnerup takes a walk in his
neighborhood while keeping the camera
focused on a grocery pricing gun, which
While renowned Los Angeles painter Ed
Moses is known for his innovative, non-ob-
jective abstractions, the works in this exhibi-
tion explore pattern and figuration through
fabric stencils, animal motifs, and face-like
forms. Entitled wic wack, this collection of
textile-like paintngs can be a shock to those
who identify Moses as a purely abstract
painter. Large, vivid compositions feature
mysterious offset patterns and silhouettes
of paired “talking heads.” In works such as
EXHIBITIONS
by fine pigments. Alternating a process of Joachim Bandau &
painting, then drying, the new works form Cornelia Schulz
a rhythmic syntax, moving from light to Patricia Sweetow San Francisco
dark, and edge to edge. The dynamic brush- [through Dec 18]
work may have a vortex within the format
of the paper, then layer upon layer begin
it’s ascent, or descent off the edge. Some of
the nine watercolors on view were begun
ten years earlier, with their resolution in
2010. At the same time, Cornelia Schulz
will present a new series of small format
paintings, which continue her exploration
of shape, material and color. For over 46
years, Schulz has honed her skills in small
abstract paintings of complex shape and
color, utilizing independent supports that
are joined as the painting develops. Inti-
mate in scale, Schulz’s paintings are poured,
brushed, inked, washed, and sanded until a
complex juncture of form and surface ex-
plode with color and texture. Offering an (top) Joachim Bandau, detail of Untitled (KR 1),
2010, watercolor on paper, 30” x 22 inches” (bot-
elaborate visual puzzle, Schulz uses a vari- tom) Cornelia Schulz, Guest Appearance, 2010,
oil / acrylic / alkyd resin, 23 x 18 inches
ety of media to seductive effect; oil, oil al-
kyd, acrylic, wax and ink aid her continued
exploration of non-objective painting. Mads Lynnerup
Baer Ridgway San Francisco
[through Dec 4]
he uses to price various objects he comes
across on his way, including an abandoned
mattress, a tipped over plant and a dis-
carded television. Now Firing, It's a Sign,
and Build More Luxury Condoms are titles
of Lynnerup's recent silk-screens on paper
referring to the recession and financial cri-
sis. In using these slogans, Lynnerup is not Mads Lynnerup, Take A Day For Yourself, 2009,
3 DVDs, 12 minutes, Edition of 5
only focusing the viewer on national and
international economic woes, but also re-
Ed Moses
flecting on how similar words can have op-
Brian Gross San Francisco
posite meanings, for example 'hiring and
[through Dec 23]
firing.' This play on words and an interest
in humor continue to be an important part
to Lynnerup's artwork.
Anima Kracker, exotic fauna such as zebras,
tigers, and giraffes overlap and converge,
like zoological quilts. Many animals sport
their own patterns of stripes and spots,
adding another layer of complexity to the
designs. In some areas, patches of floral lace
seem to cut through the canvas in dissolv-
ing—or solidifying—forms. Many elements
seem to vacillate between foreground and
background, creating strong optical tension
and a fluctuating sense of space. Ed Moses, Anam-Krackel, 2009, 60”×48”.
Exhibitions 31
 EXHIBITIONS
Lynda Bengalis & Ann Agee
Locks Philadelphia
[Nov 19 - Dec 30]
Lynda Bengalis: (top left) D’arrest, 2009, tinted
polyurethane, 47.25”x45.75”x22.75”; (top right)
Wing, 1970, cast aluminum, 67”x59.25”x 60”.
(bottom) Ann Agee, Orange Room 1, 2008,
Flashe & acrylic on mulberry paper, 148”x 154”.
Mark Khaisman & Sand T
Pentimenti Philadelphia
[through Dec 18]
(top) Mark Khaisman, Kiss OO7, 2010, packing
tape on backlit acrylic panel 20”x26”. (bottom)
Sand T, detail of Las Pasmal, epoxy resin, graph-
ite and paint on clayboard, 18”x18”x2.5”.
32 A|C|A December 2010
PHILADELPHIA
Lynda Benglis established herself in the
1960s with artwork that challenged the pre-
scribed tenets of modernism and forged new
approaches in process, and post-minimal
art. Over the past forty years, her paintings
and sculptures have blurred distinctions
between these mediums and expanded the
scope of artistic and non-traditional ma-
terials, utilizing wax, latex, polyurethane
foam, metal, glass, and ceramics. The artist
has frequently chosen subjects that refer-
ence the body or natural processes in states
of flux. This exhibition presents new sculp-
tures, cast in brightly colored polyurethane,
and bronze with black patina. Benglis’ most
recent exploration of materials recasts the
artists’ vocabulary of sculptural, figurative
or organic forms, in new light. In these
works the artist reiterates the premise of
the ‘frozen gesture’ using hard materials to
stabilize moving shapes and ethereal con-
cepts. This exhibition occurs during the
first American stop of the artist’s traveling
retrospective, Lynda Benglis, at the Rhode
Island School of Design. The restrospective
began at the Irish Museum of Modern Art,
Dublin, Ireland and it will be shown later at
the New Museum in New York. Locks Gal-
lery will also be presenting an exhibition of
Mark Khaisman’s work consists of carefully
layered strips of translucent packing tape
applied on walls or backlit acrylic panels.
The work presented in this new exhibi-
tion, From Russia With Love, is composed
of several series. The Portraits in Red series
is based on photographs of elderly Russian
emigrants. The Kiss 007 is based on stages
of a singular kiss between the legendary
James Bond and the beautiful Tatiana Ro-
manova from the 1963 movie From Russia
with Love. The tape installation portrays
the Glienicke Bridge in Berlin, Germany,
One of the few places in the world where
the United States and the Soviet Union
stood directly opposite each other during
the Cold War. Khaisman’s work reflects a
repackaged ideologies, or the purification
new and recent work by Ann Agee. Rules
of the Pattern. Agee makes her home the
subject of her work—images that are both
recognizable and unusual in their serial,
accumulation. The artist explores the inter-
section of domestic space and art produc-
tion, illustrating the rooms of her home on
porcelain platters and bowls, and creating
large scale wallpaper installations. For this
exhibition, Agee presents three sculptural
works, each of which is comprised of mul-
tiple, hand-built, porcelain platters and/
or bowls mounted on steel armatures. Her
images of interiors and furniture create an
atypical china pattern and these flashes of
domestic life, alternately comic and ordi-
nary, suggest the human presence, although
the figure is never shown. Agee will also ex-
hibit a large grouping of finely crafted and
elaborately sculpted white vases, itself an
austere exercise in multiplicity and varia-
tion of profile. As in previous installations,
the artist will hang large-scale, hand paint-
ed and stenciled wallpaper depicting ide-
alized interiors. These expansive, inviting
spaces drawn on the scale of 19th-century
Zuber-like panoramas, recall Matisse’s Red
Room and alternately the stark, clutter-free
spaces depicted by Lichtenstein.
through aesthetics of a vanished era. Sand
T’s work absorbs various elements: geomet-
ric abstraction, repetition and minimalism.
T works with a combination of medium,
epoxy resin, graphite, and paint on archi-
val tempered clayboard or acrylic panel.
She draws lines using graphite in varying
weights and grades. The resin droplets are
placed on the final surface one by one. The
interplay of the lines, layers of resin, and
resin droplets create a 3D effect. Light plays
a crucial role to maximize the viewing ex-
perience. From side to side, the viewer
will encounter sequence of moving lights.
Minimal and complex at the same time, the
work is a multi-sensorial experience. Sand
T’s paintings will trigger your imagination
and your mind will run wild.

This exhibition of drawings includes work
by Martin Brief, Richard Garrison, Molly
Heron, and Mia Rosenthal. A familiar face
in Philadelphia, Mia Rosenthal is currently
exhibiting drawings in both Narcissus in the
Studio: Artist Portraits and Self-Portraits
and Same: Difference at the Pennsylvania
Academy of the Fine Arts. For her debut at
Gallery Joe she will show two new works
from her series Antoinette’s Stamp Collec-
tion inspired by her late aunt’s voluminous
collection saved over decades. Delicate, yet
humorous, these intimate ink and gouache
renderings are modest in scale, measuring
15 x 15 inches. The advertisement circulars
in the Sunday morning newspapers serve
as the inspiration for Richard Garrison’s
Martine Fougeron’s After Prom is the latest
chapter in her Tête-à-Tête Project. In 2005,
Fougeron began photographing her sons,
presenting some of the subtlety and beauty
of daily life through a series of informal
portraits. Ultimately the project broad-
ened to consider the relationships between
the sons and among their circle of friends.
Fougeron observed that most photography
about teenage boys has portrayed dysfunc-
tion rather than the routine angst, exuber-
ance, and rebelliousness that characterize
adolescence. Continuing to focus on day-
to-day moments and seeming non-events,
Fougeron chose to present what she saw as
a more representative portrait of teenage
life — filled not with despair, but with the
rich and complex drama of growing up. She
was fascinated by the inquisitive energy, the
intense inner quests, the fabulous dreams
and ideals in which they exulted. Speaking
on NPR, curator and critic Charlotte Cot-
ton called it “one of the best biographical
stories that photography has crafted in the
2000s,” and New Yorker photo critic Vince
Aletti said that “Fougeron’s pictures have a
lovely looseness and spontaneity, but they
never feel like snapshots. Color energizes
the work and adds to its sensual under-
tow.” With After Prom, Fougeron closes
the adolescent phase of Tête-à-Tête, exam-
ining a key rite of passage — the post-prom
party. Fougeron’s images from this event
evoke the abandon and the ambivalence of
a moment when the familiar, comfortable
EXHIBITIONS
gouache and watercolor drawings. These “New Talent 2010”
schematic drawings record his observations Gallery Joe Philadelphia
and interactions with suburban life in the [Nov 20 - Dec 18]
form of colors mapped onto grids. St Louis
artist Martin Brief makes text-based works
in ink on paper. Though the drawings bring
to mind ancient scrolls, they are thorough-
ly contemporary in subject matter. Brief is
showing works from his Truisms, and Art
Forum series. A touch of satire, a touch of
humor, and a touch of reality make these
conceptual works resonate. Molly Heron, a
New York City based artist, will show col-
orful gouache works from her line drawing
series. Influenced by years of yoga practice
and breathing exercises, her work is a study
in light, color, line and edge.
relationships of adolescence have begun to
slip away. Ghost of Summer is an exhibi-
tion of recent images by photographer Rita
Bernstein. The scale and intimacy of these
remarkable photographs belie the complex- (top)Richard Garrison, Celebrate Memorial Day,
ity and daring of Bernstein’s work. Her im- 2010, watercolor, gouache and graphite on paper,
10”x10”. (bottom) Molly Heron, Linesvb01,then,
ages walk a delicate tightrope; they evoke a gouache on paper, 7.25”x10.25”.
sense of memory and of keenly felt private
thoughts, yet their poignancy is controlled
Martine Fougeron &
and perfectly modulated by their austerity
Rita Bernstein
and ambiguity. They are tender and myste- Gallery 339 Philadelphia
rious, yet never stray into the sentimental. [through Jan 29]
Bernstein further explores this dichotomy
of heart versus mind through her print-
making process, which demands a high lev-
el of skill yet remains uncertain and seren-
dipitous. The process involves liquid silver
emulsion applied to delicate Japanese Gam-
pi paper. With the fragility of the paper, it
is impossible to produce a flawless print or
make a print that is identical to an earlier
one. Bernstein accepts and even embraces
this inability to wholly control the process.
It imparts individuality and subtle imper-
fections that are in accord with the vulner-
ability and humanity of her images. In the
late 1980s, Rita Bernstein gave up a success-
ful career as a civil rights lawyer to devote
most of her time to making photographs.
Her photographs have been widely pub-
lished and exhibited, and she has received
fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council
on the Arts, the Independence Foundation, Martine Fougeron, Jacuzzi Bonding at Shelter
and the Leeway Foundation. Her work is in Island, 2009, Digital C-Print. Rita Bernstein,
Playhouse, 2008, hand-applied silver emulsion
several museums throughout the U.S. on Japanese Gampi, 7”x7”, Edition 15.
Exhibitions 33
 EXHIBITIONS

ACROSS THE COUNTRY

Benicia Ganter Benicia Ganter describes her work like this:
Walker Contemporary Boston “The reductive landscapes that define my
[through Dec 18] work are rooted in my experience of the
natural world, yet manifest as images that
are wholly unnatural — flattened, simpli-
fied spaces, saturated with color, and popu-
lated with both abstract and recognizable
organic forms. The work explores the junc-
ture between the natural and the built en-
vironment, and superimposes a structural
and systematic approach to the observa-
tion of the natural world. These imagined
spaces are like flashes of a dream, or déjà
vu—both familiar and alien, shaped by
the specificity of my own observations of
the natural world and the drive to conjure
new spaces to explore. The work is bereft
of human presence, offering the possibility
of an imagined wonderland, glimpses of a
hidden natural world. By using industrial
“man-made” materials like acrylic and vi-
nyl, I reinforce the idea that our experi-
ence of the natural world is infused with
artifice and largely synthesized. I splice and
graft organic forms together, creating new
hybrid forms, and render forms that bal-
ance precariously in delicate symbiosis or
parasitism. The work is bittersweet. I pres-
ent imagined spaces burgeoning with life,
often within a seemingly vacant, desolate
quietude. I affirm the possibility of regen-
eration of the natural world, as I invent
forms that explore the genius of survival
and adaptation. The work presents distilled
pictures of fantastical spaces, both natural
and constructed--evidence along the way,
on a journey full of wonder, towards a still
hidden Shangri-la.”

Benicia Ganter, Upswell, 2009,

vinyl collage on paper, 35”x45”.
Chi Peng and “EYTJ”
Robischon Denver
[through Dec 31]
(top) Chi Peng, Day After Tomorrow, C-Print,
50”x63”. (bottom) William Lamson, A Line De-
scribing The Sun (detail), 2010, video, Ed 5.
Beginning the exhibition is a solo presenta-
tion of one of China’s premier young art-
ists, Chi Peng, featuring new and recent
large-scale photographs from Mood is
Never Better than Memory and Catcher in
the Rye. Having quickly been recognized as
a major new talent while he was a student
at Beijing’s Central Academy, Chi Peng is
emblematic of the inherent contradictions
that come with the expansive freedoms,
technology and prosperity enjoyed by con-
temporary Chinese youth-culture. In this
exhibition, Chi shifts between earlier series
where his photographic land and seascapes
are inhabited by figures in overwhelming
numbers to the newer work with single or
coupled figures surrounded by vast ocean
and sky. Depending on the viewer’s cultural
orientation, Chi’s respective series which
address topics involving large gatherings
of individuals, nudity and sexual orienta-
tion, can be viewed as either subversive or
liberating – or both. Children in the Rye is
representative of the artist’s repetitive, fig-
ural image style and optimistic mode where
legions of happy children move through a
field toward the imagined waiting arms of
the artist with the promise of a bright fu-
ture linked with the complex history of an
ancient, repressive culture. In the series,
Mood is Never Better than Memory, swirl-
ing flocks of seagulls swoop down on the
tiny figures bearing sweeping and unmis-
takable change, symbolically referencing
the demand for a more accepting global
culture. Chi Peng’s transcendent, layered
imagery bristles with activity both by rev-
eling in and acknowledging caution about
pressing changes in sexual politics within
his country and the world. The artist’s full
embrace of a newfound sexual freedom as a
central theme in his newest series certainly
puts forth support for a different future for
China’s even younger generation. Concur-
rently, the gallery presents “EYTJ” (“Even
Younger than Jesus”). This assembling of
artists – each younger than Jesus’ 33 years
- covers the spectrum of experience from
students to artists who are establishing
their careers. Regardless of where they are
in their careers, “EYTJ” artists demarcate
pivotal points in the ongoing creation of
enduring art dialogue. William Lamson’s
two-channel video projection entitled A
Line Describing the Sun, will be exhbited,
as will the prints of Isca Greenfield Sanders
whose work derives from finds of discard-
ed, often poignant, memento photographs.

34 A|C|A December 2010


Jun Kaneko was born in Nagoya, Japan in
1942. He came to the United States in 1963
to continue his painting studies at Choui-
nard Institute of Art, whereupon his intro-
duction to Fred Marer drew him to sculp-
tural ceramics. He later went on to study
with Peter Voulkos, Paul Soldner, and Jerry
Rothman in California amidst this time
now defined as The Contemporary Ceram-
ics Movement in America. Kaneko's most
recognized sculptural form is the boldly
glazed, monumental dango (Japanese for
"rounded form"). As the distinguished
philosopher and critic, Arthur C. Danto
has noted, "They communicate instanta-
neously their friendly and reconciling as-
surances, and wear the real world as well
as the brilliant coverings that Kaneko has
given them." His artwork appears in nu-
merous international and national solo and
group exhibitions annually, and is included
in more than seventy museum collections.
He has realized over thirty public art com-
Iamikan’s passion to create is rooted in na-
ture’s infinitecanvas extending into human
nature, inspiring him to observe the subtle
web in which everythinginterconnects and
communicates. A pragmatic creator, he de-
signs each piece as a collection unto itself,
beginning first with visualization through
the mental assembly of symmetrical and
technicalassessments, bringing each piece
“to life”. He has an uncanny ability to as-
similate from nature’s example of evolu-
tion and expansion, catalyzing change, first
internally and then externally through his
art’s spirit.Iamikan lived for over a decade
in Paris, France and worked within a range
of arts including theatre andfashion. It was
while travelling through Turkey that he rec-
ognized the unique artistry of mosaic col-
ors and ancient techniques that influenced
him to experiment with the properties of
paint and natural forces. This observation
led to the development of the science, now
expressed as his original signature style.
Iamikan does not consider his craft as a
traditional way of painting, with brushes,
paints etc. He describes his process as a co-
creative experience within nature’s forces,
as he activates oil and acrylic paint like a
gradually erupting volcano. It is within
EXHIBITIONS
missions in the United States and Japan Jun Kaneko
and is the recipient of national, state, and Bentley Phoenix
organization fellowships. Continually ex- [Dec 9 - Jan 29]
perimenting with the technical aspects of
the ceramic medium, his enormous dango
forms challenge the physical limitations of
the material and the firing process. As he
wrote in 1996, "Oftentimes I am asked why
I make such large-scale work. In making
any object, we cannot escape the problems
of scale. I believe each form has one right
scale. Whether I'm making a large or small
object, in the end I hope it will make sense
to have that particular scale and form to-
gether and that it will give off enough visual
energy to shake the air around it." Based in
Omaha since 1986 and in his current stu-
dio since 1990, Kaneko works fluently in
diverse media and fields in the arts. He is
currently collaborating with the San Fran-
cisco Opera, designing the sets, costumes,
and lighting for their next production of
Mozart's "The Magic Flute".
this form of liquid lava, transitioning into
a solid statethat he designs the living force.
Each piece goes through what he calls a
metamorphosis, a periodduring which it
is painted, prepped and placed in complete
Jun Kaneko: (top) Wall Slab 10-07-19, 2010,
darkness to harden and stabilize. His cre- glazed ceramic, 22.25”x29.25”x2.5”. (bot-
ations are large scale, and intermixed with tom) Dango 06-12-01, 2007, glazed ceramic,
26”x16”x9.5”.
abstract imagery of oils, acrylics and resins
on a variety of mediums including canvas,
wood, metals, glass and more.“My core de- Iamikan
The Art of Core Consciousness
sire is to express more than just a painting Charleston, SC
on a wall, but to create a living experience [through Dec 18]
that can inspire a deeper awareness in the
internal subtly of one’s soul”-says Iamikan
Years of mastering his art abroad prepared
him to return to the states and showcase
his collectionin Charleston, SC, an emerg-
ing mecca of original art and artists alike.
The Art of Core ConsciousnessGallery
exclusively exhibits the work of Iamikan,
proudly featuring his most recent collec-
tion entitled -“The Algorithm of Acuity”,
adding pine tree bark as his latest medium.
In addition to what is showcased at The
Art of Core Consciousness, Iamikan takes
commissions, workingon both residential
and commercial projects. His mediums
translate into varied applications, such as
tabletops and other practical uses. Iamikan, Infinite Possibility.
Exhibitions 35
 FINE ABSTRACT ART
BY

N ATA L I E G R AY

Photo by Vinson Corbo

represented by...

T H E
HAPPENING
G A L L E R Y
M A R I N A D E L R E Y

4047 Lincoln Blvd middle: WALL STREET 48x72

Marina del Rey CA 90292 above: a section of
310 305 ARTS (2787) EYE CANDY 36x60
www.TheHappeningGallery.com
 WHAT HAPPENS TO THE CANS
WHEN THE GRAFFITI’S ALL DONE?

represented by...

T H E
HAPPENING
G A L L E R Y
M A R I N A D E L R E Y
middle: 200 CANS - SOLD
4047 Lincoln Blvd
above: CAN BOUQUET Marina del Rey CA 90292
as seen in 310 305 ARTS (2787)
The Hotel Erwin www.TheHappeningGallery.com
Venice CA
EXHIBITIONS
ARTISTS

Alexa Meade

BREAKING THE
PICTURE PLANE
by F. Lennox Campella

S eldom has a young artist entered the Greater Washington, DC, art scene with
such presence as this 23-year-old has since arriving in DC a year ago. Alexa
Meade’s work was immediately noticed by the usually morose DC area press; she
exhibited in New York and soon came to the attention of major art world players.
It is no surprise, therefore, that Alexa Meade’s first DC exhibition bypassed the
usual exhibition path of working one’s way through multiple group shows before
being “noticed” by a gallery. On top of this, Meade’s DC debut took place at Irvine
Contemporary, one of the capital region’s blue chip galleries.

This is all because Alexa Meade is doing what many of us thought was impossible:
something truly new and innovative in the visual arts. She took the most tradi-
tional of all painting genres, the trompe-l’oeil painting technique that in the hands
of a master can fool the eye to appear to compress three-dimensional space into a
two-dimensional plane, and dragged it into a 21st century dialogue.

She does this by fusing installation, painting, performance, photography, and vid-
eo art. She also removes the painting part from being a representational picture on
a flat canvas. Instead, Meade paints — and she paints superbly well — directly on
people and other three-dimensional subjects. The subject and its representation
become one and the same. Essentially, her art imitates life on top of life.

The resulting work blurs genres and borders and certainly redefines what painting
is and can be, giving the old medium a new and powerful footing. It has also at-
tracted immense and rare attention all over the world. Meade will soon be exhib-
iting at the Saatchi Gallery in London and having her first European solo show at
the Pool Gallery in Berlin.

For more information, visit alexameade.com or irvinecontemporary.com.

Alexa Meade: (clockwise from the top-left) Transit, 2010. C-print, direct painting on hu-
man subject, artist’s installation, 16”x20”; Exposed 3, 2010. C-print, direct painting on
human subject, artist’s installation, 20”x16”; Mediation 1, 2010. C-print, direct painting
on human subject, artist's installation. 18”x24”. Courtesy of Irvine Contemporary Art.

38 A|C|A December 2010

EXHIBITIONS

Artists 39
 EXHIBITIONS
ARTISTS
Christine Binns
IN HER OWN WORDS: An Interview
A relative newcomer to the art world,
Christine Binns has experienced fabalous
success over the last four years. We sat
down with Binns to learn more about her
work, her artistic method, and her recent
move to Los Angeles.
California Contemporart Art: Thanks
for joining us today. As you’ve sold more
work, how has all of this addtional expo-
sure affected you?
Christine Binns: Honestly, it makes
me a little nervous. I feel like opening
40 A|C|A December 2010
myself up to such a large audience could
possibly burst the amazing bubble I've
been living in the last several years since I
began showing and selling my work. I've
truly had an amazing amount of positive
feedback and I guess I accredit that, in
part, to the small amount of people that
have been in my bubble with me.
ACA: Tell us a little more about your
artistic journey. How did it begin?
CB: I’ve been an artist my entire life.
It was in my blood before I picked up my
first crayon and ate it!
ACA: So, that’s when it all started!
CB: Yes. (laughing)
ACA: Did you go to school for art or
train with anyone?
CB: I’m self taught. Money was an is-
sue growing up, and I never dreamt I
could actually be an artist. It took me a
good couple of years to get comfortable
with saying I was an artist. I completely
admire those that went to school or have
had the opportunity to train with great
artists, but I am also grateful for the lack
of influence in my work also.

ACA: Where did you grow up?
CB: I was actually born in the biggest
little state in the Union, Rhode Island.
I moved to Belleville, Illinois with my
mom and two sisters from age 9 until I
was 23. I was restless with small town liv-
ing and decided to move to Las Vegas to
continue a career in the Casino Industry.
I was a casino dealer for 13 years and
then a supervisor for 4 years at the Wynn
Resort before resigning in '09.
ACA: And now you’ve made the move
to L.A. How has that worked out?
CB: It’s been amazing! I had never
been part of an actual art community be-
fore, it’s been so embracing and inspiring!
I currently reside in West Hollywood and
find tons of inspiration just walking the
streets. The concentration of people here
is overwhelming, in a good way for me.”
ACA: When did you begin showing
your work and how has the art market
treated you?
CB: I only began showing and selling
my work in 2007. As unbelievable as it is
still is to me, I have sold about 70 paint-
ings all over the United States and as far
as China, London and Dubai. I have to be
so grateful to have this blessing, it truly
blows my mind!
ACA: In what medium do you work?
CB: Currently and for the last several
years, it’s been abstract paintings, acrylic
and mixed media on canvas, although I
am interested in any and every form of
creating. I look forward to one day work-
ing with glass and metal as well.
ACA: How would you describe your
technique?
CB: I primarily only use my hands and
spatulas to create. I really love the feel of
the paint on my hands and massaging it
into the canvas.
ACA: And how would you describe
your work in general?
CB: Others seem to do a much better
job in describing it, but I’ll try. My paint-
ings have been described as powerful, full
of emotion, inspiring and also soothing.
I have people tell me that they have felt
a sense of strength, power and/or under-
standing when looking at my work. It's
pretty miraculous to have some literally
brought to tears when they are viewing a
EXHIBITIONS
ARTISTS
Christine Binns
(opposite page) Ride the Wave, 24”x36” (this page, clock-
wise by bottom left) Between Heaven and Hell, There’s
Us, 24”x30”; Beautiful Chaos, 24”x24”; Lake of Dreams,
24”x36”; Manifesting the Power Within, 36”x48”.
painting I created. I feel my paintings are
an expression of emotion during experi-
ences I have had or others that share their
stories with me. I feel very blessed to have
that kind of reaction, it's what drives me.
ACA: Where do you hope to see your-
self in five years?
CB: In terms of my art? (ACA nods.)
I see myself going more international.
I would like to have a reputable and re-
spected gallery representing me so that I
am left only to create and live. The busi-
ness part of this is so contradicting to my
person, I'll be happy when it's someone
else's job to care for that part of it!"
ACA: Any final thoughts?
CB: Just to say thank you and hope
that anyone reading this realizes that
when you do something you’re passion-
ate about, life is great! I’m proof of that.
Christine Binns’ collection is available for
viewing at Studio 900, 900 E 4th Street,
by appointment or during the L.A. Down-
town Art Walk, which takes place every
second Thursday of the month. For more
information, visit christinebinns.com.
Artists 41
 EXHIBITIONS
ARTISTS

Natalie Gray
IN HER OWN WORDS
On Comparisons to Pollock and Her Artistic Journey

S ome people who actually knew Jackson Pollock and his wife, Lee From when I was a kid, my back-
Krasner, have come into the gallery and hailed, “Surely, you are Jack- ground was in custom work. I was sell-
ing my work internationally from age 15
son Pollock’s daughter.” A 95-year-old artist, who used to restore paint- and had bought my third house from my
ings for Krasner, sat in my studio just staring at the drop cloth on my floor. artwork by the time I was 25. I worked
As he pondered it, he said, “This is just like Pollock’s studio,” He then drew so hard. I collapsed several times from
his attention to a diptych of mine called Blu Ray. He stared at it for a few exhaustion and even wound up in hos-
pital in Toronto. I would paint seven days
minutes, then said, “You have the same depth as Pollock.” Then he leaned a week and had six people taking orders
in, as though telling a big secret, and said, “But, you know, he used to for custom paintings. I was essentially a
drink a lot. Your lines are more controlled.” I had goose bumps for days! painting robot! And then, 10 years ago, I

42 A|C|A December 2010

 EXHIBITIONS
ARTISTS

Natalie Gray

sort of fell apart. I had just completed the Sistine Chapel Mural. (It took me 520 hours
while Michelangelo needed 520 days. But I had Starbucks.). I had all these paints and
supplies left over from the mural. I just started smashing paint around and stabbing
the canvas with brushes. I was terribly miserable, so I shut myself in my apartment
for 30 days and produced 44 abstract canvases. I'd never even painted abstract before;

“Surely, you are Jackson Pollock’s daughter.”

I thought it was for people who couldn't draw. I was totally ignorant of its power. I
painted in this trance-like state, and it was really as though something had taken over
me and I was chanelling this force—like a Ouiji board, but with brushes.
For a year I didn't show anyone the pieces, lest they know how messed up I had felt
while creating them. But then my shyness about them slipped away as trusted friends
would enthuse "Oh, I love that one!" Next thing I knew I had a solo exhibit at Edgemar
Center for the Arts and was discovered by an enormous interna-
tional investor. He flew out to see my exhibit. I'd never been so
nervous in my life, my hand, the one that has the steadiness of a
steel pipe when I track a line, was shaking like a leaf. He looked
at my work for sixty seconds and said, 'We're sending you a con-
tract. You're the next Jackson Pollock. I hope you like to travel."
Oddly, I had been completely unfamiliar with Pollock's work
and only knew he had been the subject of a movie. It was all very
strange for me. Now, I own my own gallery and so much work
has sold I can hardly keep up. When collectors come in who tru-
ly love Pollock, it's like they're in a candy store. They just stand
there saying they can't believe it's not his work.
My work recently replaced the Hammer Museum Exhibit at
FOX Studios and just as the last piece went up, Richard Belzer (an
avid collector) got out of the elevator, saw my painting Wall Street
and exclaimed in disbelief, "Fox did not buy a Pollock?!"Given
that Rupert Murdoch has spent tens of millions on single pieces
of art, I guess that was not a silly question.
Some of my well-known or esteemed collectors include Chel-
sea Handler, Ted Harbert (CEO Comcast), and John Smith (CEO
BBC Worldwide, who owns my You have a dribble and also com-
missioned a portrait which was shipped to London). Just last
week, high profile plastic surgeon Dr. Grant Stevens purchased a
piece for the lobby of his practice in Marina del Rey. A lovely lady
named Barbara Greenberg has no less than seven of my works
for her penthouse apt, essentially her own Natalie Gray gallery!
When Santa Monica Place has its grand opening recently, I was
invited to design and paint a mannequin for their Mannequin
Collective. I was in good company, among mannequins submit-
ted by Cirque du Soleil and The Geffen Playhouse.
I opened The Happening Gallery in March 2010 as a great
place for both artists and art lovers alike. Like other projects in
my life, it’s been a tremendous amount of work, but it's been great.

For more information about Natalie Gray and The Happening

Gallery, visit thehappeninggallery.com.

Artists 43

IN HER OWN WORDS
M y life has been exposed to art from
a very young age. I was born in
North Carolina and raised in a small,
rural suburb just outside of Charlotte.
Despite her children’s pleas, my mother
refused to order cable TV. Instead, she
encouraged her children to be enter-
tained with art supplies. Plastic water-
color sets, color pencils, Play Dough, and
paint brushes littered every room in our
house.
Growing up during the 1980’s, there
were limited artistic venues in the rural
South compared to larger cities such as
New York or Chicago. Yet, my mother
would make extraordinary efforts to ex-
pose her children to the arts. She’d load
her three children in the family mini
van to attend an art museum or travel-
ing Broadway musical in Charlotte. We’d
drive forty-five minutes as open fields
and creeks began to fade into concrete
sidewalks and tall buildings. These out-
ings not only developed my love of art
and theatre, but also my fascination with
the city.
Basic high school art classes are my
only formal training with painting. Upon
graduating, I made the decision to pursue
a college degree in Theatre. While I never
studied visual art in college, I found the
time to paint privately in my tiny campus
apartment. Years passed, and it wasn’t
until after I moved to Los Angeles to
pursue a career in acting that I began to
paint in a real way. I found the social and
physical environment of California, spe-
cifically San Francisco and Los Angeles,
artistically stimulating. While I’ve always
found satisfaction from the collaborative
process of performance, I began to crave
the solitary process of painting.
EXHIBITIONS
ARTISTS
Ashleigh Sumner
In 2008, the Writer’s Strike completely
shut down the film and television indus-
try for over fourteen weeks. The indus-
try didn’t fully recover until 2010. It was
during this time I finally began to reveal
my paintings to the outside world. The
results were numerous commissions and
four solo gallery exhibitions within a
twelve-month period. Within one year,
I was completely supporting myself as a
painter.
As an artist, I am deeply motivated
by raw, truthful, emotional expression.
I gravitate toward the Abstract Expres-
sionists of the 60’s. I’m motivated by any
artist, whether a painter, actor or musi-
cian, who works from a private emotional
place that’s expressed in a visceral way to
the viewer. I’m also greatly motivated by
urban environments. The lines, frenetic
energy, and movement, of a metropolis
Artists 45
 EXHIBITIONS
ARTISTS

Ashleigh Sumner

are inspiring. The raw, gritty textures of

industrial areas are oddly beautiful to
me, and I try to capture this essence in
my work. In part, this is why I chose
the industrial area of downtown Los
Angeles for my studio; I’m constantly
inspired by my work environment.
In my early days as an artist, my
goal was to create controlled work as
close to realism as possible. Now when
I paint, I have an explosive emotional
experience. I express my way through
the canvas. The canvas or wood panel
in front of me represents a kind of in-
timate confrontation that manifests
itself in a flurry or “action painting”
that can feel angry, joyful, or sorrowful.
The process feels like a fight or exuber-
ant dance; an entangled, raw back and
forth. It feels extremely intimate and
private. It is only after I feel the end of
an emotional release, a catharsis, do I
step back and look at what I’ve created.
During this evolution, I abandoned
my brushes and began working with
palette knives. There was something
about scraping paint to canvas that felt
strong, raw, and a little dangerous. This
technique helped capture the rough
texture and energy in the abstract ur-
ban landscapes I was creating.
In my latest work, I have started in-
tergrading collage with a strong Asian
influence. This work has begun to re-
flect my personal and spiritual journey
with Eastern Philosophy. I’ve been
incorporating text such as, “Balance,”
“Trust” and “Patience” through a sten-
ciling technique that has a rough “street
art” feel.
What I’d like my work to convey to
the viewer is simple: A raw, truthful,
abstract representation of my emotion-
al existence.

For more information, please visit

sumnerartstudio.com.
Ashleigh Sumner: No Country For Gay Men, acrylic on
American flag on wood panel finished in resin, 60” x 36”.
The 213, acrylic on sheet metal finished in resin, 36” x 48”.

46 A|C|A December 2010