South Bay Art – 2016, a year in review

“M-Theorie” (2013-14), detail, by Michael Sistig. He was the subject of a solo show, “Matter,” at ESMoA, curated by Bernhard Zuenkeler

She Doesn’t Look Anything Like Her Picture

Whether art is a forest fire or a candle flame, the person who creates it has to be something of a matador where the result can be dance-like poetry or a trip to the morgue. But either way, art by its very nature has to push boundaries, take chances, step into uncharted territory. As the folks at ESMoA always say, “Provoke yourself.” If you’re an artist and you aren’t making waves then what are you making? Ripples?

This painted gourd by Steve Browning and Valentin Ruesga was in “Breaking the Boundaries” at the Artists’ Studio Gallery in Rolling Hills Estates

Barnacles and Chronicles

I’d like to have seen more art spreads in Easy Reader over the past year. Imagine if we’d dumped all those insufferable restaurant reviews! Banished the coverage of high school sports! Put a moratorium on surfing stories! In my opinion, the entire newspaper should be devoted to the arts! I’m kidding, of course, I love food, sports, and have been an avid surfer since the age of five, but isn’t it in keeping with the creative spirit to want more and better? In the meantime, here’s a quick look back at some highlights, or at least a few of the artists we were able to cover (and cover for, when they got into trouble).

The most successful gallery shows seem to be at the Manhattan Beach Art Center, largely due to the perseverance of Homeira Goldstein; the El Camino College Art Gallery, because of its curator Susanna Meiers; and South Bay Contemporary, due to the unflagging energy of Peggy Zask. In Manhattan Beach this year we saw shows devoted to Ed Moses and John Van Hamersveld, and more recently work from collection of Cheech Marin.

“Chromer,” by Andrea Senn Kitts, was in “CA 101”

“Wounded,” by Virginia Vilchis, was one of several works by the Manhattan Beach painter that we featured back in February

“The Kiss,” by Angular Favar, in the collection of Judith Burke, and was on view in October at South Bay Contemporary in San Pedro

TAM, or the Torrance Art Museum, specializes in group art shows, often with unusual themes, and mostly featuring up-and-coming artists from Greater Los Angeles. Max Presneill’s been heading up their events for several years now. The Palos Verdes Art Center, under the direction of Joe Baker, has a somewhat broader reach, which includes the soon-to-end “Havana Noir” exhibition. A real feather in the cap has been ESMoA (the El Segundo Museum of Art) which is known for the presentation of each show, and “Brain,” still on view, with photographs of Nobel Prize winners by Peter Badge, is a prime example of this.

Is There Art After Death?

When it comes to exposure for local artists, I continue to give high marks to Peggy Zask, whom I mentioned above. Although South Bay Contemporary is currently located inside the Loft in San Pedro, it will be soon be relocating a bit north and to the right. You’ll be the first to know when that happens.

“Family Plot,” curated by Homeira Goldstein, featured work by Ed Moses, Andy Moses, and Andy’s wife Kelly Berg. This is one of Berg’s artworks

Other venues worth keeping an eye on include Ron Libbrecht’s APC Fine Art Gallery, Mark Sonners’ Gallery Exposure, Destination: Art, all in Old Torrance. Things are also starting to brew in El Segundo, with much of the credit (for organizing its summer art walks) going to Holly Socrates. I would also put in a word for San Pedro, which has by-far the most dynamic art scene in the South Bay, where artists from Ray Carofano to Nancy Crawford, and Ron Linden to Annie Appel make their home and/or have their studios.

Closer to the epicenter, two annual art shows, “CA 101” (organized by Nina Zak Laddon, Sandra Liljenwall, etc.) and “The Power of Art” (RBAG, or the Redondo Beach Art Group) are always festive events, and they showcase the best of what our friends and neighbors have been up to.

While new artists are always emerging, some have left us for good, and among those who’ve passed in recent months are Connor Everts, Frank Matranga, Karen Yee, and Jamie LaValley. We almost lost Steve Shriver as well, but happily he’s been on the mend after having been run over by a car while bicycling.

“Havana Noir,” an installation piece created by Kadir López, curated by Adolfo Nodal and Joe Baker, is at the Palos Verdes Art Center through December. Photo

I was fortunate in being able to interview numerous artists over the past year, and to give them some space and well-deserved attention. These included Keiko Fukazawa, Virginia Vilchis, Jerry Kotler, Michael Sistig, Annie Appel, Ed Moses, Andy Moses, Kelly Berg, John Van Hamersveld, Dawn Ertl, Richard Gould, Ron Libbrecht, Kadir López, Diane Reeves, Dawn Whitney-Hall, Alexey Steele, Hung Viet Nguyen, Lynn Doran, and Ileana Landon.

These, and some of my out of the area pieces (on Robert Mapplethorpe or Guillermo del Toro, for example) are located on the Easy Reader website; just scroll down to where it says Entertainment and dig in. But let’s make this short and run a few artful images from the past year, shall we? Here are just a few from the many we ran or tried to run in print or online. ER