Explorations and encounters in South Bay galleries
The primary aim of “Dark Inheritance,” says Barry Krammes of the Biola University Art Gallery, where a version of this show appeared, is to “force the observer to look within and focus on his/her interior state.” And, further, “The curators of ‘Dark Inheritance’ selected the artists and their work specifically because of its spiritual nature, that is, work purposefully exploring the paradoxical, ambiguous, baffling character of human existence.”
Those curators that Krammes mentions, Cindi Zech Rhodes and Denise Kufus Weyhrich, were invited by exhibitions director Scott Canty and the Palos Verdes Art Center to present what seems at first glance like a display of gloomy and morose work. The full title, “Dark Inheritance – purposeful dislocation,” which features 23 artists and 70 pieces – certainly does give that initial impression, and one might even walk into the gallery expecting to find a gothic, Romantic undercurrent.
The show, divided into six small sections – Dualities, The Enemy Within, Brother Against Brother, Change, Healing, and Life’s Journey – reveals probing minds at work. There’s a good versus evil aspect to some of the art, and at times a troubled sensibility that may well be a reflection of the sluggish and even ominous climate in which we live.
I see that we’ve come a long, long way since Adam and Eve frolicked in the Garden of Eden.
Dark Inheritance is on view through January 8 at the Palos Verdes Art Center, 5504 W. Crestridge Road, Rancho Palos Verdes. (310) 541-2479 or go to pvartcenter.org.
“South Bay Focus” was organized by the Torrance Art Museum in collaboration with the Torrance Artist Guild and the South Bay Watercolor Society, and it is the result of an open call for local artists. Tressa Williams, who is the director of the George Billis Gallery in Culver City, was invited to juror the show. The result of her choices (there are upwards of 50 artists) makes for a widely divergent exhibition, from abstract to representational and back again. The museum’s second, smaller, room hosts several sculptures and installations.
South Bay Focus is up through December 17 in the Torrance Art Museum, 3320 Civic Center Drive, Torrance. (310) 618-6340 or go to torranceartmuseum.com.
The current exhibition at PS Zask Gallery is titled “Sculpture,” but if one thinks of traditional pieces in bronze of horses, nudes, or mythological figures, then one will be entirely off the mark. These pieces by Michael Davis, Eric Johnson, and Seth Kaufman are experimental and abstract, and they invite the viewer to stop awhile and ponder what it is the artist wants us to feel.
Gallery owner Peggy Zask points out that while traditional coastal landscapes and seascapes populate libraries, resorts, and lawn shows, there are local artists “who are working in the broader scope of the critical contemporary art movement.” Nick Agid, a noted practitioner in his own right, has introduced her to several of them.
The first artist that Zask visited for this show was Michael Davis, who has a two-story studio in San Pedro. Davis has had, by his own admission, “over 33 solo and 65 group exhibitions in the U.S. and abroad.” He’s also received various fellowships and is on a couple of advisory boards.
His work is not didactic, Zask says, “although many pieces imply political or environmental concerns.” As set horizontally on the wall, they suggest “a fragment of the landscape constructed of found wood and tree branches.”
In his artist statement, Davis says: “My sculptures and installations are physically and symbolically multilayered mechanisms that react to environments and man-made inventions from the past and the future.”
Eric Johnson uses wood and composite resin, and his immense “Maize Project” was a notable presence and success at the Torrance Art Museum a couple of years back. Light, open space, color, form and surface, are all key elements in a Johnson piece.
“His cast resin forms,” Zask says, “seem loosely based on combinations of machine and biomorphic patterns… Johnson has become recognized as continuing the ‘LA Cool School’ movement into the 21st century, following in the footsteps of his mentors Craig Kaufmann and DeWain Valentine.”
Seth Kaufman is currently spending a semester in the ceramics department with CSULB professor Tony Marsh, and a few of the results of his nonconventional work with antique slip molds are now on display.
“His work is unexpected and often uncomfortable,” Zask says, adding that it might make us “contemplate the lowest elements of our culture from the most unlikely perspective. Using materials from construction zones or extracting fragments from the demolished, the breadth and range of Kaufman’s work go far.”
The works by David, Johnson, and Kaufman won’t appeal to conventional tastes, but they reveal that some of our local artists are taking chances and following their own vision.
Sculpture is on view through January 8 at PS Zask Gallery, 31246 Palos Verdes Dr. W., Rancho Palos Verdes. Gallery and café hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 5 to 9:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 12 to 9:30 p.m., and from 12 to 4 p.m. on Sunday. Closed Monday. (310)429-0973 or go to pszaskgallery.com.
“South Bay Impressions” aptly describes the art and style of Ken Auster, Ross Moore, and Jennifer Ando, whose work – much of it depicting local scenes up and down the coast – has a public opening a week from tonight, but a Collector’s Preview Night this coming Wednesday, at Dion Gallery in Redondo Beach.
Auster is the big draw here, and clearly Moore sees himself as Auster’s protégé and student, even though over the course of the past seven years Moore has sold some 475 original paintings. As he himself notes, “I have studied many contemporary artists, which inspired my own style and perception. However, going to the top for instruction by Ken Auster of Laguna Beach was the most important act of my career.”
And if that isn’t enough to convince everyone: “The knowledge I gained from Mr. Auster’s philosophy opened a new chapter, helping me evolve to a level of art that will remain with me for the rest of my life as an artist.”
Moore comes from a background in watercolor, but switched to oils in what was something of a leap of faith. Not long after that was when he sought out Auster, and for ten years he was taught design, color, and technique. Moore firmly believes that Auster is “probably one of the top three or four artists in California,” and clearly sees it as an honor that they will be exhibited together.
Moore has been selling his pictures at Dion Gallery for 15 or 16 years, and his work can also be found locally at Riley Fine Arts in Manhattan Beach.
The third artist, Jennifer Ando, says that all of her paintings in this show are of South Bay locations. “I’ve lived here my whole life and I still haven’t exhausted all the possibilities.”
She paints small, she notes, because she paints on location and the light can change pretty quick. “Storm Watch” is a good example of the challenges she sometimes faces, because the clouds were on the move and also threatening rain. “Thankfully, it only sprinkled a little bit at the end. Since I use oils, the water just beaded up and the painting was fine.”
South Bay Impressions has its public opening on Thursday, Dec. 2, at Dion Gallery, 1713 S. Catalina Ave., Redondo Beach. (310) 375-3672 or go to DionGallery.com.
The newest kid on the block has to be The ArtLife Gallery, the outgrowth of ArtLife, founded by artist and art teacher Vanesa Andrade with Royce Morales, the owner of Harmony Works in Riviera Village. There’s a grand opening for the gallery – located at the Edge in the El Segundo Plaza at 710-C Allied Way in El Segundo – on Saturday, Dec. 4, from 12 to 6 p.m., with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 3:30.
Among the artists exhibiting will be Chris Antonelli, Orma Hammond, Joel Luna, and Jerry Solomon, as well as Vanesa Andrade. Jewelry designers, musicians, and dancers will also be displaying or exhibiting their talents in the gallery, as it assumes its place in the community.
The ArtLife Gallery can be contacted by calling (310) 938-2511. ER
