Art by Zoso1
It has been over a month since our road trip from San Diego to San Francisco and this blog has been a long time coming. I think I've managed to psyche myself out in writing it because I knew it was going to be a bit more work to put together. To break it up a little I decided to split the recap into two parts: Culver City & San Francisco.
We first hit Culver City in Los Angeles and this was our first time checking out this area. We were very happy to see that there were a lot of galleries within blocks of each other (especially happy since it was way too hot to be walking around at high noon with jeans on).
While there are well over 30 galleries within walking distance, we hit about half of them. And of that half, we wanted to highlight our favorites.
First Favorite: Kinsey/Desforges
Outside...
And Inside...
The exhibit, while we were there was "Chasing Castles" featuring the works of Conor Harrington & Chloe Early. Both artists were born in 1980 and were raised in Cork, Ireland and now both live in London and have lived there since 2004. Hmmmm, do you think they are an item?
We were both more drawn to Harrington's work. "Harrington further explores the possibilities of abstraction through his signature style of tagging and cancellation. 'I write words in aerosol and erase with oil paint', he explains. In doing so, he mimics the perpetual tug-of-war between graffiti writers and civic authorities, exploring dialogue between the liberated and the oppressor while showering viewers with the marks of a battle scene, leaving only the abstract debris and destruction in its wake." excerpt from the Kinsey/Desforges press release.
Our next highlight was Koplin Del Rio
The artist she was featuring was Peter Zokosky and his exhibit was called "Kingdom Animalia: Episodes from Natural History".
"These carefully crafted paintings walk a fine line between science and poetry. Visionary symbolism and factual documentation coexist in this unique body of work. Mysterious rites, unseen rituals, and forgotten dreams come together in these lush and memorable paintings. Populated by all manner of living things, together they represent a virtual zoological survey." excerpt from the Koplin Del Rio press release.
We also met Lucy (the first of our california gallery dogs) while we were at Koplin. She was very friendly and cute as a button, that is, until John used a flash to take a photo! Let's just say she didn't like it very much and she didn't forgive him either - we had to high-tail it out of there.
Highlight #3 was Honor Fraser
They were exhibiting a solo show featuring Yi Chen: Beaut-esque
"The artist uses culturally mediated images from advertisements and fashion magazines as inspiration for his work. He sees his paintings and collages as metaphors for hybrid, mutated concepts of beauty borne from a global popular culture." excerpt from the gallery press release
When we first walked in, we were struck by the bright flourescent colors and strange amalgamations of his images. After closer examination, we realized how perfect the title of the show was... it was beautiful and grotesque at the same time. My eyes were drawn to his pieces and it was hard to move on to the next one.
Our last highlight was Roberts & Tilton
They were featuring Kehinde Wiley and the exhibit was called "The World Stage:Brazil"
We were simply awestruck when we walked into this gallery. The pieces were bigger than life with bright vivid colors and gorgeous detail.
"During Wiley’s residency in Rio de Janeiro, Afro-Brazilian men became the impetus for the majestic paintings, inspired by the iconic nationalistic sculptures that line the city streets and anchor its parks. Statesmen, noblemen, and the elite of Brazil are erased from their perches; the young black and brown men from present-day favelas are aggrandized." excerpt from the gallery press release
