Roland Reiss-Personal Politics: Sculpture from l970's and l980's

Pasadena Museum of Contemporary Art
Sept 18, 2011-January 8, 2012

Semiotics-Semiology-Semiotician

The Castle of Perseverance (1978), Roland Reiss' historically captivating installation of a l970's American living room begins to emanate an alluring incense of sawdust, sandalwood, intention, and ingenuity before it appears behind the museum wall.  The life size installation made from particle board contains furniture and household objects that trigger a spark of time travel for the museum participants.  The living room and miniature environments contain objects that began as clues, cues, and later as Reiss stated:"...became signifiers."  Carpentry tools like hammers and saws combined with TV dinners, beer cans, a litter box and artist's slides.  Tools strewn in the living room insinuate Americans' entrepeneurial efforts beginning in the home.  For artists their studio may spill over into other rooms.  Was this living room a replica of Reiss' home?  During our interview Reiss said that his work was about healing.  Ecclesiastically, the living room opens to a museum filled with satellites of lessons learned.  During the creation of these works Reiss was a middle-aged man who had served in the Korean War and had survived the turbulence of the l960's and l970's.  As a survivor of these eras he expressed his grief over the assassination of John and Robert Kennedy.  These deaths are symbolically overflowing with mystery and multiple intrepretations.  Reiss' tableaux endeavor to explain the human psychology of co-existing with the mysteries of daily life and mankind's need to assign value to objects and subject matter.

The over forty tableaux are encased in clear plexi-glass which gives them a "TV-like" resemblance and familiarity.  Within the common language that the objects project in the tableaux, participants can relax and enjoy the mysteries from all sides.  Also because Reiss lives and works in Los Angeles, there could be touches of Hollywood in the miniature sculptures.  In many of the tableaux there will replicas of lighting equipment and cameras which could indicate the scene to be a movie set or a dose of reality being filmed.  Adventures in the Painted Desert-A Murder Mystery...might have been a Western movie or TV scene in Old Tucson.  There is a tableau dedicated to weightlifting equipment reminiscent of when Reiss lived near Muscle Beach in Venice, California.  Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jane Fonda would have been in the mainstream at that time.  On display is a series dedicated to the office politics of the business world.  Adult Fairy Tales I: The Migration of Thought (1983) introduces  women as authority figures.  However the CEO of this company appears solemn and unengaged with her staff.  Adult Fairy Tales II: Rates of Exchange (1984), is pre-Anita Hill. There is a woman running away red with emotion.  The saws and logs in the office are equal to "the elephant in the living room", these people are trying to ignore the obvious issues of their environment.  With Reiss' experience as a sculptor, he is responsible for making every item in each of the tableaux.  He mentioned that his figures had an Edward Hopper-like style that emerged unintentionally.

Reiss' tableaux cover a myriad of emotions.  There is romance interpreted in the dance tableaux and the living rooms with suitcases by the door.  Additionally, there are Godzilla creatures in movie tableaux appropriate for the theme of miniatures used in Japanese movies.  The final tableaux enhance the irony of miniatures serving for life situations.

 

Jayme Odgers Watercolors at Offramp Gallery

Jayme Odgers Recent Watercolors
Offramp Gallery
1702 Lincoln Ave
Pasadena, CA 91103
opens September 11, 2011

Jayme Odgers and Lisa Adams at Offramp Gallery opening 

Autumn Synesthesia

Bimini Atoll

No Mud, No Lotus

Summer

Winter

Jayme Odgers' first love of art came through painting watercolors on location as a student at the Art Center College of Design in the early l960's. After college Jayme directed his talents into commerical art and apprenticed under Paul Rand.  He has also worked as a designer, photographer and painter.

Recently Jayme was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis, a disabling neural/muscular condition that effects the muscles of the upper body.  Artists can be great problem solvers.  Jayme has been studio bound and has begun to ease into creating drawings on paper.  Watercolor allows for a gentle approach to making art.

The watercolors are based on previous memories of living in Connecticut, his homeland of Montana and his influences of Charles Burchfield's watercolors.  Like Burchfield he deals with the underlying "spirit" of the work. 

As I reflected on the watercolors I could imagine Jayme moving through his memories and translating them gracefully into veils of color. 

Roland Reiss-Personal Politics

Sculpture From l970's and l980's
Pasadena Museum of California Art
9-18-2011 thru 1/8/2012
Review of exhibition to follow

I was introduced to Roland Reiss in l979 at an artist's talk at Cal. State Long Beach during my first year of graduate school.  His discussion centered on the sculptures currently exhibited at the museum.

Bill Bush from Artweek.LA before he was asked for his press pass.

Mat Gleason said he new everybody at the opening...

Reiss sculpture casts a shadow...

SIDESWIPED

Born This Way\
Lisa Adams
Sept 11, 2011 opening at Offramp Gallery-Pasadena, CA

 

Lisa Adams' current personal experiences have made her aware of how people cope with unexpected adversities.  Adams talked about living life in the gray areas where happiness and tragedy are sublimated.  The random splashes and drips of color, along with uprooted trees and plants, define the destructive elements of nature.  The regenerative aspects are portrayed through images of flowers and birds.  Gouache #19 exemplies her perspective with two spheres of earth floating above water. They miraculously produce individual tree sprouts shooting into the sky.  Beneath the water are fragile and significant symbiotic threads that reflect how humans are often bound by mutual experiences and fears.

(the remainder of the article can be viewed on:http://artweek.la/issue/august22-29-2011/article/lisa-adams-born-this-way)

www.artweek.la



Linda Day-Visual Artist-Painter

A Tribute to Linda Day

Los Angeles Based Visual Artist

(RIP)

Watercolor MM by Linda Day

Linda Day-a true "Rough-rider"

One of the last times I saw Linda was a couple of years ago in July.  She was in my studio in the late morning and asked me for some coffee.  I remember her enjoying a couple of cups of black coffee with her signature cigarettes.  She was happy to learn that she was in a non-restrictive smoking environment. As a painter she lived in "paint soup" with a vodka martini chaser.

Artist's Annual Open House @ gallerRoy @ Casa la Reina

VIEW OUTDOORS THROUGH A ROOM IN THE GALLERY

VIEW FROM MAIN GALLERY

ARTIST, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER...ROY SHABLA

http://galleroy.com/

Downey, CA

Annual open house was held August 14, 2011

Lisa Adams- "gouaches" for upcoming exhibition at Offramp Gallery

Gouache #1 2011 (9 1/2 " x 7" )

Gouache #2 2011 (9 1/2 " x 7" )

Gouache #3 2011 (9 1/2" x 7"

Art Review from August 16, 2011 interview to follow.

Offramp Gallery

1202 Lincoln Ave

Pasadena, CA 91103

Gouache #19 2011 (9 1/2" x 7")



ENTERING ABSTRACTION

Ruth Bachofner Gallery
2525 Michigan  Ave G-2
Santa Monica, CA 90404

Entering Abstraction
July 23, 2011-September 3, 2011

Michael Salerno-one of the artists in the exhibit.

Horizontal Totem Pole-Exquisite Corpse Featherduster-Everything Has Feathers

The Thirteenth Grade, curated by Mary Anna Pomonis, at POST, July 26, 2011
POST's July Kamikaze One-Night Exhibition Series

POST
1904 East 7th Pl
Los Angeles, CA 90021
213-488-1280
http://www.hkrad.com/post/index/index/ht....
Participating Artists: Kristin Calabrese, Christine Guyiangco, Hazel Handan, Anaeis Ohanian, Stas Orlovski, Ben Tegel, Sabina Ott, Jason Pinsker, Max Presnell, Justin Stadel, Guilia Tassius. Allison Stewart, Jessika Wood, and Eve Wood

Mary Anna Pomonis leading the band.

Anaeis Ohanian

June Diamond and Dawn Arrowsmith (taking photos)

Thirteen Grade is was a romantic, cummunal, and intentional art experience consisting of 13 artists of varied experiences.  Mary Anna Pomonis integrated young artists that are either beginning or are in the process of their college art careers, combined with experienced artists.  Pomonis has experience working with teens that are serious about their work. Supporting and engaging young art talent is part of Pomonis artists' statement.  This drawing "happening" worked in a non-linear fashion allowing for open communication by the participants.   Each artist took turns drawing on 13 pieces of paper that were taped to the walls of the gallery.  Justin Stadel, mounted 13 "flip cameras"-one for each piece of drawing paper.  As the artists rotated clockwise and counter-clockwise, they added their drawing signatures by using collage, photo transfers, stencils, e-xacto knives and various painting and drawing materials. 

As an art educator Pomonis is probably experienced in using the Equisite Corpse as a way to charge up creativity in a classroom environment.  The Thirteenth Grade was a tribute to the success of keeping this art phenonmen alive.  The artists in the show worked as a collective to complete thirteen drawings in two hours.  The fact that they could each take away a drawing at the end of the evening was not a priority to these artists.   Almost like a "childhood cake walk", the artists gracefully glided from drawing to drawing inspired by each other and the audience.  The viewers were also participating in the performance by asking the artists questions about their art techniques and styles.  Interestingly enough, the artists' credentials were never an issue.  It was a hot July evening in a downtown art gallery surged with cerebral and physical urges on the artistic side.

Habib (the director)

Sabina Ott at the wall.

Meditation and Endowments-You Are What You Eat

HOY SPACE: Sonia Romero's Inner Landscape
Sonia Romero
Vincent Price Museum
East Los Angeles College
1301 Avenida Cesar Chavez
Monterey Park, CA 91754
May 20, 2011-August 19, 2011

Sonia Romero's art work is part of the inauguration of the new Vincent Price Museum at East Los Angeles College.  Romero is featured in"Hoy Space", a space in the museum dedicated to emerging artists.  As a young artist that was invited to exhibit 2 1/2 years ago, Romero stated that she began her work in a "feisty-political mode" and ended her journey on the "beautiful side".  The beginning has images displayed in piles.  "Dead Piles" (2009), consists of a pile of "fleshy" pigs.  Also, there is a wall installation of three piles, in which, the pile of bison skulls, retells a story of North American carnage. Romero described the piles as signifying "consumptions" and "abundance".  She is interested in the "historical and contemporary relationship" culture has with food.  The "beautiful side", culminates with the paper cut "Inner Landscape" (2011).  The paper cut depicts a voluptuous woman in a slumbering-existential pose enveloped by garlands of flowers on the vine.  A bouquet of three roses protects her heart.  The female is not a drowning "Ophelia", but a woman who has discovered a gift through meditation and transformation.  Romero learned the importance of "coming from the inside out" and knowing that "we choose what to put in our bodies".

Romero was forthcoming when she spoke about her parental legacy of renowned Chicano artist Frank Romero and Nancy Romero, whose art contains her study of anthropology and mythology.  She said sometimes she feels a pressure from the Chicano community to be more political.  I told her that all art is political.  Romero has her foot in more than one world.  However, she said that her post-college career has changed her art perspective and that "being her father's daughter has influenced her life".

Feeding at the Trough -Doni Silver Simons at Chain Letter-Shoshana Wayne Gallery-Santa Monica, CA

Doni Silver Simons sent me her statement regarding her piece at the Chain Letter Exhibit at Shoshana Wayne:

"Feeding at the Trough"

" consists of 1000 postcards made to replicate the original communication that I mailed to Doug and Christian.  The cards were numbered 1-1000 (at 1000 things start to spin out of control and the event went viral), most were mailed to the gallery.  This piece addressed out reach and ingathering. It also addresses the hunger we have to show our work.  I collected the signatures of the artists standing in line with me-we were all there for the same purpose of "Feeding at the Trough".  Inside the cards were dropped into a "trough", spilling out onto the floor (symbolism apparent), and additional cards were stacked according to their trajectory (mailed to the gallery, signed by the artists, saved as back up in case the gallery disposed of the mailed cards).  The cards are now all installed and the piece is complete.  I noticed that #1000 had been taken at the opening.  ..."

 This project will continue anecdotely...thank you Doni
video of project on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWgczjOwbaU
and website: http://www.donisilversimons.com/

DEANNA ERDMANN- HOME AND TIME

SPECIAL SCREENING OF NEW VIDEOS BY DEANNA ERDMANN
JULY 13, 2011, 7-9 PM
Luis de Jesus Gallery
2525 Michigan Ave
Bergamont Station F2
Santa Monica, CA 90404
310-453-7773

Deanna Erdmann presented a screening of three of her videos : "Cosmos", "Untitled" (Women) and "Untitled (Green).  Erdmann's videos were similtaneous- creating one continual experience. 
On a primary level there are elements of nostalgia with the female singers in (Women) and the U.S. night bombings in (Green). From a personal perspective, I watched the original TV programs of "Hulabaloo" and "Shin-dig" where Leslie Gore and Mariane Faithful crooned a new generation's lullaby.  Gore and Faithful represented the old and new guard of the time.  I sprayed on my "Heaven Scent" and grew my hair.  Karen Dalton was in between these two women.  She was not familiar to me until Erdmann shared her tragic story.  The night bombings and war scenes have also been part of my daily dose of television since I was a teenager.  The lines and sharp angles of "Cosmos" pushed me further in time.  Lines are the orginal art gesture and are represented from cave drawings to Cy Twombly's drawings and paintings. 

Erdmann's videos abstract time and yet represent familiar images that have been represented on our home television screens.  The videos reminds us of our human impulse to isolate memories and to assign them lasting significance.

Chain Letter At Shoshana Wayne (Doug Harvey and Christian Cummings curators)

Carolyn Vosburgh and Sandy Abrams patience is a virtue

and "Baby Boomers" can roll with it!

The transformational event at Shoshana Wayne "Chain Letter" will continue to resonate for some time.  There will be stories in the future-anecdotes..."do you remember when ..." I went to the drop off day last Friday with three friends.  We decided that going as a group would be a good way to maneuver the unknown.  We had made up our minds to walk away if it was too crazy.  We waited for a couple of hours but it was painless.  The experience with friends and other artists became a scene of soliditary.  There were alot of "baby boomers" including myself.  It was great to see all the "die-hards" hanging in and making art. This was a "groovey" neo-Woodstock-love-in...

The exhibitions in the three spaces has a true sense of continuity.  They complement what occured during the drop of day.  There is plenty of art work to quench our artistic thirst visually, emotionally, and for your "bod". 

2525 Michigan Ave # B 1

Santa Monica, CA

through August 26, 2011

Doni Silver Simons " Feeding at the Trough "

This piece will also continue to be in progress during the show.

Lining up at D2 Annex-Second Venue for exhibit

My piece D2 "Pino Cono"

Performance piece of Blessed Biscuits. Liza Camba had a vision during the making of her biscuit recipe.  She shared her blessing with the art revelers.  $2 bucks a biscuit...my was paid with a St. Francis token. (instrument of peace)

June Diamond and "Liguid Thoughts" June melts recycled wine bottles and models them for sculptures and jewelry. (note her wine/tequila cork with melted glass necklace)

Hobby Unicorn by Keiko Tamura

Simone Gad "Pop up Belgian Surrealism TV Tray"

Our Boys and Girls Club

Diane Gamboa "Supreme Spirit" 2006

ROUND TRIP
Group Exhibition
Vincent Price Museum
East Los Angeles College
1301 Avenida Cesar Chavez, Monterey Park, CA 91754
May 20-August 19, 2011

The opening of the new Vincent Price Museum at East Los Angeles College is approriately anointed by "ROUND TRIP" an exhibition of eight alumni artists.  Diane Gamboa, Gronk, Clement S. Hanami, Judithe Hernandez, Willie Herron III, Kent Twitchell, John Valadez and Patssi Valdez are a group of artists that have developed stellar reputations in the Los Angeles art world and beyond.  They are part of an art historical family in East Los Angeles filled with myths, legends, and political artistic forces.  When I spoke with Karen Rapp, the museum director, she said she thought the public would be asking her many provocative questions regarding the exhibition.  She said she was suprised that people's curiosity centered on her selection of the artists.  Rapp stated that the artists were chosen because of their connection with each other.  Some of the artists worked together such as Herron and Hanami and others were former assistants and students such as Gamboa with Twitchell.  Rapp believed it was fitting to choose local artists that have integrated the politics of their innate cultural creativity with contemporary art, music, and politics.  Also, she defined the title "ROUND TRIP" as a way for these artists to "come back around" to their community.  Rapp is enthusiastic about exposing the college students to a serious museum that is filled with the private art collection of Vincent Price, future art exhibitions and cultural productions.

With a successful, museum filled, opening night, I was unable to speak with all the artists and luxuriate amongst the artwork.  However, I made two additional trips; one the following week when I spoke with Karen Rapp and closely revisited the artwork and on July 9th at a heartfelt lecture with four of the eight artists.  I was grateful that I postponed writing this article until I attended the first of two artists' lectures for this exhibit.  With Rapp as the moderator, Diane Gamboa, Willie Herron III, Kent Twitchell and Clement S. Hanami generoulsly shared their personal connections with East Los Angeles College and how it served as an artistic overture and santurary from their home environments and the dangers of the political climates of the l960's, l970's and l980's.  Diane Gamboa from Boyle Heights said she grew up in violence.  For Gamboa East Los Angeles College became "a natural place to land".  She spoke of being exposed to "tear gas" and the fear of the largest gang of all-the LAPD.  She stressed the safety of obtaining a student ID to curtail existing student harrassment.  She said she wasn't the best student.  She could be found in the vaults of the original Vincent Price Museum.  Gamboa appreciates the structure of the artwork, how a painting is framed and constructed.  She was fascinated with the architecture of the college windows.  Gamboa's paintings reflect women's voices through the politics of art.  She emphasized how Mexicans are called "illegal aliens" while other ethnic groups are referred to as "immigrants".  Also, she observed how aliens, from outer space, are frequently portrayed almost exclusively as males.  In the exhibition, there are paintings of female aliens.  "Physical Shift and a Pinch" and "Supreme Spirit" exist as blue skinned women with indifferent expressions.  Gamboa calls these women "sexy aliens sent to seduce violent men on earth and control them through sex".  She is also opposed to the rampant use of "Viagra" by men.

During the lecture Willie Herron III spoke of his association with Diane Gamboa and her brother.  He described familial evenings at Gamboa's home creating music and art.  Like Gamboa college life was nuturing and provided a balance between his job at his uncle's bakery and high school life.  Herron described the influence of Mr. Chavez who had him blow up 30 balloons in order to learn about perspective and reflections of images. In high school he had an art teacher that taught him to create images from feelings and to express them by using only black and white paint.  This method helped him to "tap into consciousness and connect to the earth in monochrome".  Additionally, Herron used rust created by leaving cans of water outdoors.  His large scale paintings "have a rotten smell".  Herron identified with the mixed cultures of his neighborhood in City Terrace.  The band he formed, "The Illegals", grew out of what was happening in the streets of his youth.  He wanted the Chicano influences to go beyond "Santana".  His art and music "bastardize" the English language-beginning with one thought in English and ending in Spanish".  That's the way they spoke in his home.  He included Ruben Salazar who "always liked to use first hand experiences" in his work.  "Negativity in the neighborhood" still influences Herron's work.

Clement S. Hanami is the youngest of the group and mentioned how he was the "chino" in his neighborhood.  Hanami openly discussed "taking ownership of the American myth of the Asian stereotype being successful at trickery".  His mother was a survivor of the atom bomb. Hanami stated that she hasn't really shared much of her experience.  The paintings and installations are tributes to her. Graduating from Garfield High School in l975, he attended East Los Angeles College from l979 to l985. He said it took him six years to finish his associate's degree.  His English teacher Stan Oropesa helped him to "refine basic fundamentals and lead him to UCLA" where he received his BA and MFA.  Like his colleagues in the exhibition, he said he was "trying to find himself" and also began to observe how artists use social commentary to have an impact on society. His education also extended outside the classroom by working with Herron and his band "The Illegals".

Kent Twitchell is connected to most of the artists in the exhibition and the proof holds true by the drawings and paintings that are displayed.  There are drawings of Diane Gamboa, Judithe Hernandez and Willie Herron III.  Twitchell considers himself "a drawer not a painter-just sneaky drawings".  Twitchell is a visual presence in Los Angeles with murals throughout the city.  He discussed his art history class at East Los Angeles College and how he was taught to divide images of Renoir into grids and values.  This technique is still an essential part of his drawings and paintings.

Judithe Hernandez' assertive images of women complement Diane Gamboa's work in the exhibition. "La Muerte en el este de Eden/Death in the East of Eden", on one level suggests men's stereotypes of women and cars.  This cocktail can be seen at the local car shows which are a cultural event in the neighborhoods of East Los Angeles.  This woman is also a resilient figure who is in your face and naked to the world. Her draped posture proposes the sacrificial virgin of the Aztecs. Her head gear and mask are a combination of the wrestling icons of "Lucha Libre" with antlers found on Native American headdresses.  The woman as a time traveler is here and holds your attention in the beauty of form and the science of color.  Hernandez' amble agility with pastels reflects the light of the American Southwest. 

John Valadez and Judithe Hernandez share dexterity in their use of pastels as a medium to define their neighborhoods and tell their stories.  Valadez' pastel drawings are edible, luscious and invite the viewer to join in the experience.  They expose Valadez' trained eye with a need to record personal experiences of his environment in East Los Angeles. "Tony & Edie, The Guest is Leaving" is humorous, graphic, and honest. "The Preacher" reveals a subtle battle of simultaneous contrasts.  I thought about Monet's haystacks and the concept of "mouches volantes" which are particles floating in the fluid of the eye.  These particles are enhanced by staring directly into the sunlight.  As seen in Valadez' work, colors occur in the artist's personal field of vision.

Patssi Valdez' paintings invite us into her personal home environments.  Her palette and images are reminiscent of Matisse's interiors with a local "sabor" of East Los Angeles via Mexican primary colors.  She is known for her dream-like paintings of interiors that appear pollinated by ancestral fables.  There was a shift from her interiors in "The Enchanted Garden (2005)", which reveals a Buddha-like figure in a personalized garden of indigenous cactus and transplanted succulents.  The garden with the eastern guide symbolizes the importance of an artist's continual search for innovative stimulation with nature as a reliable remedy.

Gronk is also an iconic figure in Los Angeles.  I remember listening to him speak at his one-person show at the Los Angeles County Museum.  As he spoke to a group of kids on a field trip, he was open, honest, and encouraging to his young audience.  He added an anecdote or two about his mother.  The actual stories are not clear, but I recall the deep emotions he was transmitting. Over twenty years have passed and I am still impressed by his presentation.  About seven years ago, I shared a dinner with him and some mutual friends.  At the dinner he spoke of his favorite English teacher at Garfield High School that was also instrumental in exposing him to literature and philosophy.  This experience was also motivating for me.  Gronk's work at the exhibit includes his signature "Tormenta" figure.  Whenever I see this image I am reminded of how artists are born to be vehicles for mankind's emotional battles and mores.  Gronk along with the other alumni expose their bravery, "carry their hearts on their sleeves" and promote "peronal truths".

I have been promoting the Vincent Price Museum and this exhibit to anyone that will listen.  I am surprised how many people on the "Westside" are unaware of this new museum.  Karen Rapp jokingly said, "I like keeping this place to ourselves".  What I have learned from these artists is how important it is for young people, from lower socio-economic backgrounds, to have safe places to learn and to be nutured.  Each one of these artists included stories of teachers that fostered and believed in their creativity and their voices. They are shining examples why society has to continue to support the arts in their local and global communities.

Patrick Gracewood Studios

St. Francis Sculpture/relief

St.  Francis has long hair this time.  The carving is available...commissions too.

Check out beautiful downtown Portland.

GracewoodStudio.com

email: pmg@gracewoodstudio.com

Galerie Rheeway

Seven Artists

Exciting Dimensions

David French, Helle Scharling-Todd, John Park,

Lydia Tjioe, Mariann Scolinos, Michael Pedziwatr, Yaya Chou

3525 W. 8th St. #217

Los Angeles, CA 90005

May 5-June 11, 2011

reception: June 10

12:20 am- 12:20 am

KIM TUCKER

Loud Mouth Ghosts and Reckless Sweethearts

May 28-June 25, 2011

L2Kontemporary 

990 N. Hill St #205

Los Angeles, CA 90012

Drawings

open Thursday-Sunday 1-6pm

Hillary Taub "Dialogues"

Fig

First Independent Gallery

2525 Michigan Ave  #G-6

Santa Monica, CA 90404

May 25-June 25, 2011

Opens: Saturday June 4

5pm

Diane Gamboa @ Vincent Price Museum

Round Trip: Eight East Los Angeles College Alumni Artists
Vincent Price Museum-East Los Angeles College
1301 Avenida Cesar Chavez
Monterey Park, CA 91754

Featured artists: Diane Gamboa, Gronk, Clement S. Hanami, Judithe Hernandez, Willie Herron, Kent Twitchell, John Valadez, Patssi Valdez
May 20-August 19, 2011

When I spoke with Diane Gamboa last night she was telling a story about her experience as an East Los Angeles College alumni.  She said she was not one of the best students during her time, but she did spend many hours with the artwork on inventory at the original Vincent Price Museum. She said she would waunder through the stacks of paintings and study the "backs" of the paintings and how they were constructed.  She also mentioned that during a current interview for the the alumni show, an interviewer stopped in his tracks when she talked about the "backs" of paintings being one of her influences.

She also wished she had saved a small Henry Moore sculpture that is MIA.

There will be a future article dedicated to the exhibition.