nine lives

A TAKE-AWAY of CARDBOARD - NEO-DADAPOP - DOSSHAUS

DOSSHAUS- ZOEY TAYLOR & DAVID CONNELLY
Residency Feb 10-21, 2016
Reception Feb 19, 2016

Gregorio Escalante Gallery
978 Chung King Rd
Los Angeles, CA 90012

by Sandra Vista

Partial Installation of cardboard "supper" table

at gallery reception/residency

David Connelly, one of the creative partners of DOSSHAUS, told me that the cardboard table could provide a space for large dinner parties. The chairs, however, would not be as cooperative.  Diligent-whimsy of Claes Oldenburg's Store 1961 prevails throughout the exhibition.  Connelly and Taylor work continually on creating familiar objects from cardboard, black and white paint and paper.  Similarly to Oldenburg, they are finding alternative ways to promote their cardboard world.  The exhibition consists of small items like wristwatches to musical instruments (guitars, violins), vintage guitar speakers, drum set, to 11' dining table, compact car and clothing designed and worn by the artists. Also, there are framed documenting photographs.  Like Oldenburg (1961), the prices are modest right now.  Hindsight is better left for philosophers instead of wise art collectors with future anecdotes to share. 

The Balinese proverb: "We have no art we do everything as beautifully as we can."

 Such is the artful existence of DOSSHAUS.

Artists' reception, February 19, 2016

Musical styling in the environment...

Art Director/patron Gregorio Escalante (center)

watches inside & out

"Garage Band"

EMS Nude Survey #4- This Is A Way to Run a Country

EMS Nude Survey #4
 curated by: Eric Minh Swenson
February 5-March 5, 2016

featuring artists: Ben Brough, Simone Gad, Wyatt Mills, Lilli Muller, Dante Orphilla
                              Ammon Rost, Diedre Sullivan-Beeman & Chuck Swenson

Jai & Jai Gallery
648 N. Spring St.
Chinatown, Los Angeles, CA

Tues-Sat 11:00 AM - 5:00 PM 

This Is The Way To Run a Country- EMS Nude Survey #4

The fourth installment of Eric Minh Swenson's curatorial journey flashbacks to the late l970's through the mid l980's when Chinatown welcomed and safeguarded many young creatives to experiment.  The excitement for long-time art veteranos/anas like me is seeing artists of various ages harmoniously exhibiting together.  There seemed to be a sharing of wisdom, knowledge of the art world, visions, memories, desires-all equally valid.

Wyatt Mills and Ammon Rost share gestural styles and dynamic figures designed with fervent  investigating marks.  Mills' "nude figure" consists of transparent marks that rush upward creating an image of a woman thrusting through shredded ribbons of colors highlighting the prideful stance of a woman's form. Mills reminds us of the vital contribution of the female image to the world of art.  The" Venus of Willendorf" in perpetual motion.  Additionally, 
Rost's painting-Internal Dialogue and print-Print Observer, are influenced by his Japanese heritage via his intentional use of gold, red, and black as foundations for his work.  Rost mentioned that he was inspired by the work of Picasso and Kandinsky; that also appears evidently by the delineating black marks.

Lay Lady Lay, 2016 Wyatt Mills

The Observer 2016, Ammon Rost

Ammon Rost

Notably addressed, in the exhibition, is pornography as art and art as pornography by Lilli Muller and Simone Gad.  These seminal artists are altruistic women who heroically contribute to the local, national, and international art world. Lilli Muller's exhibits two plaster sculptural forms of a woman's breasts (breastplate) and vulva.  These works are called Braille Porn because of the textural Braille dots throughout the sculptures.  Muller has been involved in creating art to support women who have experienced the pain of breast cancer.  She selflessly  invites women to dignify their heroic experiences by immortalizing their bodies through the art of sculpture  The braille pulsates on the surface of the forms.  It isn't necessary to understand the translation, the viewers are open to interpret their own storyboard.  I personalized it by remembering my aunt Aurora, an avid reader, that developed severe arthritis that caused blindness.  She learned to read braille with her gnarled- almost desensitized fingers. The braille is an additional layer of defining diligence, options, and alternatives.

Braille Porn - Lilli Muller

Simone Gad's collage installation consists of provocative female pinup photographs of women from the l850's, to l960's and l970's, who are saved  by rescued pets. Inter-species relationships can provide comfort for the human and the animal. However, these collages politically stand for women's rights to use their bodies in alternative livelihoods.  The collages can also be viewed with 3-D glasses to remind the viewers that these captured images were real women.

Chat Orange Avec pinup 3-D 2016 (oil, pastel, collage) (c)2016 Simone Gad

Eric Minh Swenson, the " peripatetic photographer", continues to create "neo-art happenings", with his Nude Survey Series.  He said that his nude theme comes from his personal interest in the study and portrayal of the nude.  Because of his ubiquitous-Delorean-. time traveling energy, Swenson's life is surrounded by artists traveling at different speeds of

light. In one evening he can self-propel from an exhibit at LACMA to a fledgling show at "My Mother's Garage Gallery".  All exhibits and artists are equally treated with respect and acknowledgement.  This sentiment is obvious by the roster of artists that contributed to the exhibition through their art and presence to the "art for art's sake" environment.

Live model, April Flores was a bonus to remind us of the beauty of a sensuous, voluptuous, courageous female. Participating artist, Chuck Swenson created a cautiously descriptive and respectful painting of April.  The live model was also reminiscent of the art performances of the 70's and 80's in Los Angeles.

The exhibitions runs through March 5, 2016.

Contributing artists of Nude Survey #4

Chuck Swenson at the easel...

April Flores, Jai & Jai Gallery  2/5/16-Opening night
in front of Simone Gad's 3-d Nude Pinup Collage Installation (c) 2016

  

TOM KRUMPAK

TOM KRUMPAK

December 12, 2015-January 23, 2016

Lora Schlesinger Gallery
2525 Michigan #B5b
Santa Monica, CA   (310-828-1133)

Bamboo Tall, blue sky

Floating in Desire 48"x72" acrylic on canvas

I met Tom Krumpak at Cal State Long Beach around l981/82.  I was on my way out of graduate school and he was starting.  We were introduced because our styles where similar.  It's encouraging to see a fellow Pattern and Decoration  artist still forging ahead and documenting the forms and colors he sees in his field of vision-his mouches volantes (flying flies-floaters in the eyes).  

The paintings in Krumpak's current exhibit consist of "more is more" as in  Floating in Desire 48"x72", which has intersecting lines of colored electrical currents. Krumpak amps Kandinsky jazz improvisations with Judy Rifka's  3-D installations of lines of color and organic forms. Bamboo grows so rapidly that fields create screeching sounds like orchestras of John Cage's chance music..  The bamboo metaphor in Krumpak's paintings produce visual sounds.  The degree of decibels heard depends on the individual viewer and individual painting.

Additionally, Krumpak exhibits paintings with open color fields "less is more" in which the "bambo" lines appear as a defined foreground.  There are various influences present, Matisse's simplified forms resting on red fields, the sharp edges of forms reminiscent of Stuart Davis, and evident content of Jasper Johns. 

Cavalier 48"x 72 " acrylic

Jayme Odgers---Where am I Today?

Offramp Gallery
1702 Lincoln Ave
Pasadena, CA 91103
www.offrampgallery.com  626-298-6931

9.20.14.Tough Decisions 2014

01.17.2015 Rage 2015

View of Odgers - Where am I Today?

Jayme Odgers with his portraits 

(l)  11.26.15 Determined and Thankful 2015

(r) Make It Go Away 2015

A Happy Accident

With regards to Jayme Odgers current exhibition at Offramp Gallery in Pasadena, 

every experience I have had so far is a happy accident.  A friend and I showed up on the wrong day and were graciously given a personal walk-through by Jane Chafin the director.  Odgers' self-portraits also contain this notion because every portrait is dedicated to specific moments in his daily life that are filled with the unexpected. Hurray for the encouraging transitory nature of life that makes allowances for happy accidents.  Odgers stoically remains the sole designer of his life.   Odgers' moments veer from fear, anger, frustration and quandary, to an authentic, sublime, venerated being.  Every drawing is dated, documented, and contains the materials and paper specifics.  

Odgers' portraits are courageous, genuine, and represent a lion tamer for the element of line.  
Many of the drawings consist of simple lines of pencil or ink.  In  01.17.2015 Rage 2015, Odgers depicts the feeling of "rage", throughout the drawing, beginning with his body stripped bare and his skin tautly draped onto a subliminal skeletal frame.  The selective cobalt ink lines support Odgers feeling of an arctic chill which ironically emotes a "steamed-seething" persona. The snarling teeth are drawn with accuracy influenced by his years of drawing and illustration. 

LORENZO HURTADO SEGOVIA "PLEGARIAS"

LORENZO HURTADO SEGOVIA

PLEGARIAS
CB-1 GALLERY
NOVEMBER 7-DECEMBER 19, 2015

1923 S. SANTA FE AVE.
LOS ANGELES, CA 90021
www.cb1gallery.com

Por La Paz 2015 (10 6/10"x12 7/10')

Climate of Generations

 Segovia continues to exhibit his work at CB-1 Gallery which divides his goals to exhibit his paintings and sculptures and express his heart of a Christian and spiritual being. Segovia was born on the border of Texas (Chihuahua, Mexico). His art combines his influences of both countries. Most evident are the influences of his ancestral voices. The "God's Eye" sculpture illuminates and symbolizes the four corners, and the symbol of the christian cross and also a tradition of the indigenous Huichol. The legend of the Huichol explain that the moment a child is born, the father will create a "God's Eye" for the newborn and will continue to add small "God's Eyes" to each corner for the next five years. The "God's Eye" hangs near the child's crib for god's protection. In accordance with the title of the exhibition, "prayers" and a litany of prayers is the overall theme of the exhibition. He is sharing his exaltation with the gallery viewers. Artists sometimes speak of communing with a higher power or a universal mind during the creative process. The metaphoric stars support Christians, agnostics, atheist and various mutations of beliefs. Segovia's spiritual exploration also seems to influenced by "Mantras" of India. "Por la Paz" 2015 (10 6/10"x12 7/10") sky of constellations is reminiscent of Indian designs, patterns and spiritual essence.


 "El clima de Generaciones"

 Segovia continúa exhibiendo su trabajo en CB-1 Galería que divide sus metas para exhibir sus pinturas y esculturas y expresar su corazón de un ser cristiano y espiritual. Segovia nació en la frontera de Texas (Chihuahua, México). Su arte combina sus influencias de ambos países. Lo más evidente son las influencias de sus voces ancestrales. La escultura "Ojo de Dios" ilumine y simboliza los cuatro puntos cardinales, y el símbolo de la cruz cristiana y también una tradición de los huicholes indígena. La leyenda de los huicholes a explicar que el momento en que nace un niño, el padre va a crear un "Ojo de Dios" para el recién nacido y continuará añadiendo pequeñas "Ojos de Dios" en cada esquina para los próximos cinco años. El "Ojo de Dios" cuelga cerca de la cuna del niño para la protección de Dios. De acuerdo con el título de la exposición, "oraciones" y una letanía de oraciones es el tema general de la exhibtion. Él está compartiendo su exaltacion con los espectadores de la galería. Los artistas a veces hablan de comunión con un poder superior o una mente universal durante el proceso creativo. Las estrellas metafóricas apoyan cristianos, agnósticos, ateos y varias mutaciones de creencias. Exploración espiritual de Segovia también parece influenciado por "mantras" de la India. "Por la Paz" 2015 (10 10/6 "x12 7/10") el cielo de constellatiions es una reminiscencia de diseños indios, los patrones y esencia espiritual.

No Duermo Aqui/ Dosshaus-House of Cardboard

David Connelly and Zoey Taylor of Dosshaus (House of Cardboard)

Pop up Art piece in Chinatown on Chung King Road 7-9 pm

CARDBOARD CAR (Fiat ?)

Connelly and Taylor "dressed to the nines" in their custom cardboard haute couture designed by 

Dosshaus. 

The pop-up gallery installation consisted of a cardboard car designed by Dosshaus.  They said this was the largest piece they have exhibited.  They are a pulpy duo (full of juice and papier laced) that can work cooperatively in their studio for ten hours without speaking. 

Check out their website for examples of their films, photography, cardboard environments...www.dosshaus.com

"NO DUERMO AQUI" --"I can't sleep here."