There are several group shows on view currently. ‘Tis not surprising given that many galleries are soon going to close for their “summer” break. Between early August and very early October, the art scene is low energy. Of course, for oldsters like me seeing “inventory” is a joyous opportunity to see work that I’ve not seen for quite a while.
John Brooks at Luis de Jesus (DTLA through Sept. 3).
John Brooks largely wrote the treatise that is the gallery’s press release. It is very well written and informative. The artist’s palette and manner of handling paint reverberate with Peter Doig (I am a big fan of Doig).
Quoting Brooks: “Painting is a matter of finding control where you can, but letting the paint control when and where it wants.” In his work, Brooks controls the subject while the paint controls the emotion.
Chaz Guest at Night Gallery (DTLA closing).
In the last year artists of color have experienced a huge broadening of exhibition opportunities. Guest is an excellent painter. I would hope that exhibitions such as this are not based on their own sort of racial profiling.
Josh Callaghan at Night Gallery (DTLA closing).
Did not see much sculpture on this trip.
Rachel Lachowicz
In the back office at Shoshana Wayne (west Adams).
I first saw Rachel Lachowicz “paintings” at Krygier Landau in 1989. Her first exhibition with Shoshana was in 1991. These new works are various colors of eyeshadow contained in an aluminum box-grid.
Max Colby
Kenny Scharf at Honor Fraser (Culver City through Sept. 10).
Nobody mimics (successfully) Kenny Scharf. He stays true to his aesthetic and his artistic product is singularly recognizable. For this exhibition he has installed the “Cosmic Cavern”. It is the 42nd installation of this colossus since its first iteration in 1981 in a small closet in New York in a small apartment he shared with Keith Haring. The installation of the evolved “Cosmic Cavern” is stored, between exhibitions, in many boxes with complex installation instructions.
Future Patchwork at Walter Maciel (Culver City through Aug. 17).
I travel a lot. Many journeys focus on birding. So seeing Rob Putnam’s “birds” fashioned out of fabric materials and wire reflexively caught my eye.
Patricia Chidlaw
Cityscape at George Billis (Culver City through Aug. 20).
Patricia Chidlaw may be the best straight-forward landscape painter now in action. I have not seen her work in some years. The gallerist Terrence Rogers introduced me to her paintings over a ten year period starting in 2000.
Michael Ward
Michael Ward is new to me. This painting stands out in the current gallery cityscape, group exhibition. There may be a lot of cliches here – but they work.
Tomory Dodge at Phillip Martin (Culver City).
In Phillip Martin’s office are two new painting by Tomory Dodge. Terrific. This current painting has distinct figures in it. That is what I like about Dodge’s painting. He regularly shifts gears – while staying firmly rooted in abstraction.
Lonnie Holley at Blum & Poe (Culver City through Aug. 13).
A multidisciplinary artist (the seventh of twenty-seven children raised in Birmingham, Alabama) his work references his life experiences (the sculpture with the fire hose – a studio fire in 1997).
The tangle of multi-colored threads comprising the “flag” sculpture is an eloquent statement.
Lawrence Gipe
Reflections on Our Warming Planet at Lois Lambert (Bergamot through Sept. 3).
I have been a fan of Lawrence Gipe since seeing his first exhibition at Karl Bornstein’s gallery just off Olympic in the mid 80s. In this recent painting titled “Norilsk”, Gipe reflects on the current landscape of Ukraine. Reminds me of scenes of burning wells during the First Gulf War.
Marina Moevs
Mark Steven Greenfield at William Turner (Bergamot closing).
These paintings on gold leaf are radiant and quite engaging. I first became aware of Greenfield’s painting in an exhibition last year at Bridge Projects.
Kent Twitchell at Craig Krull (Bergamot through Sept. 3).
Spectacular mega-murals were created in LA during the 25 years at the end of the 20th century. Leading muralist were the LA Fine Arts Squad (Victor Henderson and Terry Schoonhoven) and Kent Twitchell. Kent Twitchell largely did murals depicting personages (think Ed Ruscha, Lita Albuquerque; Jim Morphesis). Craig Krull has assembled preparatory sketches by Kent Twitchell that inform us as to the artist’s process and dedicated skill.
Robert Ginder at Craig Krull (Bergamot through Sept. 3).
Robert Ginder had his start in painting (particularly architectural painting on a gold-leaf background) with portraits of shoebox-style stucco houses in North Park, San Diego. His signature paintings are not confused with any other artist. His contemporary paintings of art edifices on fire - I’m curious and I wonder what Robert is thinking about this??!!
Carlos Almaraz 1982
Matthew Marks (West Hollywood through Oct. 1).
Carlos Almaraz died in 1989 at the age of 48. He was very active in the nascent Chicano arts movement. Of all the Almaraz work I have seen over the decades – his car crash paintings are my favorite.
I am much less a fan of Joan Brown (1938-1990). I should be more a fan given my interest in figurative art. She was a major figure in the second wave of figurative painting emanating in the Bay Area.
Joan Brown 1977
Esiri Erheriene-Essi at Nino Mier (Hollywood through Aug. 27).
There is unmistakable joy in Erheriene-Essi's painting. Her subjects are culled from photographs of African diaspora and from her family. Using xerox transfer and collage in the foundation - her exuberant and confident over painting deliver a wonderful, animated mis-en-scene.
Chiachio & Giannone at Steve Turner (Hollywood closing).
The textile “paintings” of this duo convey their joyous and exuberant life together. They live and work in Buenos Aires. They were seen here in San Diego at LUX in 2020.
Jordan Nassar
Bridge Projects (Hollywood closing).
As usual for this exhibition venue, the curated exhibition includes 37 artists. The variety of works is staggering. The central theme for this show is religion and metaphysical sensibilities that spark human imagination. Bridge Projects always offers a complex and broadly varied program dealing with social issues expressed through artistic vision.
Jordan Nassar works with Palestinian women. Weavers in Ramallah lay down patterns and initiate colors that are then embellished and engineered by Nassar. These “landscapes” “became representational of a Palestine that only really exists in the minds of diaspora Palestinians… …it is a Utopia that is dreamed up by people that can’t go there and see the reality.”
James Welling at Regen Projects (Hollywood through Aug. 20).
Welling has reanimated photographs of archaic Greek and Roman busts by inserting eyes with color (for example eyes taken from a Manet painting) and/or coloring the hair. “I source eyes, jewelry, and clothing from old master paintings and then do the hair and make-up as I wish.” Reanimation indeed.!! These photographs of stone antiquities take on a real sense of vitality.
Frederick Wight at Louis Stern (West Hollywood through Aug. 6).
When I see a Frederick Wight painting, I think of Joni Gordon. She, the eponymous gallerist, died in 2012 after retiring from her gallery on Melrose called Newspace. Joni exhibited Frederick Wight – passionately. I learned this trip, from Louis Stern, that in her university-youth Joni was a student of Wight at UCLA.
Get out, look at art; have fun.
Doug Simay July 2022