Jason knits, spins, surfs the Net and contemplates. Now also finding his way around the contemporary art world.
Last night’s artists’ reception could be our busiest to date. Good times! Here are a few photos:
Come see the show at CB1 Gallery. Also, we’ve scheduled an Artist Talk on Wednesday, July 14, 7 – 9 p.m. with all four artists, Edith Beaucage, Alexander Kroll, Matt Lifson and Lily Simonson.
One more exhibition wrapped up, installation for the next one has begun. We are also opening up the wall between the East and West galleries. Did I mention that we took on another space?
Next exhibition is a group show, four painters. Here’s the press release followed by a few images of their paintings:
CB1 Gallery proudly presents the work of four emerging LA-based painters—Edith Beaucage, Alexander Kroll, Matt Lifson and Lily Simonson—in an exhibition entitled, “The art that dare not speak its name.” In her February 10, 2010 article in The New York Times, art critic Roberta Smith, discussing current trends in the “art world” says, “What’s missing is art that seems made by one person out of intense personal necessity, often by hand. A lot but not all of this kind of work is painting, which seems to be becoming the art medium that dare not speak its name… These four artists proudly speak the name of painting. The exhibition opens on July 7, 2010 and closes on August 1, 2010. A reception for the artists will be held at the gallery on Saturday, July 10, 2010, 5 – 8 p.m. An artist talk will take place July 14, 2010 at 7 p.m.
Character and abstraction are linked on the canvases of Edith Beaucage in a way requiring no other narrative outside of these two elements. Reflecting emotions with paint, backgrounds often disappear and, in contrast to the characters, the “abstractions” play a variation of roles in the images, oftentimes behaving as portraits.
Alexander Kroll’s modestly scaled abstract paintings are simultaneously structural and intuitive. The layers of painterly information both highlight and obscure previous ideations leaving the viewer an artwork that is at once a highly specific painted object and a record of an activity, a subjective engagement with painterly space.
Exploring narrative through juxtaposition and psychological metaphor, Matt Lifson is interested in the cinematic element of painting, where there are paused moments that linger somewhere between clarity and ambiguity. Charged with sexuality and humor, his paintings draw inspiration from youth subculture, ritual and exploration.
Lily Simonson’s paintings of invertebrates seek to evoke transcendent states of being in which the boundaries between the self and the external world are breached and transgressed. Simultaneously anthropomorphizing the creatures and highlighting their otherworldly ambiguities, her paintings represent liminality, transformation, and human experiences of mystical and erotic ecstasy.
Edith Beaucage, Untitled, 2010
Alexander Kroll, Untitled, 2010
Matt Lifson, Reflected Paths, 2010
Lily Simonson, Der Eierbeutel, 2010
I am a little late with this post. I guess I relaxed a little too much after school was done. This was my final project for the drawing class, album covers for a favorite musician. Since we just had Mike Garson doing a intimate concert at the gallery, and he totally blew my mind with his improv, I made an album design for him. We had to draw a face on the front cover, and anything related to the person on the back. My main goal was to try to make him look as real as possible. Although the shape of the head was completely wrong, the facial features were good I think. I also experimented with color pencils.
This is the first project that I have to do for the drawing class. No final exam, but need to turn in 2 projects.
For the first project I had to create an Illuminated Letter. Being a Buddhist I chose the letter B for the Buddha (Self-awakened One), Buddho (Awakening in Pali), Buddhist. I used the lotus to represent purity, purified Mind which is the result of the mindfulness practice. Lotus grows in muddy water, but the blossoms rise above the water surface without blemishes, a beautiful symbol for purity. I used all stages of the plant, blossoms, flower buds, seed pods and leaves. Swirly lines for water.
I researched different styles for the drawing. I started trying to construct the letter with Tibetan knotting pattern, but soon found it very difficult to do the “over and under” pattern just right. I am sure with time it could be done, but I had a deadline. The second idea was the one I used in the project, a tattoo style design. The third one was more of a Japanese style illustration with lotuses rising out of a bed of leaves and through the letter B, with Japanese wave pattern as background. A fourth idea was done in the Tibetan Thangka style, quite traditional looking with the B formed with ribbon. I also wanted to add the four elements, Earth, Wind, Water and Fire, but couldn’t find the right spot for Fire. It just didn’t make sense to have fire around the ribbon B.
In the end I chose the high contrast of the tattoo style. It’s clean, the shape is unmistakably B, and I like the flow of the design.
Another fantastic night at the gallery. Opening reception for Ling-An’s show, Everything Is Stitching Together Simultaneously, had a wonderful turnout. The ArtScene preview brought many people from outside of Los Angeles. A few even traveled from San Francisco to see the show! Congrats Ling-An! Oh, and the Chinese dinner afterwards was delicious! 
Michael Buitron wrote a really great preview for Everything Is Stitching Together Simultaneously.
As visually impactful as Ling-An’s work is, it doesn’t come across as didactic. Having been raised by parents in Taiwan who themselves were exiles from China, she herself is the product of well-intentioned elders who attempted to re-infuse her with bits of the culture from which they were excluded. Also on view are smaller sculptures patterned after a baby’s camisole. Crafted of high-luster industrial materials, they evoke thoughts ranging from California finish-fetish artists to Jeff Koons. Back in the days before amniocentesis and ultra-sound told you in advance, these ambulators were crafted with a girl-centric fabric on one side, and a boy’s color or print on the other. This duality becomes a metaphor for Ling-An’s skills and experience: Steeped in the traditions of China while versed in the conversations of contemporary Western art.
Manu S. Shetty’s essay on Fang Ling-An is also a great read!
Update: We also have an interview with Fang Ling-An on CB1 Gallery’s Blog.
Update: ArtScene link updated to the California version with more photos.
Lorenzo’s show officially closed on Sunday, 5/23. We had really wonderful responses for his body of work “by Deborah Calderwood”. This week we are installing a new show with Fang Ling-An, who just happens to be my old schoolmate from Taiwan. In the photo above you can see her using traditional Chinese embroidering technique on untraditional media. Exhibition details and more photos:
May 29 – June 27, 2010
CB1 Gallery proudly presents its first solo exhibition of the work of artist Fang Ling-An, Everything is Stitching Together Simultaneously. Deeply aware of her family’s historic and turbulent journey from Mainland China to Taiwan, Fang Ling-An has consciously reflected upon issues of ‘displacement’ and sense of ‘belonging’ that is common to most Chinese immigrants. As a result, her pieces center on issues of migration, displacement, tradition and identity. The show opens on May 29, 2010 and closes on June 27, 2010. A reception for the artist will be held at the gallery on Saturday, May 29, 2010, 5 – 8 p.m.
Convinced that artists have missions, Chicago-based artist Fang Ling-An’s quest is to develop and resurrect Chinese philosophical and aesthetic views that are set in a contemporary framework. “Determining what the true merits of Chinese traditions and philosophies are is something Chinese artists must decide for themselves and transmit to the rest of the world. I want to make art a tool to revive culture, and hope it will enable Chinese to become conscious about their heritage again.”
The work in the upcoming show reflects on the artist’s continuing exploration of how traditional Chinese culture has overlapped into contemporary American culture and of how the East meets and blends into the West. Using materials ranging from industrial tarp, silk and gold thread to silkscreen, Fang Ling-An experiments with their application onto the traditional Chinese handicraft and technique of embroidery. In Everything is Stitching Together Simultaneously, the embroidered pieces are perfectly stitched highlighting every minuscule detail and figure. While only a few pieces by the artist show this ‘perfect’ handwork, most of her other pieces will be showing a more abstract side, which, intriguingly, stand in stark contrast to the perfect images.
Fang Ling-An is a Chinese-American artist born in Taipei (Taiwan) and now living in Chicago. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Temple University, Tyler School of Art (BFA, 2003) and also the University of Illinois in Chicago (MFA, 2005). Her work has been exhibited in numerous national and international institutions, including Hyde Park Art Center (Chicago, IL), Artspace (New Haven, CT), DIVA International Video Art Fair (Miami, FL), City of Nanjing Art Center for Painting and Sculptures (China), CAMAC Centre D’art (France) and the Media Art Festival at the Armenian Center for Contemporary Art (Armenia).
Exhibition essay by Manu S. Shetty (PDF)
