Larry Mantello’s second solo show in Los Angeles picks up where his last one left off: using cheap souvenirs and tacky novelties to tell a story whose high points revolve around love, loss and redemption and whose low points look toward meaninglessness as a welcome release from the despair of self-loathing.
Mantello’s first solo show in L.A. was 18 years ago. Back then, his installation stuck out like a sore thumb on steroids. At a time of hyper-serious identity politicking, his mind-scrambling extravaganza threw its lot in with pleasure and excess to herald a new era, which has gone a long way to define the present.
At CB1Gallery, “Together Again” is tighter, more focused and loaded. It reveals an artist whose vision and delivery have matured, growing more complex and nuanced while losing none of the youthful insouciance — and cheeky verve — of Mantello’s earlier works.
Edith Beaucage also had a couple of interviews. One was featured on Huffington Post.
Edith Beaucage’s “hurluberlu” paintings, which feature idiosyncratic figures and architectural references are about the rich interaction of the imagination and social spaces. Beaucage’s new series has a Rococo energy, and is peopled by an engaging cast of lusciously painted faux-naif characters. The paintings are sweet, challenging, and utterly original.
To better understand the artist’s ideas, I sent her a set of questions, and also asked her husband, Glen Irani, if he would add his perspective.
She also did an interview with blogger Jeff Tutt. Here’s an excerpt:
Q: You speak of painting in terms of language – signs of abstraction or portraiture – and of the characters that inhabit your paintings as narrative ‘types’. Do you see painting as a literary or theatrical operation?
A: The paintings are just images, but the process that takes place in my mind while I am painting is closer to a literary composition. I built the sign of a figure that is next of kin to a character. I use the character as a way to make the image more interesting to me and to the viewer. The abstractions are also signs and characters. I am not using photographs or models to build the figures. They come from my mind: a memory image repertoire. I consider the image development as a similar exercise as if I was building a character for a literary text.
“…the schematic, profile style also harkens back to the hieroglyphic figures of ancient Egypt, who speak a mysterious language that continues to fascinate. A better analogy than that for the place of painting in today’s hyper-digital universe is difficult to imagine.”
–Christopher Knight
The complete review can be found in LA Times’ Culture Monster section.
I also want to share one of my favorite paintings recently brought in by Lisa Adams. To me it has Zen-like quality, and yet upon a closer look you find a practical joke about to be played out. Beautifully painted and quirky!
Lisa Adams – Seconds To Go, 2010
Oh, here’s the video interview!
Fine Artist Lisa Adams shares insight about her career and what exactly makes her Pretty Rough and Tough.
I’d better catch up on posting. July spinning guild meeting was once again full of fun. I took the Four Corner Hat in for Show & Tell. Shared the story of knitting it with the group. It felt really good. Again, I’ll let the photos do most of the speaking:
Show & Tell
Fiber Pushers
Chris was plucking the buns again. He he he
L.A. Times reporter came to interview individuals over 50. I think the article was about what people over 50 do in L.A.
Dave brought his huge, motorized drum carder and did a demo of carding and dizzing:
Ruth shot a video of Dave’s demonstration. You can see it here. (Please try your best to skip the first video. Pretty please!) To see more guild meeting photos, go here.
John taught a bulky singles class at April’s guild meeting.
This is what I made:
Not really bulky. More like heavy worsted. Need more practice!
I went to A Mano for Wednesday night S&B. It was good to see old friends. Those ladies can always make you laugh. I was told that the video segment that was taped in store will be aired on July 30th. It will be on the local Time Warner Cable On Demand, and CNN Headline News. I can imagine it being on the On Demand local edition. But CNN Headline News? I wonder how they will introduce it.
Last time I checked, 48. No, it’s not the physical age of my brain. But an estimate of how old my brain is behaving. Looks like I need to exercise my brain “muscle” to get it back in shape. That’s why I got the Nintendo DS Lite and Brain Age. Something that I can use to exercise my brain power and, ahem, have some fun. Having a brain age of 48 at 40… I need to do something about that. Seriously, feeling that my mind is not as sharp as before bothers the heck out of me.
A couple of weeks ago CB and I hung out at Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica when the cleaning lady was here. It was nice to get away for a few hours.
Last Sunday we celebrated Thai New Year at the temple with a special “hand washing” ceremony.
There was another filming at A Mano yesterday (Wednesday). Time Warner Cable wanted to do a Video On Demand segment of the S&B. If it goes well, it might even appear on CNN. Not a lot of details. But we had tons of fun!
