OC Art Blog

Open Dialogues @ The HB Art Center - Meet & Greet Thurs.

  Meet and Greet with the artists of Open Dialogues

	Thursday, March 3 · 6:00pm - 8:00pm

Join us for a meet and greet with Jeffrey Frisch, Gina Genis, Laurie Hassold and Robin Repp. All four artists are participating in our first artist residency. Over the next 6 weeks will be creating new large scale work.

Open Dialogues
March 1 – April 9, 2011

This experiment is an Artist in Residency program at Huntington Beach Art Center entitled Open Dialogues.  Four artists have been selected to share the galleries as workspace while exploring the exchange of ideas between them.  This exchange of ideas is at the core of any artists’ community.

It is the goal of Open Dialogues to provide space and time for Jeffrey Frisch, Gina Genis, Laurie Hassold and Robin Repp to work on large projects ranging from photography to sculpture to video projection.

The public is invited to stop by and dialogue with the artists in residence.

 

Today is Museum Advocacy Day! In Washington D.C. they will celebrate February 28-March 1, 2011. Go visit an art gallery or museum in Orange County to show your support of the arts. Engage with your local and state representatives to make the case for museums.

Julie Lee @ The Grand Central Art Center

A quick vid of Bowers Museum maven and Grand Central Art Center Art Forum board member Julie Lee letting you know where the best art buys in OC can be had. - Chris

 

Paper Cuts at Fullerton College

    Fullerton, CA  Stepping into the small white-walled space in the gallery at Fullerton College, I immediately notice bright colored lights shining through out of the corner of my eye, and in front of me a giant pointed pile of brightly colored shreds lying on a short pedestal that reminds me of candy. The Paper Cuts show caught my attention at first because of the well-executed logo design on the invitation card, but kept my interest as soon as I read the list of artists. Who would have thought that a community college art gallery in Fullerton would demand attention from such artists as Kara Walker, Pae White, Mark Wagner, Takahiro Yamamoto, Chris Natrop, Jen Stark, Wangechi Mutu, Brian Dittmer, Heather McGill, and David Adey?

    Mark Wagner’s currency collages are visually enticing at first glance because of the recognizable monetary references, but at a closer look, the intense skill he implements in cutting up actual dollar bills and formulating them into provocative compositions just leaves the viewer in awe of such mastery.   

      Chris Natrop’s installation of organic – looking paper webs, flowing reflections, and neon lights envelop the senses as you walk around the space.

 David Adey’s cut out portrait of Mischa Barton caught my attention as it referenced traditional body art, while making me think of the female body issues dealt with in celebrity culture. deconstructing the body as I deconstruct the society that this imaginary "perfect" being has been made from.  

 I also really enjoyed the colored paper slices of Jen Stark as they referenced psychedelic wood slices and candy-coated electrodes in cool world.
 I really enjoyed the teeny tiny jars filled with small scenes of trees, ladders, and paper remnants by Takahiro Yamamoto. Made me feel like I was visiting a doll's world, with big adventures ahead of me... A Grand Canyon for miniature pedestal-climbers, with small tombs on top of each pedestal-peak, housing remains of people and places that meant something to someone.

  

    The physical layout of the exhibition was interesting from a curatorial stand point, but a little confusing as there was not a clear path that the viewer must follow as he/she walked through the space. Each piece seemed to be so powerful on their own that together in one exhibit they competed for attention. Looking into the gallery space from the front of the room the image they were trying to achieve was clear – shapes and colors complementing each other, and a corridor down the center that led to the giant colored-paper chandelier.

  

One of the only confusing parts of the exhibit was that there were a few walls left blank, with nothing to fill them, or draw the viewer to another area.

The Kara Walker piece was small and unassuming, but clearly a “Kara Walker”...
 A small book with her signature cut out silhouettes illustrating a story of a slave girl (1 out of an edition of 4000). I thought it was interesting when speaking with curator Beth Solomon, that the acquisition of the Kara Walker book, because just as the book was placed in a small Plexiglas box, prohibiting the viewers from touching or turning the pages as it felt appropriate Kara Walker was also hard to get a hold of, hard to connect with. Solomon said she had been working on the exhibit for 19 months, and Kara Walker’s reps in New York were all but accommodating. Solomon even mentioned that Kara Walker probably didn’t even know she had a piece shown in the exhibit – with the gallery ego left in place of enthusiastic participation.

    All in all Paper Cuts is an exhibit full of amazing paper work-- surprising for such a small space in an unassuming community college gallery. I highly recommend catching a peek at this show on its last day Thursday Feb 24th. I definitely will check out future exhibits by this gallery and curator.

Evan A. Senn contributing writer and founder of rarwart.com

Diana Markessinis

 

This Wednesday, Diana Markessinis is celebrating the installation of her third public art, Untitled Tree #2, which she is donating to the City of Santa Ana in an effort to promote and encourage art in the public realm. 

Date: Wednesday the 23rd of February

Time: 7pm

Place: Santiago Park Nature Center, Santa Ana

Address: 600 E. Memory Lane, Santa Ana.

Click here to view the flyer.

Check out Diana Markessinis' blog.

 

Open Call. Pixels: The Art of iPhone

Got an iPhone? Love taking pictures? Here's your chance to shine.

Pixels: The Art of iPhone

This is an open call for submissions for the Pixels: The Art of iPhone Photography exhibition.

An open call for iPhonographic art to be exhibited at the Orange County Center For Contemporary Art, March 31-April 3o, 2011. Existing Pixels’ artists will shortly receive an email regarding submitting pictures already on the site and other submission options.

All photos MUST be shot with and processed using an Apple iPhone.  No computer-based processing allowed.  Any model of the iPhone may be used. Any image found to be taken with another device or processed on a computer or iPad will result in entrant being disqualified and forfeiture of entry fee.

Winning entries will be printed and exhibited in the month-long exhibition. There will be a full-color program printed with all works, which will be available for sale.

Entry Fee:  $30.00 for five entries. See below for link to Entry Form.

To be eligible for the OCCCA/Pixels exhibition, you must first be a registered artist on this site. Register (form in right column) with a valid email account that is tied to your PayPal account, please. If you are new to Pixels: The Art of the iPhone, you should probably also read our general submissions guidelines.

We will be exhibiting a minimum of sixty images from this open call for submissions.

Submissions will be accepted until midnight, February 27, 2011. When you pay the fee, you will be directed to a page where you will upload your five images. If you wish to upload more images, you will need to pay another $30.00.

If you are a regular and active contributor to Pixels: The Art of the iPhone and have had an image published after Dec. 1, 2010, you will be receiving an email detailing other submissions options for the exhibition. (We have forty slots for Pixels’ artists).

If chosen, we will print your picture as an archival 13″x19″ giclée print on Epson Ultra Premium Presentation Matte paper, image are approx 10.5″x14″ or 10.5″ square and mounted on archival foamcore with a two inch border. Some images will be printed in a larger format, as well, as determined by judges.

There will be a full-color catalog with all images in the show published, available for sale.

Prints will be available for sale at the exhibit. We are instating a minimum price of $100 (which the artist may raise if he or she so wishes) which will be split between the artist and OCCCA (60%/40%). In the event that more than one print is sold of an image, a $30 printing charge will be deducted from price of print, then split between artist and OCCCA.

Judging submissions will be Jeff Alu (OCCCA), Knox Bronson (Pixels), Maia Panos and Daniel Berman (artists).

Deadline for submissions: February 27, midnight.
Selections will be announced within a week.

 

Too Many Art Walks...?

          Anaheim, CA- Art walks are springing up faster than hipsters these days.  Following the examples of established walks, many cities are publicizing an art walk, often forgetting the key to a good art walk: art.  Two galleries and a handful of cafes and salons with art on their walls do not a “walk” make.  However, that said, sometimes there is gems in these plentiful events.

            This was the case at the Anaheim Art Crawl (a slight variation) last Saturday.  The art walk was nothing to blog about, their city hall filled with awkward art and a few other galleries in a stark area that makes Irvine look homey.  However, a few things caught my attention. 

            The Promenade Gallery had the art of two artists that are destined to have their names known in a few years. Ryan Chorbagian is a friend, so I’d seen his work, but not in such quantity, and I was highly impressed.  Ryan is attending school in Chicago right now, and I feel certain when he returns his name will be circulating in LA.  His showmate, Cliff Cramp, was also a fine example of illustration as art.  His glowing steampunk pieces were more than beautiful illustrations, they cross the line into art.

            The Sarah Bain gallery also boasted art by artists who ranged from typical to inspired.  Pamela Wilson’s fantastical pieces took portraiture to a new level.  The Sarah Bain gallery was one I liked stopping into when it was in Downtown Brea and I was excited to see it again.

            The Anaheim walk was especially weird because although there were less than five galleries, there were two live bands, five delectable food trucks, and two areas with craft booths.  The area inside of the Food Court/K&A Café was converted into a craft fair with at least a dozen rather accomplished crafters.  This kind of DIY aesthetic is heartening to see, and their wares were without exception beautiful and well-made.

            Personally I have mixed feelings about all the new art walks.  On one hand, I see nothing wrong with people being more aware and interested in art, or formerly dead areas in the hearts of Orange County cities becoming enlivened for one night a month.  However, part of me is wary of ploys by city governments to draw people for an artificial attraction.  In the end, I guess anything that allows talented artists to get their work known is not a bad thing.

Andrea Magee Steedman contributing writer and founder of rarwart.com

If you heart lowbrow art: Suggestivism now up @ Grand Central Art Center

Santa Ana-Recently, I attended the much-anticipated opening of Suggestivism at the Grand Central Art Center in downtown Santa Ana. Beautiful ladies in hooded onesies (I did not know they existed either) paraded around the galleries serving chocolates and energy drinks throughout the night.  Many of the artists attended and Academy award-nominated actress Amy Adams also made an appearance.  Grand Central always knows how to throw a party!

            Curated by artist Nathan Spoor, the exhibition features over 50 prominent low-brow artists like Todd Schorr and Robert Williams.  The show also includes many new faces of this popular art movement like Bob Dob, Alex Gross, and many more. Located in both galleries, the walls are packed with aesthetically appealing gems of bright, illustrative artworks.

     Nathan Spoor, who also conveniently curated his own work into the exhibition (a questionable move often debated in art museum circles,) describes Suggestivism  as work which ‘gives the viewer ample opportunity to interpret meaning into their art.’ I would agree since much of the work, though creatively rendered, lacks personal narrative or content.  Still, the work does have an immediate fatal attraction. Stylistically, many of the paintings have an interesting street smart, pop-surrealism quality. One stand-out is Heidi Taillefer’s Pelican and the Vampire, a modern, darker re-interpretation of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus.  Some of the few sculptural pieces such as Elizabeth McGrath’s The White Deer,  and Kris Kuksi’s Napoleonic Exile, made of plastic toyparts in a neo-classical steampunk style, transcended the lack of content in some of the paintings and are phenomenal, dimensional works of art. 

    With so much astounding work to absorb, viewers could easily spend hours in just one corner of the gallery and not have time to explore the rest. Best of all, the galleries are free to visit! Suggestivism will surely leave every reader of Juxtapoz Magazine and lowbrow art fan salivating.

 

 

(Right) Actress Amy Adams attends Suggestivism opening. February 5, 2011.  Photo courtesy GCAC and Eric Stoner.

 

Heidi Taillefer, Pelican and the Vampire, 2010  oil on canvas

Elizabeth McGrath The White Deer 2005  Mixed Media

Kris Kuksi  Napoleonic Exile 2010 Mixed Media

Grand Central Art Center Main and Project Galleries

Suggestivism 

 Curated by Nathan Spoor

 February 5-April 17, 2011

2^nd Reception Saturday, March 5, 7-10 pm

Closing Reception April 2, 7-10pm

 

Gallery Hours:

Tuesday-Thursday & Sunday 11-4pm, Friday & Saturday 11-7pm.

125 N Broadway Santa Ana, CA 92701

714.567.7233

www.grandcentralartcenter.com

 

 

-Alyssa Cordova, contributing writer

photos by Alyssa Cordova

This Week In The OC

02/08 (TUES):  

Breakdown

Curated by Julie Schustack// Chapman University

Dates on view: 01/25 - 02/24

Location: Guggenheim Gallery, Chapman University
Gallery days/hours: Mon-Fri, 12-5PM

Opening Reception: February 8, from 5:30-8pm
Cost of admission: Free


02/11 (FRI):

Laguna College of Art and Design Master of Fine Arts Faculty and Student Exhibition

Dates on view: 02/11 - 03/19

Location: Irvine Fine Arts Center
14321 Yale Avenue, Irvine, CA 92604

Gallery days/hours: Monday - Thursday: 10am - 9pm, Friday: 10am - 5pm, Saturday: 9am- 5pm, Sunday: Closed
Opening Reception: Friday, February 11, 5-8pm
Cost of admission: Free

02/11:

Show title: The Art of Ning Yeh
Feature artist: Ning Yeh’s brush paintings in the Project Room

Orange Coast College (OCC) Arts Pavilion
Dates on view: February 9th though March 23rd, 2011

Location: OCC Frank M Doyle Arts Pavilion
Opening Reception: February 11th, 6-10 p.m.

02/12 (SAT):

Celebrate Your Art's Desire

Saturday, February 12, 2011 5:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Downtown Anaheim Arts District

250 Center Street
Anaheim, CA 92805

*The first quarterly Anaheim Art Crawl Experience of 2011 will start on February 12. 
Art Crawl Experience (ACE)
Downtown Anaheim's Art District hosts a quarterly Art Crawl involving:
The Muzeo,
Sarah Bain Gallery,
Rothick art haus,
Promenade Gallery,
Downtown Community Center Gallery, and more. Art, food trucks and live music & more

I was grateful when they included the lyrics

This record player is the product of advanced graphic design students taught by Ed Giardina of Finishing School at Cypress College. The packaging transforms into the record player.

Enjoy.
-Krystal