Good News first, right? I got a review! It was written by Peter Frank in Artillery Magazine that just came out! And it wasn’t just a good review, it was a great review. I am so happy!
Art Reviews
Recovering from a Great Show
It’s been a week since my show Exodus opened and I’m just now starting to, well, I guess “relax,” if you will. I don’t usually relax so it’s hard to even call it that. I don’t know exactly how I feel. I thought I would write a blog post about how I’ve been “feeling” and just do a general update on what’s been going on with my overall well being, but I’m still not sure what that means exactly. I am hoping it will just come out as I type this thing.
Jealous of You
Do I get jealous of you? Isn’t jealousy a natural feeling? Animals get jealous. I see my dog get that way all the time.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with jealousy. I think it’s a good thing.
I’m talking about as an artist.
As a drummer, this feeling inspired me. I loved it when someone was better than me. I really did. It made me happy. Few things make me happy.
But there’s a big difference between envy and schadenfreude, or hating someone for their successes. I guess it’s all how you channel it.
In music it was a lot easier. It inspired me when someone was a better drummer. Maybe it was a little harder when it was a closer competition though, I will admit that. Like if another drummer was auditioning for the same gig – of course I didn’t want him to get it over me. I suppose I hoping for some misfortune to rain down upon him. Ha! (Nothing too serious, of course.)
Okay, I’m guilty.
I guess what got me thinking about this is because I normally don’t mind the fact that I generally like other people’s art more than my own. I mean, I do. If I didn’t, I’d hang my own art all over my house. I like my own art, don’t get me wrong, but I’m too fickle about it. There are days I really hate it with a passion.
I don’t get that way with other people’s work. If I love it, I usually keep loving it more with time.
What am I getting at exactly?
Well, my friend, Brian Novatny, is having his first solo show in many years. He is showing all new paintings and drawings and his style has evolved drastically over all this time, and now, I am absolutely in love with the work I have seen of his so far, especially this painting:
He sent it to me in the invite for his upcoming show, which opens next Thursday at 6:PM at Mulherin + Pollard in NYC.
I used to show with Brian at George Billis Gallery. In fact, we were supposed to have a 2-person show in 2010, but some stuff happened that I can’t talk about. The “stuff” made us both mad and that made us bond over some drinks in Chelsea, then again the next night on the Lower East Side, then again the next night somewhere else, I’m not sure. It got to be a blur after that, but we’re buddies now.
Anyway, I either want this painting, wish I had painted this painting myself, or just feel like shit about myself today. Maybe that’s all that jealousy is really. Feeling like shit about yourself that day. It has to be.
But I’m not sure.
Does my dog feel like shit about herself?
A Snow White Story Turned on its Head
AS SEEN ON THE HUFFINGTON POST:
Once Upon a Time in the land of Highland Park, if you don’t know where that is, it is in Northeast Los Angeles on the west side of the Arroyo Seco. This neighborhood has gone through an abundance of changes over the past 20 years, yet it has kept its original flavor and family history without becoming too gentrified. Perhaps that is because there is still a bit of gang activity, but nothing like it was before the mid 1990s.
Since then, artists of all stripes have made it their homes and low-rent studios. But as the story goes, this is exactly what proceeds gentrification. Whether long term or for a short time, artists inevitably find many of our LA neighborhoods for what they are: gems, before the poor and the artists are squeezed out to make way for Starbucks and Banana Republic. But not just yet in the area around Figueroa and Ave 50.
Enchanted Forest (and golf course) by Kim Abeles.
About 13 years ago, Kathy Gallegos founded Avenue 50 Studio. A social, cultural, and political activist for most of her life, Ms Gallegos has helped Avenue 50 Studio sponsor over 300 events as a source of cultural responsibility. She recently approached award-winning artist, José Lozano, to curate a show at the gallery. In his own words, José’s ideas for the exhibition, Seven Beauties, were:
I had the phrase seven beauties in my mind for a while when I was approached by Avenue 50 Studio to curate a show. I know seven beautiful female artists whose work is spiritually and intelligently beautiful, and whose work I really admire. These are disciplined artists producing very wonderful art. My first choice was Kim Abeles who is my mentor. She was the professor at Cal State Fullerton who directed me toward the artist I am today. It’s an honor to have her in the show. This is not a feminist show. It’s just art done by women. Many different approaches and sensibilities run through this exhibition. It shows where women artists are at today in the making art in Los Angeles.
José Lozano is also exhibiting small portraits of each artist in this show and these are just wonderful. I thought they were truly great additions to the exhibition and brought the whole thing together to make it more meaningful.
Kim Abeles by José Lozano.
The other excellent artists in the exhibit include: Leigh Salgado, Rochelle Botello, Poli Marichal, Stephanie Mercado, Linda Arreola and Lili Bernard.
Daylight Savings by Leigh Salgado.
I went to the opening on Saturday, May 11, 2013. Much fun was had, and I have to say, when most galleries in Culver City, Beverly Hills, and Santa Monica are having their own opening nights – of which I have been o’plenty – none of them have ever held a candle to what I saw at Ave 50 Studio’s amount of hors d’oeuvres and wine, and variety, plus mojitos. Spectacular! All of you prestigious galleries: learn yourselves something.
During the course of the show, which runs until June 2nd by the way, the gallery will be screening the film, “Seven Beauties” by Lina Wertmuller. Participating artist, Poli Marichal, will lead a discussion on how the movie relates to feminism paralleling and modifying the present day. More information on this screening will be forthcoming, so you can still see the show and participate in this upcoming event, which should be quite interesting.
Blessed Mother and the Dragon by Lili Bernard.
The opening reception was absolutely packed and it seemed like more than 10 different people were taking photographs with expensive cameras. I have a feeling I’m going to wind up on Facebook with my eyes in a half-blink between a couple of these great looking artists, a few of whom I know very well. Had I known I was going to wake up today and write about this show, I would have brought my own fancy camera so I wouldn’t be hunting down all the artists down today for images.
Agnes by Linda Arreola.
Now, even though I had good friends among the crowd with their original art hanging along the walls, I have to be honest about my very favorites that stood out for me – without playing favorites. You get me?
Rochelle Botello, who usually produces sculptures with colored tape and cardboard, or rather, more like installations, since they really are temporary constructions. Most of them are destroyed after they are exhibited and documented. Here, she has created two dimensional pieces with basically the same media. They are framed as 2D art and hung on the wall, akin to abstract paintings and (hopefully) not temporary at all.
This was something new for her and in some ways, I preferred it. Actually, I can’t make up my mind. I might miss the absurdity of her installations. Those play with my dark sense of humor and I understand them easily, and now, this new work is a challenge. It’s contemplative, and a new side of the artist I have never known. Her 3D is at times contemplative as well, and so I wonder if, like her drawings, if she could accomplish the same balance with only tape and paper.
Kiss Off by Rochelle Botello.
Stephanie Mercado – she took over my old studio in Highland Park – has been outrageously prolific, cranking out seemingly a dozen amazing artworks at a time. Whether they are paintings, etchings, or dry points(?), she’s mastering her crafts quickly and the subject matter, floating on water or not, is beautiful and brilliant! I can easily spot her work from across a 100-foot room and my eye sight sucks ass! She has come into a singular vibration that can not belong to anyone else even if they studied for their Masters in “Mercado.” It’s a kind of Raphael effect.
Untitled silkscreen print by Stephanie Mercado.
Now, just because I had favorites in the show doesn’t mean the rest of you chickies didn’t make me swoon and soar, ooh and ahh. You did. But you always do.
Seven Beauties is a MUST SEE! (Through June 2, 2013.)
Oh, and don’t miss out on the little exhibit in the annex room by Frank Gutierrez called “Explain Yourself.” Very cool, colorful and interesting paintings.
Avenue 50 Studio, Inc.
a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts presentation organization
131 North Avenue 50, Highland Park, CA 90042
Ph/Fax: (323) 258-1435
email: ave50studio@sbcglobal.net