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Entries in art (211)

Painting Circle

Zoe, 7, and her brother Zane, 3, paint on Santa Monica Malibu Education Foundation and PTA's 'Painting Circle' during the 5th Annual Unity Resource Festival at Virginia Avenue Park on Sunday, March 6, 2011. 

Posted on Monday, March 7, 2011 at 12:03AM by Registered CommenterFabian Lewkowicz in , , | CommentsPost a Comment | EmailEmail | PrintPrint

The Battle of Conception

Artist Debbie Han discusses her installation entitled "The Battle of Conception" during the opening reception of her exhibit “The Eye of Perception" at Santa Monica College's Pete & Susan Barrett Art Gallery on Saturday, Frbruary 19, 2011.
 
"The Eye of Perception" is an exhibit of ceramic sculptures and large digital photographs that investigate the concepts of cultural identity, authenticity and perception. Taking the familiar and universal beauty icon of Venus, Han turns it into a powerful metaphor that captures contemporary cultural dynamics.
 
“The Eye of Perception” has been traveling around the world since last fall to galleries in Munich, Germany; Seoul, South Korea; and Hong Kong. Han – a Korean-American from Los Angeles who studied at SMC, received her B.A. in Art from UCLA and a Master’s of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute in New York – is an award-winning artist whose work has been displayed in dozens of galleries and museums throughout the world.
 
Han’s new work explores cultural conceptions and misconceptions of beauty while raising questions about traditional standards of who women are perceived from an eastern and western point of view.
 
One of the pieces in the exhibit – “The Battle of Conception” – is an excellent example of how Han plays with concepts of beauty. Consisting of 32 pieces of Venus busts installed on a large table in a chess game format, the busts have faces featuring random mixes of diverse races and ethnicities – for example, slanted Asian eyes with a flaring African mouth on one face and a hooked Jewish nose with an extremely thin Caucasian mouth on another.
 
Han says the heads are made not in traditional sculptural materials but in an ancient Asian ceramic type named Celadon. Han took up the challenge of exploring this material in Korea, and the project took seven years to complete.    
                                                                          
The exhibition also presents larger sized Venus busts with reconstructed faces in another rare ceramic material named White Porcelain, shimmering with a mysterious tinge of blue. Due to the technical difficulties of firing these large-sized asymmetrical forms, the artist toiled through 130 pieces before successfully firing a set of 10 in three years. The evidence of enduring through hard labor imbues Han’s works with a haunting presence that captivates the viewer. The sense of “beauty’ that engulfs the viewer here is almost antithetical to the academic notions of beauty subscribed through education. The work confronts the question of the meaning of beauty as a way of perception.
 
Han’s exploration of the role of perception as a shaping force of one’s reality culminates in the new photo series titled “The Eye of Perception,” which presents in each image several different faces superimposed together in a masterful way so as to allow viewing of each of the different facial features simultaneously with the multitude. Contemporary photography as an innovative expression of the day is proven in Han’s acclaimed photo series, “Graces.”  The artist photographs actual bodies of Asian woman and combines them with Western heads of classical Goddess sculptures. Then the entire skin texture of each figure is digitally rendered in extreme details to achieve marble-like smoothness. Each ”Grace” is caught in the midst of an everyday act, set against a dark background. The illusive nature of these figures brings together elements of the past/present, East/West, human/ideal. At the same time, they leave a wide room for individual interpretations and perceptions.
 
Han’s works have been shown internationally, including 13 solo shows in the United States, Korea, China, Germany, and Spain and more than 70 group exhibitions throughout the United States, Asia and Europe.
 
Han was awarded The Sovereign Asian Art Prize in 2009 and was the recipient of The Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in 2007. She was invited as a resident artist at numerous international art organizations including ARCUS Project in Japan, Youngeun Museum of Contemporary Art and Gyeonggi Museum of Art in Korea, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Nebraska, and Schinkel Progressive Residency in Berlin. Han’s works were exhibited at Santa Barbara Museum, The Saatchi Museum, Seoul Museum of Art, and Kunstlerhaus Bethanien. She currently works in Seoul and Los Angeles.
 
 The exhibit runs through March 19.

Posted on Sunday, February 20, 2011 at 12:01AM by Registered CommenterFabian Lewkowicz in , | CommentsPost a Comment | EmailEmail | PrintPrint

Art Los Angeles Contemporary 

West of Romes' Crazy Chicken pretends to attack Hollywood's celebrity gossip columnist Janet Charlton (right) and Jean Dickinson during the opening reception of Art Los Angeles Contemporary at the historic Barker Hangar on Thursday, January 27, 2011.


Posted on Friday, January 28, 2011 at 12:01PM by Registered CommenterFabian Lewkowicz in | CommentsPost a Comment | EmailEmail | PrintPrint

PHOTO LA

Myles Hayutin specialist from Gallery M and Laura Lewkowicz discuss Alex Guofeng Cao's pixelated chromogenic prints during the opening night reception of the  20th Annual International Los Angeles Photographic Art Exposition and ArtLA Projects at the Santa Monica Civic Center on Thursday, January 13, 2011.

Over the past 20 years Photo L.A. has earned a reputation as one of the foremost art fairs and the leading photo-based events in the country representing the finest galleries from around the globe. Photo LA 2010 runs through Sunday, January 16th and offers seminars and lectures by noted photographers.

Posted on Friday, January 14, 2011 at 01:00AM by Registered CommenterFabian Lewkowicz in , , | CommentsPost a Comment | EmailEmail | PrintPrint

ROYAL WAY ART SHOW

Two women admire Nazanin Shamsian's paintings at Royal Way Art Show in Clover Park on Sunday, September 5, 2010. Royal Way is a spiritual community dedicated to the teachings of silence, service, and ecstasy. Creative expressions of beauty and mystery are part of its members spiritual path and daily lives. Members of the Royal Way community displayed hundreds of colorful paintings, sculptures, and fine-art photography during this one-day art exhibit. 

Posted on Monday, September 6, 2010 at 04:02PM by Registered CommenterFabian Lewkowicz in | CommentsPost a Comment | EmailEmail | PrintPrint

Paintings from Shandong University of Arts

(top) Shandong University of Arts Design School President Yuquan Liu (right) discusses his painting entitled "Fruit 2" with Santa Monica College President Dr. Chui L. Tsang during the closing reception of Paintings from Shandong University of Arts at the SMC Pete & Susan Barrett Art Gallery, on Friday, July 30, 2010. (above) Chuck Hendrickson admires  Shandong University of Arts President Zhimin Zhang's ink painting entitled 'Single Act Theatre, New Edition' (5 Scrolls) during the closing reception
 
The exhibition included works from Shandong University President Zhimin Zhang, whose traditional Chinese ink paintings are world renowned, and who was invited in 2009 to participate in an international art show at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
Posted on Thursday, August 5, 2010 at 06:53AM by Registered CommenterFabian Lewkowicz in , | CommentsPost a Comment | EmailEmail | PrintPrint

JOY

Curator Myung Deering admires Laraine Mestman's painting entitled "Joy" (6x6 oil on wood panel) during the opening reception for the exhibit "Family" at the Santa Monica Bay Woman's Club on Saturday, June 12, 2010. This exhibit runs through June 18. This show is a joint project of the Senior Arts Foundation and the Women in Arts of the Santa Monica Bay Women's Club. Artist Talk will be held on June 15, from 12:30 - 1:30 pm and on June 16, from 5:30 - 6:30pm. All the programs are free to the public.

Posted on Saturday, June 12, 2010 at 07:57PM by Registered CommenterFabian Lewkowicz in | CommentsPost a Comment | EmailEmail | PrintPrint

SUMMER OF COLOR


Summer of Color - Images by fabian lewkowicz
Crew from Morley Builders apply vibrant art panels on  Los Angeles County Lifeguard Towers Towers #18 at Santa Monica Beach on Tuesday, May 18, 2010. The temporary art installation titled “Summer of Color,” is an unprecedented public art and civic project involving all 156 Los LA County lifeguard towers on 31 miles of beach from Malibu to Palos Verdes.  The lifeguard towers are being visually transformed for five months in association with the Los Angeles County Lifeguards and the Department of Beaches and Harbors as part of a massive public art and civic project conceived and developed by Portraits of Hope www.portraitsofhope.org). 
 
Summer of Color is the culmination of the efforts of nearly 6,000 children in schools, hospitals, and social service programs – and 2,500 adult volunteers – who have participated in the initiative’s program activities, which included the painting of the panels for the walls and roof tops of the towers.
 
Portraits of Hope projects combine civic education and engagement with the visual and healing arts, providing youngsters and adults who often face medical, physical, or socio-economic challenges with an opportunity to collaborate on world class projects and accomplish the spectacular. 
 
The project provides an iconic platform that will showcase the collective and spectacular achievement of LA's youth and adults while providing young people with an enriching educational opportunity.
 
Previous Portraits of Hope Projects have included everything from blimps, buildings, and the New York City taxi fleet, to NASCAR racecars, tugboats, and vintage airplanes.
The installation will remain through the end of September 2010.



Posted on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 at 12:03PM by Registered CommenterFabian Lewkowicz in , , | CommentsPost a Comment | EmailEmail | PrintPrint
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