JIMI GLEASON: Vapor Wave - Digital Exhibition Catalog

Santa Monica, CA - William Turner Gallery is pleased to present Vapor Wave, a solo exhibition by Jimi Gleason,  opening April 5 and running through May 31, 2025.

Vapor Wave is Jimi Gleason’s most ambitious body of work to date. Utilizing a rich vocabulary of materials and styles, Gleason has built up gossamer thin layers of iridescent paint to create a series of paintings that are engagingly enigmatic. They confirm an artist at the height of his talent, confidently exploring the power of nuance and understated expression.

In this new series, vaporous ribbons of color play across lustrous surfaces that morph and shift as one engages them. The effect elicits a sense of unexpected revelry - much like the kind one might experience gazing across a lake in a predawn moment, captivated by the growing light as it caresses and undulates across the water’s surface.

And like water, Gleason’s surfaces are quietly in motion, their iridescent paints subtly shifting in hue as light plays across them. In some of the canvases, sharp diagonals bifurcate the compositions, providing dramatic structural rifts to these ethereal surfaces. The effect is a hypnotic and prismatic visual structure, where light, color and form intersect in ever-changing play. Gleason has a uniquely personal connection to water: he grew up surfing, and took up rowing in college. When he talks about his work he also talks about, “the way the light looks underwater,” and early mornings rowing when the calm water reflects the sky at dawn. 

Like many artists working in the Light and Space arena, materials and their catalytic visual effects are essential to their work. In Gleason’s case, he employs silver nitrate and pearlescent paints to activate his surfaces, which catch and reflect surrounding light, further engaging one’s sense of the surrounding space. Gleason is a leader in that next generation of Southern California artists to work in the Light and Space ethos, carrying the dialogue forward and using his work of art to explore the phenomenological properties of perception.

Born in Newport Beach, CA, Gleason received his BA from UC Berkeley in 1985. He studied printmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute before relocating to New York City, where he worked as a photo assistant and technician. Returning to California, Gleason was employed in the studio of Ed Moses for five years. Combining the disparate technical and compositional skills developed during his exposure to printmaking, photography and mixed media painting, Gleason is now the subject of considerable curatorial and critical attention. 

Gleason’s work is exhibited in significant public institutions, including the Hammer Museum, the Frederick R. Weisman Foundation, the Long Beach Museum, the Seattle Art Museum, and the Tucson Museum of Art.The artist’s paintings are actively collected by a growing number of major public and private collections around the world.

LIGHT MATTER a TOP PICK by FITZ & CO

PST ART: Art & Science Collide is now in full swing.

Now in its third edition, Pacific Standard Time in Los Angeles brings together over 800 artists, 70 exhibitions, and institutions throughout all of Southern California with one central theme: the collision of art and science. The landmark arts event brings the community together to spark meaningful conversations on today’s most urgent issues. Project topics range from climate change and environmental justice to the future of AI and alternative medicine.

“Los Angeles right now is the most creative city on earth at any time in history,” says Michael Govan, the CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director of participating museum LACMA.

Swipe through to see some of our top picks for PST ART, on view across California.

1. ‘Fred Eversley: Cylindrical Lenses’ at David Kordansky Gallery | Installation view of ‘Cylindrical Lenses,’ 2024. Image courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery.

2. ‘Lia Halloran: Night Watch’ at Luis De Jesus Los Angeles | ‘Lia Halloran: Night Watch.’ Image courtesy of Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.

3. ‘Lita Albuquerque: Earth Skin’ at Michael Kohn Gallery | Installation view of ‘Earth Skin,’ 2024. Image courtesy of Michael Kohn Gallery.

4. ‘Light Matter’ at William Turner Gallery | Casper Brindle, “Cuboid 4,” pigmented acrylic, 36 x 15 x 15 inches. Image courtesy of William Turner Gallery.

5. 'Los Angeles Water School (LAWS)' at Morán Morán | Installation view of ‘Los Angeles Water School (LAWS), 2024. Image courtesy of Morán Morán.

6. ‘Max Hooper Schneider - The Unknown Masterpiece’ at the Virginia Robinson Gardens. Presented by Del Vaz Projects, Francois Ghebaly Gallery, and Marc Selwyn Fine Art | Robinson Gardens Pool Pavilion. Image courtesy of Robinson Gardens.

7. ‘Shirazeh Houshiary: The Sound of One Hand’ at Lisson Gallery | Shirazeh Houshiary, “Aurora,” 2023, Pigment and pencil on Aquacryl on canvas and aluminum, 190 x 190 x 5 cm, © Shirazeh Houshiary, courtesy Lisson Gallery.

8. ‘Helen Lundeberg: Inner/Outer Space’ at Louis Stern Fine Arts | Helen Lundeberg, “Cloud Shadows,’ 1966. Acrylic on canvas, 153 x 152.4 cm, courtesy of Louis Stern Fine Arts.

About Fitz & CO…
A growing global footprint continues to make FITZ & CO. a serious player for arty clients with worldwide profiles. About to enter its 25th year, Sara Fitzmaurice’s 20-person agency still reps Art Basel; Gagosian; Storm King Art Center; and brands like BMW and eBay, for whom FITZ & CO. builds artist partnerships. Equinox just tapped the firm to get closer to (real) art/culture influencers, and Mastercard engaged FITZ & CO to extend its Priceless campaign into the cultural sphere. Also in the agency’s collection: ultra-blue-chip international gallery Almine Rech; Dubai’s Alserkal Avenue arts/culture district; Denmark’s ARoS Aarhus Art Museum; ART021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair; and the Faurschou Foundation, which operates spaces in Copenhagen, Beijing and NYC.

HYPERALLERGIC Names Mark Steven Greenfield a top 10 show to see in October

Mark Steven Greenfield, “Saartjie Baartman” (2020), gold leaf and acrylic on wood panel, 24 x 24 inches (~61 x 61 cm) (photo by Rob Brander, courtesy William Turner Gallery)

Auras features two bodies of paintings by Mark Steven Greenfield — Black Madonna (2020) and HALO (2022) — that reconsider the breadth of the Black experience in the Americas by excavating and reframing contested histories. HALO comprises portraits of influential Black figures, from the revered to the lesser-known, including Haitian Revolution leader Toussaint Louverture, famed magician Black Herman, and silhouette artist Moses Williams — formerly enslaved by Charles Willson Peale — portrayed as saintly icons surrounded by gold leaf. Black Madonna depicts a beatific ebony Madonna and child, while Ku Klux Klan members and monuments to white supremacy are vanquished and toppled in the background.

LIGHT MATTER - PST ART: ART & SCIENCE COLLIDE - Exhibition Catalog Now Available

William Turner Gallery is pleased to present Light Matter, the first of two exhibitions, in partnership with the Getty’s PST ART: Art & Science Collide, which explore the intersections and influences between art and science.

Light Matter showcases the influences of scientific research on artistic process and intention, and builds on a collaborative experiment that began with LACMA’s innovative Art & Technology program, a collaboration between artists and industry that ran from the late 60s to early 70s.  As part of this initiative, Robert Irwin and James Turrell collaborated with NASA scientist and psychologist Ed Wortz at the Garrett Corporation. Together they developed a series of art and science-based investigations into the dynamics of perception, with a special emphasis on sensory deprivation. This intrigued Irwin and Turrell, who began to notice that perceptions were heightened after sessions in sensory deprivation tanks. Perhaps, they reasoned, the purpose of the work of art wasn’t as much about the work, as it was about the experience of perceiving the work.  Enter Light & Space in Southern California, where the emphasis shifted from looking at art as “object”, to art as “experience”.

Artists in Light Matter continue to expand on this notion, experimenting with the possibilities of their materials, often through scientific research and innovation, to achieve heightened visual effects that engage the viewer in the wonder of the phenomenology of perception. They utilize materials and approaches that  inspire the viewer to reflect - not only on “what” they are perceiving, but “how”. Many of the pieces require the viewer to interact with the works in unexpected ways - either by encouraging unusually active movement around, or stillness before, their works. The act of viewing engages the senses and heightens our sense of perception.

Light Matter includes work by Dawn Arrowsmith, Larry Bell, Casper Brindle, Shingo Francis, Jimi Gleason, Eric Johnson, Jay Mark Johnson, Peter Lodato, Andy Moses, and Roland Reiss.

ERIC JOHNSON: MADAME X - Exhibition Catalog is now Available for Digital Viewing

William Turner Gallery is pleased to present Madame X, the digital exhibition catalog for Eric Johnson’s current solo exhibition at William Turner Gallery.

Eric Johnson attended Valley College; California Institute of Art and received his Masters of Fine Arts degree from University of California at Irvine. Johnson’s work is in many public and private collections, including: Oakland Museum; Laguna Beach Museum; Museum of Art and History (MOAH); Lancaster, CA; C.B.S. Broadcasting, New York, NY; Digital Domain, Venice, CA; Mary Barnes; Leonardo and George DiCaprio; James Cameron; Homeira and Arnold Goldstein, among others. Eric Johnson was born in Burbank, California, where he continues to live and work.

Eric will be at the gallery for the closing of the exhibition this Saturday from 3-5pm. He will speak briefly about his work and we will be taking orders for signed copies of the exhibition catalog. To receive a copy of the catalog please contact the gallery at 410-453-0909 or by email at info@williamturnergallery.com.

VISUAL ATELIER 8 - An interview with Casper Brindle, Master of Light, Color, and Sensory Exploration

VISUAL ATELIER 8

An interview with Casper Brindle, Master of Light, Color, and Sensory Exploration

Image: Rob Brander for William Turner Gallery

Exploring the enchanting world of Casper Brindle
Jaimy Favela Le

Casper Brindle, a contemporary artist rooted in the 1960s & 70s Light and Space movement, explores the expressive possibilities of color, light, and form in his paintings. From vibrant technicolor to subtle monochromatic hues, Casper Brindle’s work consistently features a central focus, drawing viewers into enigmatic spaces of perception. Influenced by the Finish Fetish and Light and Space movements, he masterfully employs color reminiscent of Mark Rothko and Jules Olitski, creating immersive fields that evoke deep emotional responses.

Casper Brindle’s paintings, influenced by Southern California’s car culture, utilize airbrushed sprays for atmospheric depth, demonstrating a synthesis of diverse artistic sensibilities. Born in Toronto in 1968, Brindle, now based in Los Angeles, has exhibited internationally and is held in prestigious collections like the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation.

It is an incredible occasion to be able to chat with Casper Brindle about his awe-inspiring and sensory artwork! We would love to know what you think your child-self would think of you now as such an accomplished artist? What do you think little Casper would say to you? And what would he think about your expansive body of work? Is he glowing with pride?

Thank you for the kind words. I think Little Casper would be happy with my accomplishments so far. There is something innately childish about being a professional artist. Experimenting and “playing” with the materials in front of you. I could compare it to the feeling of playing with toys in the preschool sandbox. I am forever grateful to have had such a supportive mother, a terrific illustrator and designer in her own right. I’m deeply fortunate that I am able to make a living doing what I’m very passionate about.

What a wild trip it is to take in your illuminating works that seem to unfold more of themselves, the more you spend time with them and interact with the space them. We would love to know more about how you went from utilizing LED tubes for lighting up a painting to now being able to skillfully achieve an effect of illumination by using only color. What was the process like for you personally?

Yes, for years I was incorporating and embedding LED lights into my paintings and never really found what I was looking for. I was yearning for a certain magic, a more organic quality which the artificial light provided by the LEDs could never achieve. What most interests me is the manipulation of light, whether it be with refraction in an encapsulated form, such as the light glyphs, or using paints that intentionally transform as you walk around the works. Materiality is a primary principle of my practice as I have spent years experimenting with the applications of different materials.

Your work speaks to the auras felt when perceiving colors, light, a core, and atmospheric spaces. Contemplation about perception and connecting with the presence are a couple things that come from immersing oneself in your body of work. Do you think your work reflects these experiences from the living world or is it its own concentration of sensory conjuration?

Both. I think the materials are a grounding force for the pieces, whereas the treatment and color perception of the materials allow for the pieces to become almost otherworldly. However, the orchestrated fabrication of the pieces reflects the organized chaos of both the natural and the built environment that surrounds us.

What dream settings do you envision your colorful works in? Are there particular places in the world that you hope to bring your art to?

Of course, artists are always fantasizing about ideal settings for our work – Museums, major collections, within prominent public and architectural venues. I am no different and have been thrilled to have my work acquired and shown by museums, like the Weisman Museum, The Luckman, Lancaster Museum of Art, the new Frank Gehry hotel in LA and by a number prominent collectors. Looking ahead, I have an exhibition planned in Brussels at Gallery La Patinoire Royale, Valerie Bach, in April of 2024 and will be showing new paintings and sculpture that I am presently working on and excited about.

Soon following, I will be focused on my Los Angeles exhibition in September at the William Turner Gallery. Possibly less traditionally, I’d love to explore placing my work in “atypical” settings: a foggy forrest, a beach, a desert. Changing the context changes the piece. A glowing object in the middle of nowhere tells a much different story than a painting hung on a white wall of a gallery. Hmm, could this be a short film? You’ve got the wheels turning!

We also know that you are also a sculptor. Can you divulge a bit about how this way of creating your art differs in from how you approach making your paintings? Taking something that you typically form on a 2D surface to a 3D realm?

The three dimensional work is more of an elaborate, organized process, compared to the typical trance I’m in while I’m painting. With my paintings, I’m just going on rapid fire instincts in a meditative state. With the sculptural work it’s about logical problem solving. Like a puzzle. The Light Glyph sculptural works are expanded iterations of the Portal Glyph paintings -They just extend into three dimensions. Both explore the same theory, but within different mediums and materialities.

Maybe a comparable example is the painter as an actor and the sculptor as the director in theater or film. The actor is always reacting to a situation in front of them instinctively, but the director (sculptor) is planning the entire vision out before the production has begun. Two different processes for me, neither better than the other. Although, I enjoy the visceral process of painting more, both outcomes are equally fulfilling.

What does abstraction mean to you? Describe to us the way you philosophize the human senses in response to abstract visualizations that imbue a particular experience.

I’m in search of something beyond, something that can be truly simple and complex. Making my work is a selfish act, as I’m making the painting or sculpture solely for myself, to release it from my mind, without thinking about how they will be seen or felt. It’s a place where I can be hyper focused yet, in a meditative state. The artwork may be used as a conduit for the viewers own experiences, but I would never force a narrative onto them. Abstraction to me is being free of story telling or narration. To create a work based on raw emotions or even lack of emotions. Free of rules. The freedom to dance any way you like.

What does the process of dreaming up a painting or sculpture look like for you? Is it the case that the end result always matches the first drop of inspiration?

My paintings or sculptural works come to me usually in solitude, whether that be just before bed or alone in my studio. With my paintings, I may have an idea to explore, but rarely do they end up visually resembling my initial thoughts. I find in painting the decisions are made quickly and based on instinct. Sculpture for me is a much more thought out concept as you are dealing with construction and fabricating a well explored object with prototyping all while aiming to achieve the concept that was originally in my head.

What has been a major highlight for you as an artist so far? What sort of new things are you seeking to further your creative endeavors? Any personal revelations that you wish to share over the years?

My highlights constantly change as I grow, but a recent noteworthy highlight was working with Mika Cho who curated my Museum exhibition at The Luckman space at California State University Los Angeles. It was a phenomenal show and experience. Cho’s execution
and presentation were terrific. Constantly thinking of new ideas, projects, materials and collaborations, I know there is always something inspiring around the corner. It’s important to do the work you enjoy as opposed to chasing trends. I believe that if you do your own thing, a thing you are truly passionate about, everything will eventually fall into place.

ANDY MOSES: Recent Paintings - Exhibition Catalog Now Available

A 68 page fully illustrated print copy of the catalog will be available next Tuesday. Please contact the gallery to purchase a copy at info@williamturnergallery.com.

William Turner Gallery is pleased to present the exhibition catalog for Andy Moses: Recent Paintings, a compelling exhibition of new large-scale works by Los Angeles-based artist, Andy Moses. The exhibition will run from September 9th through November 11th, 2023.

Recent Paintings is an excitingly ambitious new body of work, showcasing an artist fully engaged and at the height of his creative process. Blurring the line between abstraction and a new kind of pictorialism, Moses utilizes techniques that facilitate his almost obsessive study of the alchemical properties of paint.  

Utilizing a method that is completely unique and developed outside the realm traditional painting techniques, Andy has pioneered a new language of paint, one with its own tools and materials.  Every element of these pieces have been painstakingly examined.  Technology in the form of complex vacuum sealed chambers has been invented to assist in producing the works and even the structures on which the painting rests are extraordinary engineering feats of their own.  The end result are stunningly beautiful, highly crafted, and perfectly executed works of art done in a method that has never been seen on any painting in the entire history of art.  

Born in Los Angeles in 1962, Andy Moses attended the legendary CalArts from 1979-1981, studying with John Baldessari, Michael Asher and Barbara Kruger. In 1982, Moses moved to New York where he worked as a studio assistant to Pat Steir and quickly became part of New York's nascent art scene. Moses began exhibiting with Annina Nosei Gallery, shortly after Jean-Michel Basquiat. During that time Moses also developed close ties with artists such as Jeff Koons, Marilyn Minter, Rudolf Stingel and Christopher Wool, who were also just emerging onto the scene.

“I’ve always loved Andy’s work. It’s interesting how it embraces many dialogues within the history of painting, from nature, landscape and science to abstraction. The paintings embrace everything while at the same time a sense of negation is always present. This polarity allows you to discover your relationship with the work itself. There’s always a sublime beauty within the work. The commingling of time and space, both real and abstract, is one of the the most relevant aspects of Andy’s work to me. Moses’s work is powerful and extreme, from the beginning to today, in concept and execution.”

- Jeff Koons

Andy Moses’ work is included in the permanent collections of Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Orange County Museum of Art, Laguna Art Museum, and the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation.   Andy will be the subject of two forthcoming museum exhibitions one at the Lancaster Museum of Art and History and the other at the Laguna Art Museum and was recently the subject of a 30 year survey at the SMC Barrett Gallery.  

ANDY MOSES: RECENT PAINTINGS - Saturday September 9, 5-8PM

ANDY MOSES: RECENT PAINTINGS
September 9 - November 11, 2023
Opening Reception: Saturday, September 9, 5-8PM

Greg Miller: Once Upon A Time Exhibition Catalog Now Available

Greg Miller's artistic versatility is evident in his adept use of various painting styles. With a deft hand and craftsmanship, he navigates different techniques to achieve diverse visual effects in his work. Using a Renaissance practice of layering paint, he is able to achieve the photorealism in his portraits which is a highly labor intensive and skillful process.

One can observe Miller's skillful mastery of realism in his highly detailed and precise portrayals. Whether it's capturing the nuanced expressions of faces or rendering intricate textures, his attention to detail demonstrates his command over the Realist style.

The exhibition’s title comes from the work Once Upon a Time, which illustrates many of the themes, and techniques characteristic of Miller’s oeuvre. Central to the image is a black-and-white painting of a vintage Hollywood city-scape during its “Golden Age”.  Super-imposed, is the profile of a comic book action-hero surveying the vista. To the right, Grisaille is applied with spray paint to produce a photorealistic portrait of a woman seductively peering out from what appears to be a cropped still-frame. The scratched surface alludes to wear, and the passage of time. Collaged below is a text clipping of “the right” with a clock next to it, suggesting “time”. On the far left, a faceted crystal highball glass is labeled with a clipping reading “ACTION”.

Once Upon A Time, acrylic on canvas, 60” x 72”, History, acrylic on canvas, 36” x 72”, Truth, acrylic on canvas, 48” x 48”

GREG MILLER

Greg Miller (b. 1951) was born in Sacramento, California and holds a Master of Arts Degree from San Jose University. Once a long-time Venice, California resident, he currently resides in Austin, Texas.

His work is featured in numerous museum and private collections, including those of: the San Jose Museum of Art, Newport Harbor Museum, Crocker Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Laguna Art Museum, Riverside Art Museum,  Frederick R. Weisman Foundation and Charles Saatchi Foundation. The Get Go, a volume of his writings, photography and paintings was published in 2010, and the first comprehensive monograph of the artist, Signs of the Nearly Actual, was published in 2009.

GREG MILLER Once Upon A Time 
June 10, 2023 – August 12, 2023 

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PRESS: LA WEEKLY - MEET LIGHT FIELDS PAINTER CASPER BRINDLE

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MEET LIGHT FIELDS PAINTER CASPER BRINDLE

Abstract painter Casper Brindle renders pure color in aerated layers that capture and refract light, creating breath and a sense of motion with their awe-inspiring luminosity. Heartily influenced by the legacy of the Light and Space movement—which embraced the qualities of wonder in newfangled materials like resin and airbrush, as well as the imagination-fueling advances in interstellar travel—Brindle updates that art historical framework with a modern-day love of the surf and car cultures of his Los Angeles youth. Using automotive paint to enhance that space-age shine as well as an elusive sense of nostalgia in the super-charged palette, Brindle layers delicate coats which seem to capture light in between—later to release it to viewers in an eternal glow. Seeming to change as the viewer moves past them, and carrying the illusion of distant horizons or doors (of perception) as a framework, the magic in Brindle’s canvases actually happens in the eye of their beholders.

By: Shana Nys Dambrot - June 12, 2023

SHINGO FRANCIS + FONDATION D'ENTERPRISE HERMÉS TOKYO

Le Forum is an exhibition space housed in a glass-brick building designed by Renzo Piano. Flooded with natural light that forms an integral part of its identity, it is an oasis of contemplation inviting visitors to discover contemporary art in the heart of Tokyo’s dynamic Ginza neighbourhood. Directed by exhibition curator Reiko Setsuda, Le Forum offers an international programme bringing Japanese artists together with others from all over the world.

What is “interference”? Under this title, the first exhibition of 2023 invites the public to find answers through experience. Four artists explore our perceptions through the effects on the body of stimuli such as light, vibrations or soundwaves. Through stripped-back aesthetics, each of these artists highlights the subtle variations caused by the interferences to which our bodies are subjected in everyday life. Visitors are invited to contemplate the nature of perception through deeply felt sensations both physical and unconscious. The title, “Interference”, is borrowed from a series of paintings by artist Shingo Francis (b. 1969, United States): containing pigments that interfere with light, the colours of these canvases shift according to the viewer’s position. Nearby, an installation by Susanna Fritscher (b. 1960, Austria) immerses the viewer in a sensory experience of vibrations and pulsations beyond the frequencies that we are capable of hearing. Finally, Bruno Botella (b. 1976, France) presents pieces that stimulate our subconscious perception through tactile sensation, while Aiko Miyanaga (b. 1976, Japan) invites visitors to embark on a cosmic journey – the ultimate sensation, transcending time and space – through a tea ceremony shared online.

Alex Couwenberg: SuperGlide - Exhibition Video

View the exhibition video for Alex Couwenberg SuperGlide. To view the digital exhibition catalog please press the button below.

HYPERMODALITY - Casper Brindle @ THE LUCKMAN - CAL STATE LA

Casper Brindle, Light Glyph, Light Glyph VF, 2022, pigmented acrylics, 44 x 74 x 12 in.

Curated by Mika Cho
On view September 29 through November 19, 2022
The Luckman Fine Arts Complex at Cal State LA

Artist Reception:
Saturday, October 8, 2022 at 5:00 pm

With great pleasure, I invite you to the exhibition “Hypermodality” which highlights the selected work of Casper Brindle. The exhibition opens on September 29, 2022, at the Luckman Gallery in the Luckman Fine Arts Complex at Cal State LA. Casper Brindle is well known and has long been admired for his aesthetical experiments on color, light, and form. The varied structural arrangements of his compositions, partly reminiscent of the Light and Space movement, transcend the circadian and engender metaphors that unfold various Interpretative and ontological values. The simplicity of Brindle’s work is impressive as it gives rise to mystery - a mystery that can only be called sublime.

Mika Cho, September 2022

“Brindle’s art turns our attention to its minimalist composition as much as despite its luminous, disembodied color and pristine, machine-tooled surfaces. He does not set our eyes afloat in unvariegated light, but thwarts such an optical free fall, deliberately compromising the “ganzfeld” – the surrounding light ambience – with strongly posited horizontal and/or vertical devices. These structural devices encourage our eyes to apprehend the visual field either as a recessional space or as a surface structure. Brindle does not set up an ongoing dialogue between vertical and horizontal works, or even between the verticals and the horizontals occurring in the same works; rather, he proposes the physical and metaphysical presence of each from the outset as contrasting discourses. This is not Light & Space; it is Light WITH Space.”

Peter Frank, September 2022

The Luckman Gallery | Public Viewing Hours
Wednesday through Saturday
11:00 am until 5:00 pm

The Luckman Fine Arts Complex at Cal State LA
5151 State University Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90032
(323) 343-6600
www.luckmanarts.org

ARTIST RECEPTION - SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2022, 5 - 8 pm

SEPTEMBER 29 – NOVEMBER 19, 2022

 

ARTILLERY MAGAZINE - RACIAL RECKONING Mark Steven Greenfield Illuminates the Black Experience - By Clayton Campbell

ART NOW LA / SIMON BIRCH and The Da Vinci Questionnaire

The artist at 14th Factory Hong Kong, photo by Scott Sporleder

British-born, Hong Kong-based Simon Birch, who has been awarded the prestigious Louis Vuitton Asian Art Prize and the Sovereign Asian Art Prize, and whose work has encompassed sculpture, painting, photography, performance, video and large-scale multi-media installation projections – often guiding the viewer through narrative sequences – plumbs his own psychological depths only to discover what makes him love work and life.

What historical art figure would you like to have lunch with and why? Caravaggio…drunken adventures, brawling, insulting the beast, the guy carried a sword and cut some guys balls off..all while painting some of the most brilliant works in human history….would be a colorful lunch.

What did you purchase with the proceeds from your first sale? A 1980 Ferrari Mondial. Sounds extravagant but was barely running and only cost about $10k. I eventually rolled it on purpose for a video installation for my project in LA, The 14th Factory. The stunt team, cameras, lighting, etc, was far more expensive than the car. The car became a video installation and 300 sculptures cut from the wreckage, and a photography work by Stanley Wong. Far more valuable than the original car and also shared as art for all.

What words or phrases do you overuse? That’s what she said!

Coachwhip SuperCharger, 49"x100” & Shutdown Danger Pink, 78.7" x 78.7"

How do you know when a work is finished? No work is ever finished, it’s just a stepping stone that brings you closer and closer to making something decent, I hope. Still working towards making good art. As one progresses, you learn, and realise how little you know, and how you lean on all of art history, consciously or not, especially painting but now, more so for me, concept driven work. So you feel at once excited to create something new, and defeated because it’s all been done. One of my first impactful criticisms was that my work is stylized and derivative. I agree but then what isn’t? Working on it. But also making the art I am compelled to make, while being more and more self, and historically, aware.

When and where were you happiest? Strangely, one of my happiest times was when I was closest to death. Something about clarity of mission. I was diagnosed with terminal cancer, but woke up the next day knowing I could crush it and received overwhelming and rapid support. I invited anyone I thought was a real friend to dinner to announce my situation (yes, all about me!) and asked for help. Only 1 of those 20 people walked away. Seeing all these people help with research, shopping and delivering supplies, taking me to hospital, working together on a survival plan….though it was life or death, it showed me who my real friends are, then and forever since. I’m happy to have passed on my process, network, advice, to many people ever since and ever more.

He Willed Himself Into Passivity, Became the Passenger Behind Her Eyes, 72”x72”

What is your most treasured possession? I possess nothing, so it’s not so relevant. Maybe my answer, cliche as it is, friends and memories. I’ve had a very rich life to be grateful for, but also lost so much over many years, had to sacrifice so much to try to achieve my goals – apartment, cars, artworks, vacations, all gone….in pursuit of something truly great. My new project, that is still very much in the balance.

Where is your ideal escape destination? Oh, that’s easy, escape to see my godson in Australia, my goddaughter in Denmark, my mum in London and a few other jokers along the way.

What’s the worst survival job you’ve ever had? I was a bouncer at a rough club in the Midlands in the late 80’s. Seeing blood many nights, and occasionally my own, was a clear message to get away from that environment. Even my brother got stabbed, lost 5 pints of blood and should have died. He’s fine now. Other friends, not fine. Second place was working in a factory on the production line, same thing every day, just awful. Bring on the robots.

What TV series from your youth best describes your approach to life? We were poor, so TV access was rare. I’d say more influential was my addiction to comic books. The Dark Knight, V for Vendetta, Watchmen, Sandman….outsider heroes. All of those influences have made me try to be and do good and also obsess about drawing and painting the human figure.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? A lot of things! But all the things I would change are repercussions from my upbringing, and if I could change that, I would have gotten decent education, mentorship and opportunity.

 What is your most treasured memory? Too many. Hiking through Iceland. Surfing waves of consequence with my BFF. Freediving to the darkest depths. Making a good painting. Falling in love. Maybe one of the nicest was, after recovering, helping a friend who was desperately ill, and seeing him survive. I still claim I saved his life when we bump into each other but the truth is, it was all him.
What makes you smile? Grease, the movie. Queen at Live Aid, Bill Hicks, David Cross, Prince, School of Rock, Ricky Gervais, Fawlty Towers, Public Enemy, Star Wars….and a million other movies and TV shows….my dog Frankenstein, all my friends constantly mocking me.

 What makes you cry? Everything. The more you know, the more empathy and clarity you have, the more you realize there are endless real-world problems that could be so easily fixed. But we are far from utopia and corporations, media and governments have all the power and seem corruptly intertwined.

What is your go-to drink when you toast to a sale? Old Fashioned. Sale or not.

After an all-nighter, what’s your breakfast of champions? I don’t do all-nighters, too old for that, we are all into Brazilian Jiu jitsu, so we eat well, rest, which works for mind and body. Plus my current project is all absorbing so there’s no days off.

Who inspires you? Boyan Slat.

Money Folder, 86.6" x 86.6"

What’s your best quality? Maybe rushing into the fray to help a stranger. Quite recklessly but it’s been a recurring thing in my life, being confronted with an urgent crisis in the street and just diving in.

What’s your biggest flaw? Maybe same as previous question.

 What is your current state of mind? Utterly stressed. My last project was The 14th Factory in Los Angeles. I nearly went bankrupt, and ended up in hospital afterwards from exhaustion. It was well loved, so I’ve been encouraged to develop the next one ever since. I was close to delivering project 2 in London then COVID hit.

I retreated to Hong Kong and looked at space here and went through many ups and downs. Now I have a huge site, 250,000 square feet, and have raised some capital but not enough. Even with an exceptional team and concept, I’m struggling to find the final funding to make it happen. As I write this it may all come together in the next two weeks, or it’s canceled and I have to start from zero yet again.

What do you consider your greatest achievement? My ability to use the phrase, ‘That’s what she said,’ in every conversation.

OPENING SATURDAY - SIMON BIRCH - Ignite 14: Recent Works & LAWRENCE GIPE - Recent Pictures

August 6 - September 17, 2022
Opening Reception: Saturday, August 6, 5-8PM

Russian Drone Painting No.3 (Damascus, 2015), 2019-2022, oil on canvas, 72” x 96”

Two of the works are culled from the Russian Drone Paintings. This is Gipe’s latest series which employs the visual style of “Manifest Destiny” canvasses of the 19th Century, in a reference to the Industrial Revolution - the historical origin of all our ecological peril. The image sources are contemporary, based on screenshots of drone footage posted on the now-censored RT news service run by the Russian government. The Russian Drone Paintings engage issues like surveillance, climate change, and the Anthropocene, seen through the lens of our global “adversary,” in images of cities abandoned to radioactivity, bombardments, and other traumatic evidence of humanity’s relentless intervention into Nature.

Russian Drone Painting No.1 (Mir Diamond Mine, Siberia)” , 2018-2022, oil on canvas, 72” x 96”

In another recent series, The Great Fog and Other London Pictures, Gipe uses photos and stills from period newsreels to create a series on the subject of London’s toxic “Pea-Soupers” during the intense rebuilding after World War II. Gipe is interested in the role painting has had (and will continue to have) in the representation of climate change vis-à-vis Romantic tropes, engaging in a conversation about the rapidly transforming notion of the Capitalist Sublime.

ABOUT LAWRENCE GIPE:

Born in Baltimore in 1962, Gipe has had 70 solo exhibitions in galleries and museums in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Munich, Berlin, Düsseldorf (Kunstverein Düsseldorf.) Currently, he splits his time between his studio in Los Angeles, CA, and Tucson, AZ, where he is an Associate Professor of Studio Art at the University of Arizona. Gipe has received two NEA Individual Fellowship Grants (Painting, 1989 and Works on Paper, 1996.) A mid-career survey, 3 Five-Year Plans: Lawrence Gipe, 1990-2005, was organized in 2006 by Marilyn Zeitlin at the University Art Museum, Tempe, Arizona.   

Articles and reviews about his work have appeared in Vanity Fair, Harper’s Magazine, The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, Art and Antiques, L.A. Weekly, The Washington Post Magazine, Juxtapoz, Architectural Digest, Elle, The Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post, The Miami Herald, The Boston Globe, ArtForum, ArtNews, Artscene LA, San Francisco Chronicle, SFAQ, Fabrik LA, Art in America, Flash Art, Village Voice,Time Out New York; Kunstforum (Germany); BijutsuTecho (Japan) and many others.

August 6 - September 17, 2022
Opening Reception: Saturday, August 6, 5-8PM

Shutdown Danger Pink, 2019, oil on canvas, 78.7” x 78.7”

William Turner Gallery in collaboration with GuY Hector (The Art House Global), is pleased to present an inaugural exhibit of paintings by British-born, Hong Kong-based artist Simon Birch. A reception will be held at the gallery on August 6th, 2022 from 6 to 8 PM, the exhibition will remain on view through September, 17th 2022.

In this series of portraits, Birch materializes enigmatic, ectoplasmic figures in his psychologically charged canvases linking sympathies between external forces and interior emotion. These large-scale renderings of figures in motion - are torn between attraction and repulsion as they twist and tumble through space. Birch delves into allegorical states of the human condition through his painterly poetics of cleaved color blocks disrupted with loose, painterly, gestural strokes. Intent on the inward, only vestiges of the external linger with allusions to what Hamlet described as, “the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to.”  

Building upon and scraping away layers of paint he fragments into Cubist planes, the pluralistic impulses of creation and destruction conflate to generate what art critic Clive Bell theorized as “significant form,” provoking aesthetic emotion. Investigating line, shape, and color, his canvases oscillate between figuration and abstraction, dissolving features into the dematerialized ether. Mutable flesh becomes a terrain of primordial corporeality. Employing the Futurist’s “lines of force,” and the “fourth dimension” to express a veiled space, he illustrates a reality perhaps more honest than that of visual perception.

Basing his paintings on photographs he shoots, Birch then labors with study upon study of countless preparatory drawings, which he then resolves through the act of painting, translating them onto canvas. Drawing upon a vast repertoire of painterly techniques such as scraping, troweling, scumbling, and brushing, the dynamic figures emerge in rigorous investigations of materiality in the plastic medium. His idiosyncratic palette is often punctuated with pulsating complementary reds and greens. The raw, unprimed canvases frame his shattered compositions of isolated figures within voids of negative space. 

The Marvel, oil on canvas, 84”x84”

In 2017, Birch created the socially engaged,  experiential art installation The 14th Factory which opened in Los Angeles. Spanning a cross-section of his multivalent oeuvre, it encompassed sculpture, painting, photography, performance, video, and installations, leading one through a narrative sequence of a hero’s journey inspired by mythologist Joseph Campbell. Due to its popularity - the show was visited by over 100,000 people lured by word of mouth and the power of Instagram - further iterations of this ambitious and groundbreaking new format for art are planned to take place in major international cities and will be announced soon. 

Born in Brighton, England in 1974, Birch has lived and worked in Hong Kong for over twenty years. He has had solo exhibitions in Beijing, Miami, and Singapore and has participated in group shows at the Hong Kong Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo. Birch has been awarded the prestigious Louis Vuitton Asian Art Prize and the Sovereign Asian Art Prize. Birch has organized many large-scale multimedia installation projects in Hong Kong, most notably HOPE & GLORY: A Conceptual Circus (2010), Daydreaming With… The Hong Kong Edition (2012), and The 14th Factory (2017). He has been included in the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art’s (LACMA) permanent collection.

Mark Steven Greenfield Catalog Signing & Talk - THIS SATURDAY!

Photograph By Tony Pinto

Join Mark Steven Greenfield & William Turner for a conversation & walkthrough of Greenfield's current exhibition, HALO.

SATURDAY, JUNE 25, 2022

3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
3:00 Refreshments
3:30 Walk through begins 4:15 Catalog signing

MARK STEVEN GREENFIELD 

Mark Steven Greenfield is a native Angelino, and son of a Tuskegee Airman, which led to spending the first part of his life abroad, living on military bases from Taiwan to Germany, until returning to LA at the age of ten. In high school Greenfield studied with revered Los Angeles artist, John T Riddle. Riddle quickly noted Greenfield’s talent, but saw that he was vulnerable to the influences and dangers confronting black youth at the time.  Riddle remarked, "You could be a pretty good artist....if you live that long.” This got Greenfield’s attention and set him on the path that would define the course of his life. 

Greenfield went on to study with Charles White, at Otis Art Institute, and received his Bachelor’s degree in Art Education in 1973 from California State University, Long Beach and a Masters of Fine Arts degree in painting and drawing from California State University Los Angeles in 1987. 

This year, Greenfield’s work was the subject of a 20-Year retrospective at the Museum of Art & History in Lancaster, CA, from which the The Crocker Museum of art acquired a piece for their permanent collection. 

Greenfield’s work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States most notably with a comprehensive survey exhibition at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles in 2014, and in 2002 at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia. Internationally, he has exhibited at the Chiang Mai Art Museum in Thailand; at Art 1307 in Naples, Italy; the Blue Roof Museum in Chengdu, China; 1333 Arts, Tokyo, Japan; and the Gang Dong Art Center in Seoul, South Korea. 

Greenfield is a recipient of the L.A. Artcore Crystal Award (2006) Los Angeles Artist Laboratory Fellowship Grant (2011), the City of Los Angeles Individual Artist Fellowship (COLA 2012), The California Community Foundation Artist Fellowship (2012), the Instituto Sacatar Artist Residency Fellowship in Salvador, Brazil (2013) , the McColl Center for Art + Innovation Residency in Charlotte, North Carolina (2016) and Loghaven artist residency in Knoxville, Tennessee in 2021. He was a visiting professor at the California Institute of the Arts in 2013 and California State University Los Angeles in 2016. 

From 1993-2011, Greenfield worked for the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs as director of the Watts Towers Arts Center, and later as director of the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdall Park. He has served on the boards of the Downtown Artists Development Association, the Armory Center for the Arts, the Black Creative Professionals Association, the Watts Village Theatre Company and was past president of the Los Angeles Art Association/Gallery 825. He currently teaches drawing and design at Los Angeles City College, and serves on the board of Side Street Projects, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibition (LACE) and the Harpo Foundation. 

HALO Exhibition Catalog Now Available

MARK STEVEN GREENFIELD
HALO

April 30 - July 9, 2022

Mark Steven Greenfield: “I am reimagining what a saint is.”

- Mark Steven Greenfield speaking about the legendary, mythic, and often little known, black figures featured in HALO, on view now through July 9, 2022 at William Turner Gallery, in Santa Monica,CA. 
This online exhibition catalog for HALO, and forthcoming printed first edition, features the artist’s lustrous paintings and the illuminating background stories  which accompany each portrait.

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To order an advance copy of the print edition of HALO contact the gallery at 310-453-0909 or info@williamturnergallery.com

MARK STEVEN GREENFIELD 

Mark Steven Greenfield is a native Angelino, and son of a Tuskegee Airman, which led to spending the first part of his life abroad, living on military bases from Taiwan to Germany, until returning to LA at the age of ten. In high school Greenfield studied with revered Los Angeles artist, John T Riddle. Riddle quickly noted Greenfield’s talent, but saw that he was vulnerable to the influences and dangers confronting black youth at the time.  Riddle remarked, "You could be a pretty good artist....if you live that long.” This got Greenfield’s attention and set him on the path that would define the course of his life. 

Greenfield went on to study with Charles White, at Otis Art Institute, and received his Bachelor’s degree in Art Education in 1973 from California State University, Long Beach and a Masters of Fine Arts degree in painting and drawing from California State University Los Angeles in 1987. 

This year, Greenfield’s work was the subject of a 20-Year retrospective at the Museum of Art & History in Lancaster, CA, from which the The Crocker Museum of art acquired a piece for their permanent collection. 

Greenfield’s work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States most notably with a comprehensive survey exhibition at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles in 2014, and in 2002 at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia. Internationally, he has exhibited at the Chiang Mai Art Museum in Thailand; at Art 1307 in Naples, Italy; the Blue Roof Museum in Chengdu, China; 1333 Arts, Tokyo, Japan; and the Gang Dong Art Center in Seoul, South Korea. 

Greenfield is a recipient of the L.A. Artcore Crystal Award (2006) Los Angeles Artist Laboratory Fellowship Grant (2011), the City of Los Angeles Individual Artist Fellowship (COLA 2012), The California Community Foundation Artist Fellowship (2012), the Instituto Sacatar Artist Residency Fellowship in Salvador, Brazil (2013) , the McColl Center for Art + Innovation Residency in Charlotte, North Carolina (2016) and Loghaven artist residency in Knoxville, Tennessee in 2021. He was a visiting professor at the California Institute of the Arts in 2013 and California State University Los Angeles in 2016. 

From 1993-2011, Greenfield worked for the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs as director of the Watts Towers Arts Center, and later as director of the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdall Park. He has served on the boards of the Downtown Artists Development Association, the Armory Center for the Arts, the Black Creative Professionals Association, the Watts Village Theatre Company and was past president of the Los Angeles Art Association/Gallery 825. He currently teaches drawing and design at Los Angeles City College, and serves on the board of Side Street Projects, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibition (LACE) and the Harpo Foundation. 

OPENING THIS SATURDAY 4-7PM - WILLIAM TURNER GALLERY

CURTIS RIPLEY
CHROMESTHESIA
Opening Reception: Saturday February 19, 4-7pm

William Turner Gallery is pleased to present Curtis Ripley’s most recent investigations into abstraction Chromesthesia. The exhibit is on view February 19, through April 16, 2022.

How does one visually qualify the sound of color, or conversely, the color of sound? Chromesthesia is a neurological phenomenon experienced in the synthesis of binary sensorial modalities (synesthesia) where sound and color converge into a joint perception. In his painterly choreographies, Ripley interprets this ephemeral phenomena where light dances and shadows play in concert, whilst color is given musical agency. He often cites music as a departure point in his process, evidenced in the working titles. The canvases are gestural expressions of events conducted into orchestrations of lyrical harmony as the eye traverses through fields of color.

Activating the canvas’ surface through visceral gesticulations, he employs a vast repertoire of painterly techniques to amplify the dynamism of the viscous medium. In the tradition of the Old Master’s, veil’s of glazed oils are washed upon washes whilst opaque pigments dissolve into gauzy vapors, simultaneously revealing and obfuscating. One’s gaze is drawn in-and-out as a lens’ aperture renders depth-of-field. The transient nature of the corporeal world is described through lingering films of atmospheric haze interlacing with solid volumes rendered in highly saturated pigments; this tension is achieved through varied processes of application and deletion. Vibrations are deftly strung from his palette as colors rhapsodize in polychrome hums and variegated tremors. Expressionistic drips dapple indiscriminately here, automatic splatters chance to rupture spontaneously there… calligraphic strokes animatedly reach to articulate into attenuated arabesques. Rhythmically the paintings pulse into sublimely syncopated interventions of color, light, space and motion.

Boundless forms are liberated into ambiguous spatial fields through intuitive placement. Improvisatory bits of miscellaneous paraphernalia - such as scraps of sheet music - are occasionally embedded in the paintings, imbuing a whimsical element of surprise. Void of academic hierarchies, he refrains from privileging space, favoring the spontaneity of improvisational arrangements. Resistant to strict interpretation, the paintings are nonobjective distillations informed by Ripley’s relationship with his environment. Inevitably there are loose associations employing a pictorial vocabulary, not limited to: sound, ambient light, landscape, seasons, sky, and architecture which are then dematerialized into symphonic arrangements of reductive forms and undulating color harmonies.

Breaking from traditional modes where the canvas is detached from its audience, these are rather, environments intended to engulf the spectator. Ripley instinctively unifies the subjective phenomena of color and sound into atmospheric poems intended to actively translate into an intimate experience uniquely spirited by individual perception.

Curtis Ripley was born in 1949 in Lubbock, Texas. He attended the University of the Americas, México D.F. in 1969; Texas Tech University, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1971; and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1975. Ripley served as a lecturer in 1975 at the University of Wisconsin, Madison; an Assistant Professor at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana from 1975 to 1977; an Associate Professor at the Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia from 1977 to 1985; an Associate Professor at California State University, San Bernardino from 1985 to 1986; and a lecturer at California State University, Long Beach from 1986 to 1987. His awards include a National Endowment for the Arts Artists Fellowship, 1979, and Juror’s Award, Zeichnung Heute, Kunsthalle, Nurnberg in 1983. He has had numerous solo exhibitions throughout the United States, has participated in a wide-variety of group exhibitions, and has works in several collections such as those of the Fine Art Museums of San Francisco, California; J.P. Morgan Chase, New York; Federal Reserve Bank, Richmond VA; HSBC Private Bank, New York; Chemical Bank, New York City; Yokohama Royal Park Hotel, Japan; and The Ambassador Hotel, Taipei. The artist lives and works in Los Angeles, California.