In an effort to reel in young Long Beach locals (in addition to all the regular attendees) the first-ever LBMA After Dark event at the Long Beach Museum of Art on Ocean Boulevard takes place tonight from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.
For a $10 cover, patrons will enjoy a lounge-style setting and a live painting performance by the aptly dubbed Fallopian Artopians. These three women, who celebrated an official year of working together in February, set up easels side by side and team up on all three canvases, one of which will be raffled off at the end of the night.
“We developed over time what sort of worked organically … I think our process is unique, and the raffle really helps people get into it,” said Margie Darrow, who brings her abstract flair to the group that also includes Justine Serbrin and Yvonne Sanders.
In addition to the Fallopian she-painters, DJ Nobody will be “spinning grooves.” If that’s not intriguing enough, there will be a cash bar and appetizer menu for $3 per dose of social lubrication and around $5 per snack-a-doodle-doo.
If that’s not still enough, you also get full access to LBMA’s latest exhibition, Three, featuring Fern Bowen, Carl Aldana and Lori LaMont, all of whom are Long Beach-based painters.
Lastly, the media sponsor of the event is the LBC’s own District Weekly, so giveaways in the form of T-shirts and vintage issues may ensue.
Already have plans tonight? Don’t fret — the Three exhibition will be on display through June 8 and more LBMA After Dark events are in the works. As for the Fallopian Artopians, check out www.fallopianartopians.com for upcoming events.
For tickets, direction, hours and more information about Three, visit www.lbma.org.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Long Beach Art Museum Portraitures: About Face
It’s happened to many of us. You go to a contemporary gallery and see all these random works, many of which are abstract, hard to understand and in general difficult to relate to. Looking at the construction you may even think, “Come on, my kid brother could do that,” if only he had that coveted piece of paper from a university or fancy art school.About Face: Portraiture, now open now through March 23, is not that type of exhibition. In fact, it is a refreshing return to a topic that has always been at the center of many artistic endeavors, the issue of capturing an accurate portrayal of the human form. In other words, if you like staring at people, then this exhibition will definitely quench some of your voyeuristic thirsts.
Peter Zokosky, a Cal State Long Beach State Art Department professor, came up with the idea for an exhibition featuring accurate portraits created in the year 2000 and after. The exhibition was further limited to paintings by living artist, so if your soul interest is printmaking, photography or sculpture, this might not be the ideal exhibit for you.
For such a small museum like the Long Beach Museum of Art, this narrowly tailored idea works perfectly. One of the advantages of featuring living artists is the inclusion of insightful artist statements that accompany most of the works.
In a gallery discussion on Feb. 2, Zokosky said regarding portraiture, “A lot of artists seem to be reinvestigating a thing that perhaps 20 years ago was seen as a little passé or a little bit irrelevant.”
He further explained, “Whenever something becomes passé there’s always a group of people that see that and realize that there’s a lot going on there.”
He discussed the significance of the exhibition in that it captures a trend of how artists are reinvesting in traditional techniques while maintaining a “recognition of modernism” and capturing the essence of what contemporary people actually look like and what they project.
Jim Amirkhan, a CSULB psychology professor and art collector, further elevated Saturday’s discussion by intriguing museumgoers to consider the subconscious choices made by the artists.
“If we as viewers are astute enough, we should be able to look at a painting and figure out what the artists problems are,” Amirkhan said, drawing laughter from the 20 or so museumgoers at the afternoon discussion.
He also said the problem with that is, “When we look at an image … it brings us our own unconscious material so we don’t get a clear idea of what the artist meant or what the artist issue might be cause their clouded with there own concerns.”
He argued that every piece of art is a place to project your own desires, wants, conflicts and guilty feelings. Finally, he suggested that some of the reasons you might be drawn to certain painting is that the artist chose to portray something that was in congruence with your own subconscious world.
Even though the criteria of this exhibition are somewhat specific, the variety both in human subjects portrayed and artistic styles and techniques makes it impossible to be bored as you walk past one intriguing face to another.
Some of the pencil-drawn pieces are so photo-realistic that it’s astonishing that just a hand and some lead could capture such complex features of the human anatomy.
Overall, this exhibition is well worth the nominal $6 admission, but if you’re still not convinced, then the museum is free on Fridays, and more importantly, is conveniently located on Ocean Avenue near Cherry Avenue, so you can forget about the 405 to the 110 to the 10 like when you’re visiting the hot L.A. art shows.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Artist Spotlight: The Brains Behind Ask Father Holey
Pedophilia, Down Syndrome, Black Water, the Pope, abortion - on any given week, you can flip to the comics page of the Union Weekly and find Paul Hovland's comic, "Ask Father Holey," poking fun at any one of these sensitive or controversial topics.
The real shock comes when you meet Hovland. He's just like any other student except - even more ordinary. No distinguishing haircut, tattoos, piercings or even style for that matter. He just blends right in.
His paintings on the other hand do not. Vivid colors depict fetal pigs with police hats, crosses with death's cloaks, piles of fecal matter and numerous phallic symbols.
"I just like using identifiable symbols to get people's attention and then desecrating them to maintain peoples attention ... but maybe it has to do with taking things that mean a lot to people and poking fun at them," Hovland said.
He's an atheist with a cynical attitude towards politics. This may be due to the fact that both of his parents were socialists in
college and when he was born. His father, who Hovland especially looks up to, is still active in the Socialist Workers Party.
Hovland paints anywhere from 2-14 hours a day, but he never feels like he's doing enough. This is not how his life has always been. Less than six months ago he was an electricians apprentice waking up at 4:00 a.m. everyday putting in eight hours as a blue collar worker before he decided to go back to school.
He had spent two years at San Jose State University before moving back to Long Beach. Ultimately, the reason for his return was that his problems with drugs and alcohol that had started back in high school could no longer be ignored.
"I was completly miserable," Hovland said. "Drinking and doing whatever drugs I could get was the most important thing until a year and a half ago."
Luckily, Hovland started attending Alcoholic Anonymous meetings and has been able to stay sober and pursue his goals. Before he was an art student, Hovland started out doing street art or graffiti, also known as tagging.
"Tagging makes sense when you're young becuase when you're young, you're usually afriad to show any type of personality that is outside of the norm or outside of what is considered cool," said Hovland.
After seven years of tagging, Hovland was arrested in a train yard in Mira Loma and put on house arrest for three months. He has stopped tagging since. When asked if he misses it he said:
"I guess the rush of it. It's a lot of fun going out in the night hopping fences, running across freeways. It's kind of like when you're a little kid, climbing trees, like hide and seek, like illegal hide and seek. And then you get to see your stuff the next day if they haven't buffed it already."
Now that all the trouble seems to be behind him. He's started working on a digital arts certificate at Golden West College until he can transfer to Cal State Long Beach and major in illustration.
A balcony atttached to Hovlands room doubles as his studio. Paints and empty vente Starbucks cups and diet coke cans are everywhere, some holding dirty paint brushes.This balcony is his sanctuary where he spends the most time, painting, drawing and smoking Camel Filters.
Like most artists Hovland is a bit reclusive, with a small fistful of friends — most of who are also artists.
His idol ever since his first year at San Jose State is Robert Crumb, the infamous cartoonist. But don't tell Hovland that his work looks like Crumbs, because that makes him paranoid that he's copying his style too much.
Some of Hovlands biggest accomplishment include selling t-shirt designs to Tony Hawk Skateboard company, having one of his designs printed as the main logo for a new skateshop in Cerrito called the Skae Attic and recieving his first show at the Royal Cup coffee shop in Long Beach. His painting are still on display at the Royal Cup which is located on the corner of 10th and Redondo through January 31st.
But he doesn't consider any of these things to be his greatest accomplishments.
"I've improved a lot. That's what I get the most enjoyment out of, is improving," said Hovland. "I guess my biggest accomplishment is deciding to do it."
The real shock comes when you meet Hovland. He's just like any other student except - even more ordinary. No distinguishing haircut, tattoos, piercings or even style for that matter. He just blends right in.
His paintings on the other hand do not. Vivid colors depict fetal pigs with police hats, crosses with death's cloaks, piles of fecal matter and numerous phallic symbols.
"I just like using identifiable symbols to get people's attention and then desecrating them to maintain peoples attention ... but maybe it has to do with taking things that mean a lot to people and poking fun at them," Hovland said.
He's an atheist with a cynical attitude towards politics. This may be due to the fact that both of his parents were socialists in
college and when he was born. His father, who Hovland especially looks up to, is still active in the Socialist Workers Party.
Hovland paints anywhere from 2-14 hours a day, but he never feels like he's doing enough. This is not how his life has always been. Less than six months ago he was an electricians apprentice waking up at 4:00 a.m. everyday putting in eight hours as a blue collar worker before he decided to go back to school.
He had spent two years at San Jose State University before moving back to Long Beach. Ultimately, the reason for his return was that his problems with drugs and alcohol that had started back in high school could no longer be ignored.
"I was completly miserable," Hovland said. "Drinking and doing whatever drugs I could get was the most important thing until a year and a half ago."
Luckily, Hovland started attending Alcoholic Anonymous meetings and has been able to stay sober and pursue his goals. Before he was an art student, Hovland started out doing street art or graffiti, also known as tagging.
"Tagging makes sense when you're young becuase when you're young, you're usually afriad to show any type of personality that is outside of the norm or outside of what is considered cool," said Hovland.
After seven years of tagging, Hovland was arrested in a train yard in Mira Loma and put on house arrest for three months. He has stopped tagging since. When asked if he misses it he said:
"I guess the rush of it. It's a lot of fun going out in the night hopping fences, running across freeways. It's kind of like when you're a little kid, climbing trees, like hide and seek, like illegal hide and seek. And then you get to see your stuff the next day if they haven't buffed it already."
Now that all the trouble seems to be behind him. He's started working on a digital arts certificate at Golden West College until he can transfer to Cal State Long Beach and major in illustration.
A balcony atttached to Hovlands room doubles as his studio. Paints and empty vente Starbucks cups and diet coke cans are everywhere, some holding dirty paint brushes.This balcony is his sanctuary where he spends the most time, painting, drawing and smoking Camel Filters.
Like most artists Hovland is a bit reclusive, with a small fistful of friends — most of who are also artists.
His idol ever since his first year at San Jose State is Robert Crumb, the infamous cartoonist. But don't tell Hovland that his work looks like Crumbs, because that makes him paranoid that he's copying his style too much.
Some of Hovlands biggest accomplishment include selling t-shirt designs to Tony Hawk Skateboard company, having one of his designs printed as the main logo for a new skateshop in Cerrito called the Skae Attic and recieving his first show at the Royal Cup coffee shop in Long Beach. His painting are still on display at the Royal Cup which is located on the corner of 10th and Redondo through January 31st.
But he doesn't consider any of these things to be his greatest accomplishments.
"I've improved a lot. That's what I get the most enjoyment out of, is improving," said Hovland. "I guess my biggest accomplishment is deciding to do it."
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Local Gallery Guide
Unversity Art Museum
"Lothar Smith: Survival Strategies"
Feature site-specific installations by Geman physicist Lothar Schmitz
Opened now through April 13, 2008
"Tamper:Gestural Interface for Cinematic Design"
Ever seen the movie "Minority Report" Tom Cruise? This interactive system is just like a scene from that flick and allows you to reach in and resculpt live film using gesture technology
Opened now through April 13, 2008
Gallery Talk wih artist John Underkoffler Feb. 5 from 12:15p.m.-1:00 p.m.
Admission: FREE for students, UAM members, faculty and staff. General public $4
Hours: Tues.-Sun. 12:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
Thurs. 12:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Closed Mondays
(562) 985-5761
www.csulb.edu/uam
Long Beach Museum of Art
"About Face: Portraiture Now"
Opened now through Mar. 23, 2008
Presents the work of 35 painters using "Old Master" techniques to create photo realistic portraits.
Panel Discussion Sat.. Feb. 2, 2008 2:00 p.m. free with paid admission
Featuring: Peter Zokosky artist/co-curator
Dan McCleary, featured artist
Chris Miles, CSULB Art Historian
Jim Amirkhan, Psychologist/art collector
2300 East Ocean Blvd.
Long Beach, CA 90803
562-439-2119
www.lbma.org
Admission is FREE ON FRIDAYS
Adults $7, Students/Seniors $6 with id
"Lothar Smith: Survival Strategies"Feature site-specific installations by Geman physicist Lothar Schmitz
Opened now through April 13, 2008
"Tamper:Gestural Interface for Cinematic Design"
Ever seen the movie "Minority Report" Tom Cruise? This interactive system is just like a scene from that flick and allows you to reach in and resculpt live film using gesture technology
Opened now through April 13, 2008
Gallery Talk wih artist John Underkoffler Feb. 5 from 12:15p.m.-1:00 p.m.
Admission: FREE for students, UAM members, faculty and staff. General public $4
Hours: Tues.-Sun. 12:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
Thurs. 12:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Closed Mondays
(562) 985-5761
www.csulb.edu/uam
Long Beach Museum of Art
"About Face: Portraiture Now"
Opened now through Mar. 23, 2008
Presents the work of 35 painters using "Old Master" techniques to create photo realistic portraits.
Panel Discussion Sat.. Feb. 2, 2008 2:00 p.m. free with paid admission
Featuring: Peter Zokosky artist/co-curator
Dan McCleary, featured artist
Chris Miles, CSULB Art Historian
Jim Amirkhan, Psychologist/art collector
2300 East Ocean Blvd.
Long Beach, CA 90803
562-439-2119
www.lbma.org
Admission is FREE ON FRIDAYS
Adults $7, Students/Seniors $6 with id
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