A Local Lens Photo exhibit Opening April 5th

12x36 A Local Lens Photo exhibit Opens in Los Angeles Saturday, April 5th
6pm to 10pm

12 artists from 3 different cities each will be showing their work simultaneously.

Each artist was given a camera, donated by LOMO to take photographs of their environment. There will be full-roll contact sheets to view each artists suite of photographs.
3 images selected by each artist that will be for sale
in a limited edition of only 5 each.

Artists are:
LOS ANGELES
Estevan Oriol
Jessica Robbins

Andy Bruntel
Michael Hsiung


PHILADELPHIA
Ted Passon

Randall Sellers
Melissa Farley
Dan Murphy

SEOUL
Yangachi
WK
Haelen Kim
Yeji Yun

STATEMENT
Urban architecture does more than provide shelter for its inhabitants; the unique space of a city also plays a crucial role in the formation of local culture. It sets the stage for life to occur and creates a framework for communication and movement. Often, the lifestyle of a city’s residents can be traced back to the physical environment itself.

Like other inhabitants, artists are also affected by the physical space of a city. Using artists as representatives of local culture, we seek to investigate the relationship between local space and local culture in three distinct urban environments.

Artists are offered an opportunity to reflect on their surroundings in a uniform medium that may be a departure from their usual means and methods. The photographic medium, and the limit of 36 exposures will give these works a time-bound and immediate quality that will speak of their place, their culture and a specific moment in time.

EXHIBITION
The exhibition features pertinent artifacts and the photographs, but collateral information in the gallery only includes the artists’ name and current place of residence. From a pure visual standpoint, viewers are able to extract basic information about each city. By going to the gallery in person and experiencing the show, viewers participate in a dialogue about local realities. Gallery visitors may be residents of the city or not, but each visitor carries their own background into the gallery and will be affected by each piece in a different way.


Rumor has it, we will also have LOMO cameras for sale,
and that there will be an exhibition catalog as well.

INTRODUCING: Project Journalism Revisited 2008

INTRODUCING: Project Journalism Revisited 2008
This is an unprecedented and new kind of creative writing project never before seen or utilized in galleries.

It will conceptually take on the quasi-guise of art reviews, and take into consideration editorial relevance to galleries and artists in the context of the art media as we know it.
It will give art audiences and commentators an opportunity to read completely unedited, candid and inside editorial essays on Gallery Revisited and its current artists being shown in the Main Gallery.

I am extremely excited to launch yet another avant garde concept here. Because of early personal and academic training in writing, I take great joy in composing weird and imaginative press releases for the gallery.
The media aspect of the gallery "system/world" is both fascinating and frustrating. I get a special flutter in my gut when I hear about the "key to getting a review" talk and the discredit given to some periodicals and the credibility given to others.
I am equally thankful, grateful and proud for all of the diverse press the gallery and artists have had in the last 4 years, and so are the artists I work with.
Leaving an indelible and personal mark is just as important as wanting results in the form of a review. - Leora Lutz

Stacy Elaine Dacheux is the invited author for the PJR essays.

She is highly influenced by the concept of “New Journalism,” which emerged in the 1960s, where the reporter’s lens shifted into a more artfully nuanced and subjective speed. This form and forum opened up exciting channels and adventures in how we see non-fictional stories in print. From the writings of Tom Wolfe to the magazine photographs of Diane Arbus, emphasis was placed on approach, interpretation, dialogue, and environmental relationships. No longer were journalists’ voices forced to be stately omniscient and invisible.

When art is concerned, journalistically, I am interested in the mess that occurs in-between sightlines, personal experiences, and meaning. I am interested in the process of looking, translating, and sharing content between strangers.

Ideally, Journalism Revisited will attempt to speak more so to art experience or possibility than an academic cannon. - Stacy Elaine Dacheux

Please note that Miss Dacheux is in no way monetarily compensated to participate in this project - she is an exhibiting artist at our gallery and her prime medium is writing.
In fact, just for the record and no offense to some traditions; GR has never once paid for editorial commentary nor has experienced a review as a direct result of paid ads or listings placed in a magazine, paper or other form of media.

Gallery Revisited: doings things differently/different things since 2003.

Internal Environments 2008: Project Forefront and Ongoing

Coming In MAY 2008 - Ongoing new work by artists in the forefront.

In keeping with our premise of CONTENT DRIVEN ACCESSIBLE ART, 12 Gallery Revisited artists will engage audiences simultaneously, throughout the course of the year in the Main Gallery.

Gallery Revisited continues to be multi-discipline in order to facilitate curatorial freedom and audience diversity which in turn allows each artist's individual voice to be heard clearly as they stand apart from each other in a single venue context.

Painting - Drawing - Installation - Conceptual - Narrative - Abstract

The following is a list of the invited participating artists and examples of their work.

Paige Wery

Ya Ya Chou

Elana Kundell

Julie Hughes

Jessica Robbins

Kireilyn Barber

Michael Hsiung

Rob Sato

Lana Shuttleworth

Matt Burlingame

Ashley Goldberg

CJ Metzger


In addition, Gallery Revisited will continue to exhibit and support these and other artists' new work in the Salon.

Gallery Revisited - doing different things/things differently since 2003.

UPDATE!! Paige Wery in ArtUS

Finally have this for you!!
Paige Wery Review by Christopher Russell, artUS, January 2008

ArtUS

Here it is with extra images than originally published added by me.

It appears that no part of the Los Angeles art scene is now left unscathed by the proliferation of art school graduates. Even the nonprofit sector, which is understandably limited, tends to look to school clout in its programming. Indeed, gone is the old romantic myth of the solitary genius striking out on his own, seemingly snuffed out by the stamp of cultural endorsement. Once-revered vagabonds and anarchists like Rimbaud seem so antiquated and out of place that it's hard to imagine anybody like that hanging out in the art world any more, even though revolutionary ideals continue to be taught in art schools.
With little evident concern for historical or school context, Paige Wery's "My Sentiments Exactly" goes at it like the "I" in the storm, scattering trash around as if color itself amounted to expression, and adding found objects to paint with almost architectural persistence.
Her labors are partly 1990s poetic assemblage in the mold of a Jim Hodges or Sarah Sze, with a touch of Gracie Mansion thrown in for good measure.

Rosey (all work 2007), which looks remarkably like a Christmas wall decoration,
is a tangled heap of fake jewelry, tiny white lights, plastic flowers, string, and scraps of paper, all pressed together into a large abstract mess of empty paint tubes and paper wads stuck onto the wall a foot or two behind, neither completely ornament nor painting, neither whimsy nor act of defiance.
And as if the sight of a largely green contraption popping off the bright pink wall weren't enough, the piece also juts outwards into the gallery space, projecting a Brechtian "fourth wall" of her own.

Another mixed-media work, Foxy, offers a faux-cubist canine creature,
with one enormous eye turned toward the gallery crowd, tail proudly up, exposing a large pink poo-denda. This foxy mongrel, as intriguing as it is off-putting, poses a conceptual challenge to the empathy that automatically comes with animal imagery. Furthermore, Foxy's clunky gold frame bejeweled with glitter and purple fabric gems, though faintly reminiscent of a Baroque masterpiece, has all the allure of a DIY drag show.
In the smaller Suzie's Poo,
the sky seems to have curdled and mottled the colors of the rainbow, propelling them through space toward a parade of animals cut from a children's coloring book.
The indiscreet charm of this show, the appealing muddle that lots and lots of junk can create, is hard to beat, despite the artist's own admission that, "Being so poor in the past, art materials became sacred [to me]."


The sacred aside, Wery, who refuses to throw away anything from her studio, even every last drop of paint, fresh or dried, is far too busy to worry about school ties, whatever this might have to say about blowing the lid on anal-retentiveness. But compared with the schoolyard tales mostly told today, it's still a great relief.

TRI - CITY PHOTO EXHIBIT and RECEPTION: APRIL 5TH

:: 12 x 36 :: A local lens
Photo Exhibit - Seoul, Philadelphia and Los Angeles - All on the same weekend.

12X36, refers to the twelve selected artists (4 from each city) who will each present 36 photographs for the exhibition.

GALLERY REVISITED in Silver Lake is hosting the Los Angeles location of the show!!
3204 sunset blvd. in silver lake. 6pm to 10pm

Urban architecture does more than provide shelter for its inhabitants; the unique space of a city also plays a crucial role in the formation of local culture. environment itself.

Using artists as representatives of local culture, we seek to investigate the relationship between local space and local culture in three distinct urban environments.

In contrast to digital photography, which has become commonplace and easily mutable, the invited artists will be asked to capture their local reality using traditional photographic methods, where the physical medium of film and the permanence of the developing process itself is important.

Cameras have been donated by LOMO.
The exhibit is conceived and organized by Benjamin Kaplan of the native gaze in Seoul.
He has invited 2 Gallery Revisited artists* to participate in the project, so it seemed only fitting that we do it here after they lost their previous location.

*Jessica Robbins and Michael Hsiung

For more information visit the 12 x 36 website.

Art Reception/Fashion Party this Thursday March 20th 7pm - 10pm

BLOCK PARTY THIS THURSDAY NIGHT!!

GALLERY REVISITED is going to be open for an impromptu Art Reception along with:

Mesh and Lace -- a new boutique that is having their Spring PR party called "Spring Formal".
gagosha -- a new contemporary eye-wear boutique that just opened
Sumi's -- accessories located in front of Gallery Revisited
Dusty's -- delicious bistro

7pm to 10pm for a nice evening of art, food, fashion and meet/greet.

Stop by for a spot of wine and all of the above...
see what we all have going on over here.

Gallery Revisited artist in LACMA exhibit and the Chicano Movement

I was very excited to see that Shizu Saldamando is included in a new exhibit at LACMA that opens for viewing on April 6th.

For the longest time a postcard for Shizu Saldamando's MFA show sat on my desk at the 2nd Gallery Revisited location in China Town. (pka: Bamboo Lane/Revisited)

In 2005 I curated a portrait exhibit and her work was perfect - I called her on a recommendation of a friend of the gallery, Pete Galindo - who also happens to be a good friend of Shizu's.

I just found out some shocking news regarding Pete Galindo's family:

On Friday February 29, 2008 five members of my family were arrested without cause. This video documents the first arrest and the police unlawfully entering my grandmothers home. Two of my uncles, after being handcuffed, were taken to a secluded location where they were beaten.
After hearing about this I went to the Hollenback Police station to check on the status of my family. Sergeant Provincio also explained that my family has been an issue with them for years.
I suspect that this comment is connected to my family's involvement in activism against police brutality that began when my uncle was killed in 1989 by police. When I tried to communicate to police officers by further explaining my role in working with at-risk youth and some of the programs I've been involved with in Ramona Gardens, officer Provincio proceeded to tell me I was a hypocrite because I didn't directly involve the police in my efforts.
--------
Unbeknownst to anyone if you just look at me,
I grew up with a family from Mexico that lived in Angeleno Heights.
Although no one in my family has ever been killed by police, I feel empathy toward Pete's family and his personal cause and my thoughts go out to him.
--------
On a lighter note, he also believed in Shizu and he was right!

There is I am sure, an excellent preface to the show,
in the mean time here are some words
from Shizu regarding the effect of ethnicity in her work as taken from the LACMA members newsletter:

"I am very conscious of the way race functions in my work, and I think I deliberately use race as a signifier not to uphold any essentialist or binary ideas, but to unravel and question fixed assumptions about the people and the materials I utilize."
(Materials refers to for example, her use of handkerchiefs, as in those used in art made by prison inmates. People refers to people who are her friends and who happen to be non-white.)

I wonder if those collectors who never bought her work from me ever did get something of hers? Because she is in about 3 other museum exhibits after this one....

Congratulations, Shizu!

"Phantom Sightings: Art after the Chicano Movement" is curated in part by Rita Gonzalez of LACMA.

For more on issues of ethnicity in art, please read the preceding blog about Mark Greenfield.

Leora Lutz Go-About: Mark Greenfield's Incognegro

Last week I went to a lecture by Mark Greenfield, Director of Los Angeles Municipal Gallery and artist. He has a body of work entitled "Incognegro" that was on display at 18th Street and now is at the Sweeney Art Gallery in Riverside, where the lecture took place.

Shane Shukis, the Assistant Director of Sweeney introduced the discussion with a quote by Dave Chapelle who had to take a break from his comedy because he "heard the wrong kind of laugh." [installation view of MG's Lenticulars]

Greenfield's work is centralized around very controversial and not so centrally accepted imagery and connotation - Black Face Performers and Minstrelsy;
their history, the performers' roles literally and metaphorically/historically, the connotations, acceptance and repulsion - all of that and more.
For those of you not familiar with Black Face, it is yet another one of those embarrassing ticks in our socio-political history that offends many.

His work is appropriation at its most base (as in it is from a personal collection that he began)yet it is very - dare I say - a most appropriate use of appropriation in conceptual work, in my opinion. Here's why:
Now, all joking aside, as we deal with this
artist's important subjects, the point I want to make is about
the use of humor in art and when as artists, we can finally laugh.

I find the reasons why we laugh compelling:
genuine happiness, making others laugh, to get attention in a room, nervousness, overcompensation, lying, mockery, trying to cover something up.

Black Face = the utmost in covering something up in order to get a laugh to cover something else up.

Mark can find and portray the humor in these images because as he states, "This is history, it's not me." In a sense, he has moved on from the realities that he shows in his work enough to be able to point out the absurdity of it all. Whereas earlier generations of artists, such as Betye Saar, grew up in a generation without irony.

"The Liberation of Aunt Jemima" by Betye Saar 1972
The story of her work dared not tread upon making light of these important issues. Her work was about reclaiming the derogatory images of Blacks and make a statement about how they were treated.

Mark's use of the Lenticular reminds us that sometimes what we initially see is not always real. In addition, the diamond shapes and the candy colors are referential to theatrical performance in general adding further irony.
We sway side-to-side in order to see the characters' faces change from Black to White, from White to Black again. We can laugh in the "right" way.

The gentleman on the left is Dr. Vorris Nunley.

and there is Mark on the right - laughing in the "right" way.

Other topics that night surrounded around Thug Mugs, Reverse Minstrelsy, Diacritical Images, People who do not care for Mark's work and the fact that Black Face is still performed in Vermont.
And it goes without saying, Kara Walker was brought up - she has a show at the Hammer right now.