Los Angeles Art Shows- Oliver Jones at Gusford Gallery

 Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Drawing, Los Angeles Art Shows, Los Angeles Art Shows
Oct 242014
 

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Oliver Jones Love the Skin You’re In at Gusford Gallery (images via their site)

Plastic surgery is popular topic, especially in Los Angeles, and even more so this week, after a famous actress reappeared looking different enough to cause a flurry of media and public speculation.

British artist Oliver Jones’ photorealist drawings, created in colored chalk pastel, look at and question the beauty industry and our appearance obsessed world. In many of the images the subject is looking directly into the eyes of the viewer. Are we judging them, relating to them, questioning them? Is it possible to love the skin you’re in? And if so, for how long?

This exhibition closes 10/25.

Los Angeles Art Shows- Dorielle Caimi at Gusford Gallery

 Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Los Angeles Art Shows, Los Angeles Art Shows, Painting / Painters
Apr 192014
 

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At Dorielle Caimi’s first solo show Complex Candy at Gusford Gallery, her colorful oil paintings feature nude women in various (and at times surreal) situations, all exploring issues concerning women today.

From the press release:

Examining the idea of innocence as a virtue lost too soon, Caimi’s nude figures resist vulgarity and sexualization. The bright, vivid colors serve to draw the viewer in closer to the women, whom the artist imbues with psychological complexities. Incorporating a dark sense of humor and a vision of what an authentic self might look like, Caimi lays bare her own personal psyche, creating bold paintings that speak to, and for, a larger generation.

This show closes 4/19/14.

In this interview with Caimi from Combustus, she goes into more detail about her creations as well as the issues behind them. It’s a really interesting read and also mentions other artists including John Currin, whose painting style immediately came to mind when I saw these works.  Her content, however, is delivering a very different message.

Los Angeles Art Shows- Hassan Hajjaj at Gusford Gallery and LACMA

 Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Los Angeles Art Shows, Los Angeles Art Shows, Photographers / Photography
Feb 202014
 

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Hassan Hajjaj work from the show- My Rock Stars: Volume 2

Hassan Hajjaj has two great shows (and one piece in a third) currently up in the Los Angeles area.

His show at the Gusford Gallery (pictured above), is filled with brightly colored images surrounded by frames containing Moroccan products.

From their press release:

Through costuming, posturing and mise en scène, Hajjaj blends African, Arabic, European and Western cultural signifiers in a vibrant fusion of contemporary globalized society. The identities of this international collection of musicians, dancers, fashion designers, capoeira masters and restauranteurs have been obscured, and these personal inspirations from Hajjaj’s life have been immortalized as his very own ‘Rock Stars’.

This show closes 2/22/14.

Currently at LACMA is My Rock Stars Experimental, Volume 1, 2012 a video installation composed of nine screens- each with a different musician performing on sets similar to those in the photographs at the Gosford Gallery. As each performer begins their song, the others turn to watch. Located across from the elevators on the fourth floor of the Ahmanson building, it can be a challenge to take it all in.

He also has a piece  in the recently opened show Fútbol: The Beautiful Game.

Also check out this interview with Hassan Hajjaj from LACMA’s blog.