Oct 312015
 

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Here are a few good art shows closing on 10/31/15 in Culver City worth checking out:

Robb Putnam’s impressive animal sculptures (above image) are at Walter Maciel Gallery for the exhibition Loiterers.

From the press release-

Putnam continues to create whimsical sculptures made out of fabrics, detritus and a plethora of disregarded items that explore memory and recollections of childhood storybook characters and imaginary friends.  His animal subjects take on the moods and emotions of the human experience with specific gesturing of posture and bodily expression.  Using this thoughtful process and personal reflection to execute the work, Putnam himself becomes a loiterer delving into his youth with his learned emotional maturity perhaps mimicking his own apprehension as a young boy circling the sidelines of the playground where he felt unwelcome. The work in Loiterers sparks ideas of what gives a living being or object its status and value while questioning the many notions of human empathy.

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Michael Waugh’s drawings at Von Lintel Gallery are even more incredible up close when you see they are created from tiny handwritten text. (images via their website)

From the gallery website-

Waugh transcribes texts—such as government commissions and theoretical books about power and capitalism—into portraits and landscapes.  To Waugh, the selection of texts and images and the relationship between the two are the conceptual heart of the work.  “These are worlds made of words that draw upon a historical quest for knowledge and for political progress—a quest often at odds with social reality,” he explains. Waugh also explores these themes through mixed-media installations, performances, and videos, as in “The Wealth of Nations” project (2009-) for which he has staged (and documented) public readings from Adam Smith’s seminal economic text.

joelottersonmaloneyfineart

Joel Otterson’s Needleworks at Maloney Fine Art -“explores two new bodies of work; two-dimensional beaded “paintings” and three-dimensional hand-blown glass “flesh cups” which serve as a homage to the diversity, dexterity and tradition of sewing, stitching and embroidery.”

Apr 122014
 

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Yoshitomo Nara’s solo exhibiton at Blum & Poe (closing 4/12) is filled with new works by the artist on a large scale including a room of bronze sculptures and some of his large paintings in others (an example of both pictured above). On the second floor of the gallery is a retrospective look at the artist’s drawings throughout his thirty year career. Whimsical and at times melancholy, the wide eyed figures fascinate.

Also in Culver City and closing 4/12/14-

Angles Gallery in collaboration with Hinge Modern presents THE ARTIST’S HANDS CONTINUUM by Rena Small. Small has been photographing her friend’s hands since 1984, and each black and white photograph represents the person in a unique way. Several of the hands included belong to familiar names.

The group show at Maloney Fine Art includes work by Joel Otterson, and some unique ceramic creations which look like bizarre vinyl toys by Maberry + Walker.

Dec 042013
 

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Joel Otterson- Bottoms Up #2

Joel Otterson’s current show is “Chandelier Queer” at Maloney Fine Art. This title references the slang term “chandelier queer” defined as- “a homosexual with exquisite and/or expensive taste” or a “self-spoiled fruit”(according to Urban Dictionary). The show consists of sculptures made from found glass wear. The chandeliers are beautiful and seemingly fragile creations which take take what most consider trashy objects, and turns them into something glorious.

Otterson is one of the artists selected to be in the Whitney Biennial 2014.