Ellen C. Caldwell
April 14, 2014, 8:55am
Pow! Wow! Hawai’I Packs a Painted Punch
This past February, street artists and fine artists alike joined together for the fifth annual Pow! Wow! Hawai’i (PWH) festival in Honolulu, Hawaii. Founder of the site and painting festival PWH Jasper Wong and mega-art site Booooooom’s Jeff Hamada caught up with me to discuss the event, its history, and its future.
Lady Aiko on Auahi Street| 2014, Courtesy of Pow! Wow! Hawai’I.
If you’re feeling like you missed out, check out PWH’s great video page and their mural page – and of course, consider attending Pow! Wow! Taiwan this year. – Ellen C. Caldwell, Los Angeles Contributor
April 08, 2014, 11:14am
Dan Gluibizzi and the World Wide Archive
Combing Tumblr for inspirational sources, painter Dan Gluibizzi pairs scenes of friends, porn, swingers, and bongs to form groupings of perfect strangers in his watercolor compositions. In his show "Between Friends" at the Kopeikin Gallery, Gluibizzi explores and questions the social media bonds and the ties of voyeuristic “friendship” in this digital age. – Ellen C. Caldwell, Los Angeles Contributor
Dan Gluibizzi | Story Sisters, 2014, 33" x 40," Watercolor on Paper. Courtesy of Kopeikin Gallery.
March 30, 2014, 8:32pm
Painting Backwards: Evan Nesbit at Roberts & Tilton
Painters and paint-lovers should flock to Evan Nesbit’s (NAP #99) current show /ˈkaɪˑæzəm/. Entering Roberts & Tilton, visitors are met by a group of large and brightly colored burlap canvases. The combination of acrylic paints and dye on brown burlap and of Nesbit’s painting on the opposite side of the burlap than the one facing outward has a contradictory effect on the colors: they are muted bolds and conversely, they are bright pastels.
The very act of painting backwards, though, is what interested me most—visually, aesthetically, physically, and quite psychically. – Ellen C. Caldwell, Los Angeles Contributor
Evan Nesbit | /ˈkaɪˑæzəm/ Installation View. Courtesy of Roberts & Tilton.
March 25, 2014, 9:25am
Ecstasy and Eye Candy: Ben Weiner at Mark Moore Gallery
Ben Weiner’s (NAP #56, 68, 80, 98) solo show “MaximumStrengthAgeDefy” at Mark Moore Gallery is eye candy for the soul and soulful drugs for your eyes. The gallery space greets you with bright and tasty looking colors, alluring and welcoming you in. – Ellen C. Caldwell
Ben Weiner | installation view of “MaximumStrengthAgeDefy.” Image courtesy of Mark Moore Gallery.
March 19, 2014, 8:38am
Guest Stars and Sci Fi: Brian Porray at Western Project
Brian Porray’s (NAP #84 & 2010 MFA Annual) second solo exhibition at Western Project is quite simply a must see and must feel. He fills the large, open gallery space with his signature bright and bold explosions of color, movement, and energy. In his last show, he focused on capturing the essence of his hometown Vegas and the complex power of the Luxor Hotel, and in this show, he moves to something else just as unsettling and unnerving as sin city can be to some – the ever-changing and impermanent night sky and the sci fi terrors and wonder it can bring to us mortals. – Ellen C. Caldwell
Brian Porray | installation view at Western Project, 2014. Image courtesy of Western Project.
March 18, 2014, 9:43am
Everyday Evocative: Paige Jiyoung Moon
Something about Paige Jiyoung Moon’s (NAP #109) paintings stays with you. They are colorful, inviting, and familiar – and in them Moon captures her everyday experiences and environments in a way that is playful and realistic.
It isn’t her style that is particularly naturalistic though, it is her subject matter. Her style is slightly exaggerated in perspective, as she often places viewers so that it feels as if we are hovering above the scene, looking down on it from afar. Her paintings make me consider memories and memory-making – how we experience a day, how we remember it, and how we reconstruct it in our minds.
On the converse of the everyday, though, Moon also creates a dreamlike quality in her work, because as we hover over images of her painted memories – of a screen printing class, or a hike through Sequoia, or a weekend hotel stay – it conjures a memory-bank full of my own recollections from such classes, hikes, and trips. It is personal and voyeuristic, everyday and evocative, and ephemeral eye candy that leaves me wanting to spend a day in the life of (or with) Moon. – Ellen C. Caldwell, Los Angeles Contributor
Paige Jiyoung Moon | Printshop, Acrylic on wood panel, 14"x 11," 2013.
March 14, 2014, 1:13pm
This is not a chair: the Paintings of Jon Reed
Jon Reed (NAP #109) paints objects – very ornate objects to be specific. His paintings are bright, bold, and full of rich contrasts in their depictions of opulent material goods found at two of the most famous collectors’-homes-turned-museums in California: The Getty Villa and Hearst Castle.
Even if you didn’t know the furniture sources for some of his paintings, they immediately recall the lavish and ornamental furniture and chairs you might only find in a wealthy collector’s home or museum. Reed takes three-dimensional furniture and various architectural spaces and captures them in time and space as flattened, two-dimensional paintings. Doing so, Reed simultaneously does something interesting to our eye and the way we read the paintings, calling our attention to both their “objectness” and their exact “non-objectness” all at once. - Ellen C. Caldwell, Los Angeles Contributor
Jon Reed | Malibu Suite II, acrylic on birch panel, 24” x 36”, 2011
February 23, 2014, 11:38am
In the Studio: Process of Painting with Nick Brown
In this Process of a Painting, we follow painter Nick Brown through his creation of Gloaming which is part of his larger, ongoing series Ice House.
English-born and LA-based Nick Brown paints oversized and grandiose oil paintings of an unexpected LA subject: snow and ice. Journeying into surrounding mountain communities outside of Los Angeles, he photographs glimpses of what man has left behind to be re-subsumed by the earth…Architectural ruins, signs of old houses and lives once lived, and decaying wood burning ovens and chimneys all point to mother nature’s slow, yet beautiful decay. – Ellen C. Caldwell
Nick Brown | Gloaming, 2013, oil on canvas, 96"x 72"x 19 1/2"
February 18, 2014, 9:02am
Textual Healing with Christopher Kane Taylor
Christopher Kane Taylor’s (NAP #108) work is bright, bold, humorous, and impulsive. His sentiments, scrawled in an almost-exaggerated hand-painted form, address his life, concerns, and future. While humorous at times, this text is also deep and thought provoking.
After Taylor was recently featured in NAP, I couldn’t stop thinking about some of his paintings and his resonating words, so I spoke to Taylor about his process and inspiration behind his works… - Ellen C. Caldwell
Christopher Kane Taylor | Whoop Whoop, acrylic, ink on paper 15 inches x 33 inches, 2013. Courtesy of the Artist.
February 03, 2014, 3:47pm
In The Studio: Process of a Painting with Terrence Campagna
Terrence Campagna uses new and found wood to make art that is both painterly and sculptural. Gathering wood from a range of places including Wisconsin, Nebraska, New York and more, Campagna (NAP #101) pieces together beautifully weathered pieces with newer and bolder painted pieces that are inspired by the traffic signs on the interstate.
In a way, his work encapsulates the blurriness our eyes encounter when taking in the juxtaposition of aged buildings and new signs we see while speeding down an interstate. As with all Process of a Painting pieces, we follow Campagna’s work from start to finish…A process which began by filming video studies for inspiration and one which ended with two additional pieces (Untitled) pictured at the end of the post. – Ellen C. Caldwell, Los Angeles Contributor
Terrence Campagna | Plumule (Reedsburg, WI/ Omaha, NE/ Marquette, NE/ Utica, NY), 10' x 5.5' x 1', 2013.
Pages
Categories
- Alabama
- Art Fairs
- Art Market
- Art World
- Artists on Artists
- Atlanta
- Austin
- Behind the Scenes
- Boston
- Boston/Cambridge
- By the Book
- Chicago
- Collecting
- Competition
- Competitions
- Curator Watch List
- Dallas
- DC
- Features
- Gallerist at Home
- Heart to Art
- Houston
- In the Studio
- Interview
- Kansas City
- Los Angeles
- MFA
- Miami
- Moving Up
- Museum Admission
- Must-See
- Must-Sees
- NAP Artists on View
- NAP News
- New Jersey
- New York
- Noteworthy
- Oakland
- On the Road
- One of a Kind
- Other Voices
- Pacific Coast
- Philadelphia
- Philly
- Poll
- Portland
- Process Of A Painting
- Q&A
- Review
- San Francisco
- Santa Fe
- Seattle
- Sneak Peeks
- South
- Special Offers
- Spotlight
- Staff
- Studio Visit
- The Conversation
- Uncategorized
- Unlocking The Vault
- Video
- Vote!
- We've Got One Question
- Weekly Recap
- What's the Deal?