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Sharing
Space V – Fifth-year Anniversary of Lankershim Art
Gallery.
by
Lisa Bianconi, Editor, Visual Arts Fan
Congratulations
Lankershim Art Gallery (LAG) for five
years of valiant and dedicated service to emerging
visual artists and for keeping the arts thriving in the
NoHo Arts District.
Sharing
Space V anniversary show is the perfect example of LAG’s philosophy: to give artists the space to promote
and share their work with the rest of the world...and
Los Angeles. There
are 33 artists from around the world and just around the
block that grace the LAG walls this month.
Curator Dover Abrams and Gallery Director Jill
Peterson-Abrams chose a variety of pieces that “spoke
to them,” giving this month’s show an eclectic and
well-rounded representation of artists and mediums.
As an added treat, NoHo's own,
Scott Detweiler, performed songs from his newest CD.
Art, music and wine...the evening was fabulous.
After
sweeping through the gallery fascinated by the range of
pieces filled with color, texture and varying themes, I
was struck by three pieces in particular – three
pieces that gave me a taste of the show’s theme and
the gallery’s raison
d'etre.
“80s
Sneakers” made me stop and reminisce in part because I
had the exact pair in 1983. Photographer Robert
DaGasta was on hand to give me a vivid explanation
of his image. “First
and foremost, they were my actual sneakers (I
unfortunately do not have them anymore - they would have
made a great 3D sculpture piece nowadays!).”80's
Sneakers" is also important to me because it's the
first print I ever sold. So it has even more meaning
that people appreciate this photo enough to want to own
it and hang it up on their wall,” beamed paisano
Robert. At
the time, he was taking an Intro to Photography course
in high school and, for whatever reason, he decided his
sneakers would be a worthy subject. Placing
them on the front stoop, he adjusted them until he liked
the way they were positioned and then clicked one single
frame.
That
was 16 years ago and now the photo has taken on a whole
new level. Robert incorporated a negative effect to the
image - the "glow" emanating from beneath the
sneakers gives them an almost magical quality. “80s
Sneakers” is available as a Photograph Original or
Limited Edition Photographic Giclee on Somerset in
either 5" x 7" or 8" x 10" size. It
is available in a number of different color shades
including, Silver, Red, Green, Orange and Teal. The
print is available as a single image or as a series of
four colors. Robert
will also have this piece in various colors and several
other examples of his work on display at the 12th
annual NoHo Theatre & Arts Festival.
Robert sums up his piece best: “The
sneakers are from a decade now considered nostalgic,
just like the 70's, 60's and 50's before that. Every
photo has a memory. Every memory has a story. "80's
Sneakers" is just one of hundreds - one that
personally takes me back to my glory days of high
school, the last year of Reagan in office, a time when
Spielberg and Lucas dominated the box office the entire
decade, Rubik's Cube, Pac Man, Trivial Pursuit, Van
Halen, U2, and so many other fun things, music and
movies that remind me of my teenage years.”
robertdagasta@earthlink.net
While walking through the gallery with a gang of
friends, arts lovers and newbies, at the exact moment we
all stopped at a series of beautiful faces with rich,
clean colors. Admiring (out loud) the uniqueness of the pieces, we were
greeted by the artist himself.
Eban
Lehrer gave us a descriptive background on “Fey,”
one of 10 images in his “A
Woman of Uncommon Beauty” series.
In
the beginning, this series started out as an exploration
of the subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) asymmetry
inherent in women’s faces. If you cover up half of a
face and compare that to what you see when you cover up
the other half of the face, you will see that they look
different. As
Eban worked further, it became much more, it became a
journey into beauty, souls and society’s views of
them. He states that, “True
beauty is more than skin deep.
I find tremendous grace in the female form.”
Every
woman has an inner beauty that shimmers beneath the
surface. It is in the uncommon that the underlying
exquisiteness of a woman is evident. This series of
portraits has become an exploration of feminine beauty
(and the psyche) and how society views it.
Eban
told me that, “This
collection is an especially piercing one in the face of
this society’s view of beauty.
Perhaps this is my way of providing a mirror for
society to look into and see how distorted their
perceptions are.”
Thanks, Eban, for giving us another view of
beauty. Be sure to check back in July when Eban will
also be nohoartsdistrict.com's Featured Artist of the
Month.
http://ebanlehrer.com
Lastly,
but certainly not least, I stopped by a series of
colorful images on velour. They caught my eye first
because of the vivid colors and the soft texture. I
wanted to reach out and pet them.
From talking with artist Jeannie
Detweiler, this
was her intent. “When
constructing a painting, I try to use unusual materials
mainly because it keeps the process interesting. I am
still looking for the perfect way to give my characters
a soft, furry texture without actually applying fur to
the canvas.” Jeannie’s inspiration comes from
fond memories of her stuffed animals.
The velour canvas gives her paintings a soft,
approachable feel of a stuffed toy.
Jeremy
thealien is the title of one of her pieces that grace LAG’s walls.
The story behind her signature character is that she had
been painting strange figures for a few years and
decided to focus on one "creature" or
“alien” because she thought that her characters
resembled aliens at the time. She made a stuffed animal
version of him and chose his name by picking from a
basket of Runes, which are fortune-telling rocks. By
chance she picked the Rune called Jera (means "the
year".) and Jeremy thealien was born.
Jeannie
said that she primarily “paints portraits, images that
make people feel good.”
Her biggest desire is to make people feel
comfortable and happy.
She was selected from a national call to artists
and hails from New Orleans, LA. When asked why she came
out to NoHo she stated that she wanted to branch out and
felt that NoHo was a “cool scene.”
We agree. Thanks, Jeannie, for choosing the NoHo
Arts District.
http://www.jeremythealien.com
Lankershim Art Gallery
5108 Lankershim Blvd.
NoHo Arts District
Sharing Space
V
runs through
the end of April.
http://www.doversart.com
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