Shana Nys Dambrot is thrilled to announce a new group exhibition entitled Art History, Interrupted, on view at CMay Gallery in the Pacific Design Center from March 22 through May 4, 2018. Featuring Andy Bauch, Bobbie Moline-Kramer and Jay Mark Johnson, the show brings together the work of three very different artists who each have a specific relationship of reinterpretation to the paragons of art history.
“Landscape, portraiture, and abstraction, expressed in variations of painting, sculpture, and photography—these are the core genres and mediums that form the tectonic plates of imagic genres and classically-minded scholarly pursuits,” says Shana Nys Dambrot in her curatorial statement. “In the hands of these three contemporary practitioners, the intentionality, expectations, techniques, and materiality of these genres are inverted and subverted in the most unexpected and captivating manners.”
Andy Bauch uses troves of tiny lego bricks to create an absolutely original take on painting and photography, in which everything is pointillist, brushstrokes are conflated with pixels, and the idea of impasto is replaced with the sculptural bas-relief texture of his materials. His series “8-Bit Art History” contextualizes the conceptual and optic foundations of his innovative technique, and includes landscapes and portraits.
Bobbie Moline-Kramer pursues a polymath painting practice, in which she regularly merges portraiture, abstraction, and landscape into a multifaceted vision. In her “American Shunga” series, she explores the tradition of abstract process-painting through her layered mixed media approach, as well as including an Eastern tradition of erotic drawing with a minimalist/materialist execution of abstract texture. Her frequent collaborator, the composer Geoff Levin, will create an original soundtrack for the entire exhibition.
Jay Mark Johnson is a landscape photographer. Except that the landscapes of nature, architecture, and industry are not necessarily his subjects—nor are they recognizable as such in his images. He has developed a highly technical process and incorporated technology from cinema and science to photograph what he calls “timelines” or images of “spacetime” in which what is still appears as linear chromatic striations and objects or figures in motion appear fixed and fully formed.
Art History, Interrupted will be on view from March 22 until May 4, 2018, with an opening reception on March 22 from 7pm – 10pm. CMay Gallery is located in the Pacific Design Center at 8687 Melrose Avenue, Space B226, West Hollywood, CA 90069.
About Shana Nys Dambrot
Shana Nys Dambrot is an art critic, curator, and author based in Downtown LA. She is Los Angeles Editor for Whitehot Magazine and a contributor to KCET’s Artbound, Flaunt, Fabrik, Art and Cake, Artillery, Palm Springs Life, Riot Material, West Hollywood Lifestyle, Jenkem, ArtReview, Vice, and Porter & Sail. She studied Art History at Vassar College, writes essays for books and exhibition catalogs, curates and juries a few exhibitions each year, is a dedicated Instagram photographer and author of experimental short fiction, and speaks at galleries, schools, and cultural institutions nationally. She sits on the Boards of Art Share-LA and the Venice Institute of Contemporary Art, and the Advisory Council of Building Bridges Art Exchange. www.sndx.net
About CMay Gallery
CMay Gallery is a contemporary art gallery that focuses on building a global cultural exchange through a dynamic programming showcasing international artists. With 13 years of long-standing art gallery experience, CMay Gallery is proud to continue highlighting and promoting local and Asian contemporary art in the Los Angeles community.
