The color green has had many connotations throughout history: Pope Innocent III declared it the official Church color for the “ordinary time” between holy days; Frau Minne, the 12th Century German personification of courtly love, wore a green dress, and the color was closely associated with the Romantic Movement of the 18th and 19th centuries. But green got a bad rap from many artists who theoretically shunned it on aesthetic terms, although it’s more likely the rejection was due to the high levels of poisonous arsenic found in the pigment. Fortunately, the color green now represents, among other things, ecology, marijuana, and the universal symbol of permission to go.
Zenfourtwenty, “Pharma”, Mixed media, 10 x 10 x 12 in., 2018. Photo courtesy The Garage Gallery
The Garage Gallery explores these modern associations with their “Green Themed Art Show,” a group exhibition featuring interpretations of the color by a wide variety of artists. It’s not surprising that in California the color green is most readily associated with marijuana; consequently, Stoner Art is represented in full force. The artist Zenfourtwenty mixes mota with mysticism in the sculpture “Pharma,”, which perhaps represents the vanguard of freestanding smokable art; after all, why put anything on your walls if you’re going to be bouncing off them? Taking on Disney, Zachary Benson home delivers Scrooge McDope, the old red-eyed miser apparently loosening up after a few tokes. Red, white, and blue patriotism is blended with green optimism in Michael Rosner’s piece “Xist,” bringing political overtones to a Hippy icon most frequently seen on denim jackets, not in galleries.
Michael Rosner, “Xist”, Mixed media, 8 x 8 in., 2018. Photo by Anthony Ausgang
Zachary Benson, “Scrooge McDope”, Acrylic and metallic paint on canvas, 24 x 24 in., 2018. Photo by Anthony Ausgang
Moving from the stoned to the sublime, Craig Carthwright presents a bulletin from the future with the painting Retrieval, in which a Millennial god with an aquarium on her back repopulates a scourged planet Earth. Its optimistic sentiment succinctly expresses a Green idealism in which the perpetrators of ecological disaster finally acknowledge that the solution is, quite visually, in their hands. A similar prediction is presented in Nathan Cartwright’s untitled relief painting, but here multi-hued rainbows featuring the color green soften technology’s negative impact; in this scenario, nature itself saves the day.
Craig Carthwright, “Retrieval”, Oil on canvas, 24 x 36 in., 2018. Photo by Anthony Ausgang
Nathan Cartwright, Untitled, 18 x 24 in., 2018. Photo by Anthony Ausgang
Other artists in the show are content to use the color with no associations beyond its retinal appeal. The Obanoth brings us an impossibly green Koi eyeing an iridescent fly hovering above the water’s surface, the scene’s terminal serenity emphasized by the green color shared by both hunter and prey. Caro Caro’s tondo also uses the color green to get attention, in this case emphasized by the violet color of the background. It’s a remarkably psychedelic junket, and the fascinating liquidity bears up under prolonged viewing.
The Obanoth, Untitled, Acrylic on wood, 12 x 12 in,. 2018. Photo by Anthony Ausgang
Caro Caro, Untitled, Acrylic on canvas, 24 in. diameter, 2018. Photo by Anthony Ausgang
The French art historian Michel Pastoureau reveals in his book GREEN: The History of a Color that the prophet Mohammad was fond of green and that the warring factions of Islam at the time were unified under the sacred color. The fact that Christianity and Islam both found uses for the color green indicates that the religions might not be as separate as one might think, so it may be time that the Priests and the Imams sat down together, smoked some of that green stuff, and had a stoned but peaceful conversation before giving each other the green light.
Green Themed Art Show, The Garage Gallery, 715 Garland Avenue, L.A., CA., 90017. April 20 – June 25, 2018. Gallery hours Thursday 1-7 and most weekdays 8 PM to 2 AM. 21+ only. (404) 822-2311 https://www.facebook.com/GARAGEGALLERYLA/
THis just makes me green with envy! Gotta check out the show now! Great job AA!
Makes me want to see the show immediately. This kind of review gives enough to entice, but not enough to feel that a person doesn’t need to actually see it. Green for “go!” indeed.
Thanx for the tip of the Hatlo.