Artillery Magazine

Tag: Art Mag

  • Pick of the Week: Maren Karlson In Lieu

    Pick of the Week: Maren Karlson
    In Lieu

    It’s hard to pin down joyfulness. It’s a transient emotion that is readily batted away by the complexities and pains of everyday life. One can almost forget what it feels like. Luckily, one of the crucial functions of art is to remind us all that joy does exist. This is not to say that all art is joyful; in fact, most art is decidedly not. For one reason or another, we as a society have deemed it necessary for art to make a statement if it is to be taken seriously. Fine art – a term I use unwillingly – must do away with joyfulness if it is ever to do away with earnestness, which is the antithesis of contemporary art. And yet, Maren Karlson defies this golden rule in her new show, “Petal’s Path,” on view at In Lieu.

    Karlson’s works are incredibly passionate. They are ethereal landscapes and still-lifes which take the natural world and transpose it onto small canvases. Viriditas, one of the larger pieces, catches the eye with its sharp bisection of blue and white halves and its swirling, intersecting areas of earthy green. Within the small, often frame-within-frame drawings, Karlson summons magical realms of vibrant color and natural themes.

    Many of Karlson’s works abstractedly draw on the forms of moths and butterflies, such as Pupa’s Path, relying on their native symmetry to engage with the viewer. One is drawn into their flowing wings and nebulous bodies, circling around and around the abstracted portraits of the delicate creatures. They are simplistic at first glance – almost childlike – but the subtle gradations of color and careful mirroring underscore Karlson’s  capable exhibition of joy.

    Even the materials which Karlson uses emphasize this innocent, earnest aesthetic. The colored pencil lines, bumpy and tactile on the rough canvas, evoke a simpler time in one’s own life. It’s a body of work that doesn’t have ulterior motives or hidden messages, and simultaneously proves great art doesn’t need them. “Petal’s Path” shows us intimate glimpses of an uncomplicated, unironic, and unserious world of soft, verdant planes of green and swirling eddies of blue and violet.

    In Lieu
    5426 Monte Vista St.
    Los Angeles, CA, 90042
    Appointment Only

  • Pick of the Week: Peter Alexander Cirrus Gallery

    Pick of the Week: Peter Alexander
    Cirrus Gallery

    It’s not that difficult to be contemporary. Be it through art, or writing, or simply conversation, we’re almost always discussing what’s right in front of us. It’s another thing all together to create something which takes on an entirely new meaning decades after fabrication. This is the power of Peter Alexander’s exhibition “Light in Place,” on view now at the Cirrus Gallery.

    This survey of Alexander’s works – mostly lithographs and paintings, created in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s – illustrates some of the finer physical qualities of light. Alexander uses a wide variety of materials like velvet, glitter, and Kromekote paper to transform not only the light within the painting but the light of the space itself into a tactile experience. His older paintings, such as The Other One and Huh?, are especially engaged with this physicalizing work.

    From the 1980s onwards, Alexander’s work becomes almost entirely lithographic as his pursuit of understanding and capturing light becomes more direct. Alexander himself is quoted as being inspired by the nature of Los Angeles and Southern California in particular. There are a wide variety of subjects: stunning bursts of light and color, monochromatic storm clouds breaking over the ocean, and cityscapes viewed from high above.

    But what exists throughout all of Alexander’s works is a deep sense of unease. The vibrant sunsets appear as violent and chaotic explosions. The tilted cityscapes feel unbalanced and restless. The storm clouds, though breaking, are dark and threatening. Overall, Alexander’s vision of the beautiful vistas which inspired him are frightening, almost dystopic.

    I wondered in my unease whether this feeling was coming from the art or from our current era. The sunsets reminded me of the images of the wildfires that were blanketing California in smoke. The lights of a city at night reminded me of the on-going protests for human rights and justice in Los Angeles. The work was pertinent to right now, and while that pertinence disquieted me, it is a testament to Alexander’s ability as an artist to be strike that mark from thirty years in the past.

    Cirrus Gallery
    2011 S. Santa Fe Ave
    Los Angeles, CA 90021
    Show runs through Nov. 14th
    Appointment Only—No Walk-Ins