Tag Archives | First Friday

Fri 1/5: Scott Rohlfs – Amurica, The Beautiful at La Luz de Jesus


Scott Rohlfs – Amurica, The Beautiful
Showing with D.W. Marino and Valerie Pobjoy
Exhibition: January 5-28
Reception: Fri. Jan. 5, 8-11 PM

La Luz de Jesus Gallery
4633 Hollywood Blvd,
Los Angeles, CA 90027
www.laluzdejesus.com

 

Scott Rohlfs – Amurica, The Beautiful

Scott Rohlfs has exploded on to the scene of the contemporary surrealist figurative art movement since he began exhibiting his works in 2006. Born and raised in Northern California, Rohlfs was an accomplished and gifted artist from a young age. As a maturing adolescent, he discovered his distinct style and fondness for painting deeply personal subject matter. With the help of his supporting family, he was able to devote his passion for painting to a full-time career. His innate passion for expressing mood and emotion on canvas and wood along with his mastery of technique in the airbrush was soon recognized, in the United States and abroad. Rohlfs has been acclaimed as an exceptional new talent, praised for his authentic portraiture. His stylized and sometimes tattooed subjects catapulted him into the heart of the Pop Surrealist movement. His distorted realism drew attention from established artists, collectors, and galleries on the West Coast and immediately propelled Rohlfs to the forefront of a burgeoning art movement. Rohlfs’s stunning portraits have attracted an audience of collectors who treasure owning a rare, truly unique work of art. While his femme fatale portraits mature in style and intensity, they retain his signature ethereal quality that embodies an undeniably feminine force. His portraits always capture elusive moments in the artist’s individual perception and experience, viewed through his imaginative lens.

Painting has always been a means of self-expression for me. Therefore, I paint because I have to and need to, not necessarily because I want to. Subconsciously or not, the figures I paint are a reflection of myself and whatever mood I am in at the time. Each mood is distinct, ranging from subliminal, cryptic expressions to more cognitive states of being and the eyes of my subjects are often the primary focus of expression. Although these surreal paintings are direct reflections of my own emotions and feelings, this style of painting also allows viewers to enjoy the freedom of determining their own interpretations of the subjects.

 

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Friday 1/5: D.W. Marino – Burning Optimism at La Luz de Jesus


D.W. Marino – Burning Optimism
Showing with Valerie Pobjoy and Scott Rohlfs
Exhibition: January 5-28
Reception: Fri. Jan. 5, 8-11 PM

La Luz de Jesus Gallery
4633 Hollywood Blvd,
Los Angeles, CA 90027
www.laluzdejesus.com

 

D.W. Marino – Burning Optimism

D.W. Marino majored in graphic arts in college but dropped out after 2 years. His first job was drawing ejection seats for a defense contractor. He toiled at different scientific firms doing technical illustration, typography, color proofing and layout as well as some catalog design work in NYC and label design in San Francisco. Yearning for something different, he started working at a neon sign shop and this leap from working in 2D to 3D led to a series of bomb Christmas ornaments.

While making these ornaments his wife, Allie, was diagnosed with cancer. As a distraction, the two came up with themes for bombs and mounted them in boxes. “We’d sit and talk about a tiki bomb, a Hello Kitty bomb, or Everyone hates clowns…why not bomb them!” The list went on and on, becoming something to focus on that took their minds away from the stress and strain of difficult circumstances.

The “Bombardment” series became the artist’s trademark.

Marino’s dad was a Nuclear Physicist in the weapons industry and was a member of the Sierra Club, so the irony of presenting an anti-war message in sardonic drag presents an evergreen pool of inspiration that is as much rooted in his childhood in the San Francisco Bay Area and the psychedelic art of that period as in his own experience in the munitions industry.

Close observers will notice the tropes of record album covers, the colorful pop art of Peter Max, and the underground comix work of artists Rick Griffen, R. Crumb, Stanley Mouse, Alton Kelley, and Gilbert Shelton–all given a new, multi-dimensional surface and context.

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Fri 1/5/18: Valerie Pobjoy – ONANISM at La Luz de Jesus


Valerie Pobjoy – Onanism
Showing with D.W. Marino and Scott Rohlfs
Exhibition: January 5-28
Reception: Fri. Jan. 5, 8-11 PM

La Luz de Jesus Gallery
4633 Hollywood Blvd,
Los Angeles, CA 90027
www.laluzdjesus.com


Valerie Pobjoy – ONANISM

This exhibition showcases the broad talent of one of Los Angeles’ most exciting up-and-coming artists and gives us a unique perspective of how she sees the world around her. Rather than adhere to a strict theme, she has given herself the opportunity to paint freely and wander through her many interests.

While working, I felt self-conscious about incoherence in the subjects of my paintings. Forcing a theme stifled my practice and I had a hard time finding motivation. I thought there should be a clear, linear theme that should be easily read by the viewer. I had to let go of the idea of an obvious direction. I realized that this was a lesson I have to apply to my life, my path is not neatly outlined and easily understood.

Through her decision to paint without reserve, we see a collection of work that is both immensely honest and fluid. Our thoughts and dreams are hardly linear or follow any one theme. Like this exhibition, they roam and move freely between reality and fantasy. This body of work acts like a stream of consciousness and is effortlessly brought together through the lens of the artist and her unique painting style.

Inspired by Degas and Manet, she brings a historical sensibility to our modern world. In pieces for this exhibition such as Empty Stage and Corrupted, what might seem mundane at first glance becomes elevated and even memorialized with each expressive brushstroke. Her brilliant Contemporary Realistic lens is the thread that brings together each portrait, landscape, and still life. Both urban and natural settings are treated with the same respect and reverence and offer up the existential question about beauty in the eye of the beholder.

Additionally, inspired by the great Frida Kahlo, her portraits carry a similar complexity in the way we see her subjects. However, rather than staged settings, we see people caught in moments of thoughts and daydreams that extend beyond their presence in this world. For pieces like Stroke of Midnight and Wildflower, we ask questions and feel drawn to the emotion like moths to a flame. Her work is compelling in the way it elevates these moments we might otherwise overlook and offers them up for exactly what they are. This raw approach is perhaps all the more fascinating in our glitz-and-glamor world where things are often manipulated to hide the truth rather than celebrate it for all that it is.

However, her paintings of animals and mythological creatures show us different kind of honesty by highlighting the simplicity of instinct and intuition in nature. In Hybrid and Fellowship, we see the awe-inspiring nature of wolves and feel the presence of these magnificent creatures undisturbed in their environment. However, in Dawn and Settled, we feel a different connection by observing the simple and pure relationship between a dog and its family. These paintings highlight what most people love about nature and its creatures. There is authenticity that can’t be replicated and genuine beauty that will forever be revered.

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11/3: Deirdre Sullivan-Beeman – Girls, Girls, Girls


Deirdre Sullivan-Beeman – Girls, Girls, Girls
showing with Jessica Dalva
November 3 – 26, 2017
Reception: Fri. Nov. 3rd, 8-11 PM

La Luz de Jesus Gallery
4633 Hollywood Blvd,
Los Angeles, CA 90027
www.laluzdejesus.com

Giant Girl
Oil and egg tempera on linen panel, 43×24″ in 51×32″ frame

The era of girls is now. Girls aren’t afraid to be obvious. Girls aren’t afraid to be naughty. Girls aren’t afraid to be girls. Today’s girl is an emerging phenomenon. What is her secret ingredient? It’s not only about being treated equally, it’s about being strong, present – a “wonder woman.” The powerful femininity arising now is a direct translation of the yin energy that I idolize. My work comes from someplace subliminal… a magical realm. It’s the unknown where I like to go. The characters that have been inhabiting my dreams are all here. As if I’ve been holding my breath and this is the first, fullest exhalation…Girls, Girls, Girls. Deirdre Sullivan-Beeman is a self-taught figurative and contemporary surrealist painter who combines 14th century painting techniques and magic realism to create pieces that appear to glow from within. Celebrating the hard-earned wisdom of childhood, she depicts subjects that are often young, hauntingly innocent, and teetering on the edge of naïveté.

Deirdre Sullivan-Beeman is a self-taught figurative painter who uses modified oil and egg tempera techniques of the 14th Century Old Masters to create magical realism works that appear to glow from within.

Celebrating the hard-earned wisdom of childhood, Sullivan-Beeman depicts subjects who are often young, hauntingly innocent and teetering on the edge of naïveté. She uses her personal dream journal to provoke her artwork, exploring Jung’s collective unconscious with an overt curiosity for the bizarre and the esoteric, especially alchemy and the tarot. Her work has been shown at Aqua Art Miami, FL; C Emerson Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, FL; Corey Helford Gallery and La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles, CA; Stephen Romano Gallery and Gristle Gallery in Brooklyn, NY; Phylogeny Contemporary, Seattle, WA; Greg Moon Art in Taos, NM.; Merlino Galleria d’Arte Contemporanea, Florence, Italy and Art! Vancouver, BC, Canada

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11/4: Van Saro Concrete Jungle at La Luz de Jesus

VII from Van Saro Concrete Jungle


Van Saro  Concrete Jungle
showing with Danni Shinya Luo  Mollier

Opening Reception: Friday, November 4th 8PM
November 4 -27, 2016

La Luz de Jesus Gallery
4633 Hollywood Blvd,
Los Angeles, CA 90027
www.laluzdejesus.com

Van Saro got his start on the streets. He grew up in Surrey, British Columbia, not too far from Vancouver, and graffiti art was a big deal. “I would take the bus to the city all the time, take pictures with a disposable camera and try to emulate it,” he says. “I was never good as a kid, but, that’s where we all started.”

Saro was 11 the first time he hit Canadian walls then got pretty heavily into the graffiti world during his teenage years. “Graffiti allowed me to be angry and get out there and paint,” he says.

These days, Saro primarily paints with oils, draws with charcoal and displays his works inside galleries. The influence of the streets, though, is still evident in his work. Saro, who has lived in Los Angeles for over a decade and a half, unveils his latest collection, “Concrete Jungle,” at La Luz de Jesus in November 2016. Among the pieces are painted bank notes from war-torn Iraq and the porous-bordered Turkey–the latter of which bears Armenian critique of the genocide of 1915-17.

laluz_saro_dinar-genocide

It’s a photo-realistic, oil-painted glimpse into decaying civilization. “I continue to find beauty in the decay,” he says, “but as a father (now) I try to find hope in unlikely places.”

laluz_saro_lost-electionFor years, Saro lived as an undocumented immigrant in California. He floated from one home to the next, spending time in San Pedro, the San Fernando Valley and parts in between. He headed up to Sacramento for a bit. At one point, not long after his arrival in Los Angeles, he lived on the streets. That lasted for a couple months, until a friend was able to get him a job in a restaurant and Saro had enough money to rent out rooms in other people’s homes. “That’s basically how I lived for most of the first eight years that I was here,” says Saro, “surviving day to day. That’s not a future I want my family”

He worked the sort of jobs that are typically available to people who don’t have papers: dishwashing and landscaping. “Whether I was able to do it or not, I would say yeah I can do it,” says Saro. “Survival makes you do things you didn’t think you could do–and I don’t mean that only in a negative context. I found strength in situations that seemed pretty hopeless.”

“When I started painting again, I was really serious about dedicating my life to being an artist,” he says. “It was when I had the luxury of knowing that I would have some food when I got home. I would have a few extra bucks in my pocket to buy a can of paint.”

Today, Saro lives in the San Fernando Valley with his wife and two children. His life has settled greatly. Still, there’s a deep struggle for survival that exists on his canvases. “Everything is balanced,” says Saro. And you can say that about his life in Los Angeles as well.

*excerpted and addended from an interview with Liz Ohanesian for KCET.

Preview both Danni Shinya Luo and Van Saro’s shows at this link

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Juan Muniz “Postal” at La Luz de Jesus 8/5

LaLuzdeJesusMunoz


Juan Muniz  – Postal

Juan Muniz & Jasmine Worth
with Special Guests Maryrose Crook, Michael Murphy, and Bunnie Reiss
August 5-28, 2016
Opening Reception, Friday August 5, 8-11 PM
La Luz de Jesus Gallery
4633 Hollywood Blvd,
Los Angeles, CA 90027
www.laluzdejesus.com

Juan Muniz – Postal
“Say it simple, mean it deep” is one of Juan’s primary goals. His paintings often feature cartoon-like characters wrestling with modern life: intrusive technology, dependency, courage, love, denial, and awareness. The primary character Juan paints, ‘Felipe’, is neither male or female and is often shown wearing a rabbit suit and a mask. Juan states: “We often wear a second skin in daily life or at work and the ‘skin’ doesn’t reveal much of our true self. The ‘mask’ I draw is a blank stare and depending on the situation, can convey humor, doubt or irony.

Born in Tijuana, and raised in San Diego, Juan started drawing and painting as a child in San Diego and later attended Collins College in Arizona for animation. After receiving an Associates Degree he moved back to Las Vegas and earned his bachelors in graphic design from The Art Institute. Juan has become the cornerstone of the Las Vegas art community. With murals throughout downtown Vegas and in the Cosmopolitan Casino and Resort Hotel, Juan’s toy-inspired paintings have the flavor of graffiti and the appeal of Disney. Juan regularly shows his work in Las Vegas and Los Angles.

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6/3: Four Women: McCormack, Brannock, gea*, Mélisande


Caitlin McCormack, Katherine Brannock, gea*, and Genie Mélisande
June 3 – 26, 2016
Artist reception: Friday, June 3rd; 8-11PM

La Luz de Jesus Gallery
Wacko / Soap Plant
4633 Hollywood Blvd,
Los Angeles, CA 90027
www.laluzdejesus.com

All of these women have sold works in the Coaster Show, which has become a viable test exhibition for future talent. Honestly their gender was not a factor in their selection. It was the variety of styles to be found in this particular gang of four who had all exhibited together and made their mark in a massive group. Each challenges easy classification, and I feel that carries forward the ongoing aesthetic we’ve set over the last thirty years. – Gallery Director, Matt Kennedy

LaLuz_June2016

Individual show info, statements and images at these links:
Caitlin McCormack
Katherine Brannock
gea*
Genie Mélisande

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