Please join us for the closing reception for Susan Joseph: Hopeful Monsters and Groundspace Project on Saturday, September 9 from 4:00 to 6:00 pm.

For more on Susan Joseph’s art work and Groundspace Project here’s a link to a wondrous article, Susan Joseph: A Tribute, by art historian and critic, Betty Ann Brown in Art and Cake.

Susan Joseph: A Tribute

Groundspace Project is an artist-run alternative space located just east of the 4th Street bridge in downtown Los Angeles.
Exhibition hours are Friday and Saturday, 1-6 pm.

1427 E. 4th St. #4
Los Angeles, CA 90033

Susan Joseph: Hopeful Monsters
Opening Reception: Saturday, August 19, 6-9 pm
Closing Reception: Saturday, September 9, 4-6 pm
Exhibition Dates: August 19 – September 9, 2017

Groundspace Project is pleased to present Susan Joseph: Hopeful Monsters, a solo painting exhibition. Please join us for the opening reception on Saturday, August 19 from 6:00 to 9:00 pm.

Susan Joseph | Hopeful Monsters

Susan Joseph’s new suite of paintings, “Hopeful Monsters,” is a gorgeous exploration of pattern, light, and form. Inspired in part by the biological phenomenon of plants and animals that make large evolutionary steps in one generation (called hopeful monsters), her new work revels in wild and prolific abundance. At the heart of much of this is the idea that massive iterations of basic forms give rise in turn to variations that lead to change and growth – and it is a story wonderfully told in these works.

Observations of “monster” flowers, that is, blossoms that have more than the usual number of petals or that are otherwise variant, date back more than two millennia to the ancient Greeks, and contemporary science continues to study aspects of the idea. Although the connotation of a monster (and mutation) is one of grotesque and frightening aspects, it’s also possible to see that such a “monster” is the literal embodiment of rapid change. The biological “monster” is thus a portent and harbinger of change, pointing to new forms that have yet to be. In these paintings, Joseph poetically invokes this idea, specifically alluding to the rapid growth and breakthroughs that can occur in a creative process.

The artist’s technique is elegant and powerful: a stencil based on a floral motif, unique to each painting, is used to overlay hundreds of layers of translucent oil color on a background tone, most often a pairing of white and blue. Patterns emerge from swirls of repeated shapes, and the paintings are shimmering masses of color, a visual field alive with implied motion. A strong counterpoint of faintly painted and densely stenciled areas coalesces into forms and shapes, even as edges and boundaries remain somewhat amorphous. The overall feeling is wild and unfettered, a sense of energy run rampant that seems on the verge of bursting past the bounds of the paintings.

In addition, there is a tangible as well as visual facet to the art. Layer upon layer of thinly applied paint accretes into a physical topography on each painting, ranging from a membranous clarity infused with white color, to the denser value and relatively thicker striations of more heavily loaded pigment. This paint-skin gives the paintings a heft and presence that promises and delivers more than just a retinal experience, presenting nuanced, even sensual surfaces.

However, though their source code is organic and floral, these artworks are not flowery, instead embodying a runaway fecundity that hints at an untrammeled growth of dense foliage, overrunning its constraints. Viewing the paintings is to be immersed in a lush garden of abstraction; certainly, the sheer profusion of forms and riot of activity in each painting feels natural – in the most fundamental meaning of that term – and conveys the unbounded exuberance of Spring.

In the multi-panel “Cat’s Paw,” a torrent of repeated blue shapes flow in wave-like rhythms across the surface, almost vibrating with an internal pulse. Individually translucent, the repetition of overlaid marks begins with whispered subtle passages of color at the periphery, then builds into orchestral swells of dense blue, like frozen animation. This dynamic tension creates a recession into groundless space, volume in both a visual and almost musical sense.

“Inflorescence,” a composition of two vertical forms bridged by a third, embraces a broader palette and taps into a different formal treatment. Rather than the more linear momentum of some of the other works, this painting has its own internal gravity, and a fountain of overlaid stenciled marks festoon the large forms with cascades of diaphanous color, which gradually fade into the dark blue background. The teeming energy of this piece is enriched by the gently modulated warmer hues throughout the main forms, and the slight relief of the monochromatic stencils at the edge of the panel.With the largest work in the show, “Blown Bloom,” Joseph brings this iterative approach to the support itself.  Comprised of 45 separate paper sheets, the painting has its genesis on one sheet, and then extends onto additional sheets, suggesting an ongoing propagation of the form and pattern. The paper itself is not mounted, but attached to the wall at the corners; the slight curl in each sheet creates a wavering, undulating texture across the face of the composite painting, adding to the sense of motion and movement.Vibrating with a dizzy rush of form, pattern, and color, Susan Joseph’s new work sparkles as it melds organic multiplicity and bloom with visual and tactile grace.

-Kerry Kugelman

References

Catching A ‘Hopeful Monster’: Shepherd’s Purse (Capsella Bursa-Pastoris) As A Model System To Study The Evolution Of Flower Development
Received 28 June 2006; Accepted 8 August 2006  Journal of Experimental Botany
https://oup.silverchair-cdn.com/oup/backfile/Content_public/Journal/jxb/57/13/10.1093/jxb/erl158/2/erl158.pdf?Expires=1501542605&Signature=WHhB72042d32T~EOPglqibZDSbOaPdk2tFlKzY9g~HgowVqJ5kvt8z3wC9cJzzXkYQN2zcG8eimd7Q8GNPF155MZgbpZL8uJonT9Qls5tqdkWxUVf4ooxX5JCkU~BN4mSOM646AXdEzF12Ki7nvtpsFPrJNC0g-NVsL5T8EBQUEZAXhOAuMHouaDeuXzn~On2MSDOs9O4-MOXZM14RuX~O8Q6aTzwXk5rj6S9~IGQu5liWzfZ06KWyiQLHoO98rBVFuJz62ToC~7rU-8algBInlhoEH1y~WxQQqO8j2SC4n1L4ABYlWoMd31dQd1U9d-Yoq9yad9FNxbQ8xgVGXF8w__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAIUCZBIA4LVPAVW3Q

The Monster Is Back, and It’s HopefulBY OLIVIA JUDSON | JANUARY 22, 2008 6:22 PM | The New York Times
https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/the-monster-is-back-and-its-hopeful/

Evolution: Revenge of the hopeful monsterBy Tanguy Chouard   February 17, 2010  Nature News
www.nature.com/news/2010/100217/full/463864a.html

Groundspace Project is an artist-run alternative space located just east of the 4th Street bridge in downtown Los Angeles.
Exhibition hours are Friday and Saturday, 1-6 pm.

1427 E. 4th St. #4
Los Angeles, CA 90033

Please join us for the curator’s talk and closing reception for It’s a Wonderful World curated by Betty Ann Brown on Saturday, Jul 22 from 4:00 to 6:00 pm.

It’s a Wonderful World includes artists Aline Mare, Andrea Bersaglieri, Ann Mitchell, Catherine Ruane, Cheri Gaulke, Courtney Hayes-Sturgeon, Dwora Fried, Erika Lizée, Jill Sykes, Kate Carvellas, Kireilyn Barber, L. Aviva Diamond, Lillian Abel, Linda Sue Price, Maria Larsson, Melissa Reischman, Michelle Rozic, Nancy Mooslin, Roger Gordon, Samuelle Richardson, Sandra Mueller and Susan Sironi.

Groundspace Project is an artist-run alternative space located just east of the 4th Street bridge in downtown Los Angeles.
Exhibition hours are Friday and Saturday, 1-6 pm.

1427 E. 4th St. #4
Los Angeles, CA 90033

It’s a Wonderful World curated by Betty Ann Brown

Opening Reception: Saturday, July 8, 6:00-9:00 pm
Closing Reception and Curator’s Talk: Saturday, July 22, 4:00-6:00 pm
Exhibition Dates: July 8-23, 2017

Groundspace Project is pleased to present It’s A Wonderful World curated by Betty Ann Brown, including artists Aline Mare, Andrea Bersaglieri, Ann Mitchell, Catherine Ruane, Cheri Gaulke, Courtney Hayes-Sturgeon, Dwora Fried, Erika Lizée, Jill Sykes, Kate Carvellas, Kireilyn Barber, L. Aviva Diamond, Lillian Abel, Linda Sue Price, Maria Larsson, Melissa Reischman, Michelle Rozic, Nancy Mooslin, Roger Gordon, Samuelle Richardson, Sandra Mueller and Susan Sironi. Please join us for the opening reception on Saturday, July 8, 6:00 to 9:00 pm.

Curator’s Statement:
I see trees of green, red roses too.
I see them bloom for me and for you,
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

In this time of global doubt and despair, to focus on the wonder of our world is to turn to the positive and the affirmatively possible. In the Call for Submissions to this exhibition, artist/curator Susan Joseph and I wrote that we were “looking for artists who celebrate the marvelous beauty of our natural and built environments. Such celebrations can be figurative, symbolic or abstract, but should not be simply pretty in a superficial or ‘easy’ way.” I have tried to hold to that statement throughout the jurying process.

We received almost a hundred submissions, most of them truly excellent. The first challenge in the jurying process was to winnow that large number down to a total that would fit in the Groundspace Project gallery. But more important than numbers was the need to select artworks that would “talk” to each other; I sought artworks that, together, would create a cohesive and engaged aesthetic conversation. Several really great pieces were eliminated because they didn’t fit into the exhibition that began to emerge, almost organically, from the submissions.

As it stands, the exhibition features poetic, lyrical work that is often landscape based, with images of plants and pathways, water, smoke, and steam. There are glances into the urban environment, from abandoned back alleys to the architecture of industry. There are ghostly canines wandering through imagined spaces. And there are echoes of Buddhist chants glancing off the ripples of the Mekong River.

Selecting the prize recipients was as challenging as the initial jurying process. In the end, I had to go with the pieces that spoke most clearly to my heart. All of the submissions spoke to me and, frankly, if I were to go through them in a week or a month or a year down the line, I might very well select four other winners.

I see skies of blue and clouds of white,
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night.
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.
Song written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss,
First performed by Louis Armstrong in 1967

Betty Ann Brown
Art historian, critic and curator

Groundspace Project is an artist-run alternative space located just east of the 4th Street bridge in downtown Los Angeles.
Exhibition hours are Friday and Saturday, 1-6 pm.

1427 E. 4th St. #4
Los Angeles, CA 90033

Trip The Light Fantastic: Marion Lane and Rochelle Botello

Opening Reception and Performance: Saturday, June 3, 6-9 pm
Closing Reception: Saturday, June 24, 4-6 pm
Exhibition Dates: June 3- 24, 2017

Groundspace Project is pleased to present Trip The Light Fantastic a two person show by Marion Lane and Rochelle Botello.  We hope you can join us Saturday, June 4 between 6:00 and 9:00 pm for the opening reception.  During the reception choreographer and dancer, Shelby Williams-Gonzalez, will perform an interactive dance with Rochelle’s sculpture.

Artists’ Statement:

Trip The Light Fantastic: Marion Lane and Rochelle Botello is a two person exhibition that continues a conversation between two individual art practices. Exploring materiality, process and discovery, their work embraces improvisation, humor, and the absurd. The title refers to the ways in which one moves lightly in time or moment, to optimistic temperaments that shift in gesture, form and color. Through the manipulation of unlikely materials, they reveal complexities of everyday life. The works in this exhibition are extensions of that engagement with life, done with grit, reverence and verve.

Rochelle Botello

Marion Lane

Rochelle Botello is a Los Angeles based visual artist working across mixed media, sculpture and site-specific installations. Her work has been exhibited in the United States and internationally, extending Japan, Berlin and South Korea. She has exhibited with Holter Museum of Art, Torrance Art Museum, Jaus, Coagula Curatorial and Eastside International to name a few. Her exhibitions have also been reviewed in the LA Times, The Huffington Post, Artillery Magazine and Coagula Art Journal. Botello holds a MFA from Claremont Graduate University and a BA in Sociology with an emphasis in Social Psychology from University of California, Santa Cruz.

Marion Lane currently lives and works in Los Angeles. Her work has been widely exhibited in the United States and internationally including Australia and Japan. Lane’s art has been featured in Beautiful Decay, Juxtapoz Magazine, Artillery Magazine, Modern Painters, Artweek.LA, ArtScene and the LA Weekly. Her exhibitions have been an outlet for her immense curiosity and interest in engaging the human eye and the systems by which it organizes color and form.

Shelby Williams-Gonzalez (choreographer / dancer) has danced with LA-based groups such as Diana MacNeil and the Posthouse Dance Group, The Yorke Dance Project, and Louise Reichlin and Dancers. She has a Bachelor’s in Dance and Anthropology from UC Berkeley. While attending Berkeley she was a member of the Kendra Kimbrough Dance Ensemble, Patricia Reedy Dancers and Robert Moses’ Kin. Shelby completed the Silvestre Technique program in Salvador, Bahia, where she was certified as an instructor of the Brazilian based modern dance technique. As an arts educator, Shelby serves as the Development and Communications Director for artworxLA (formerly The HeArt Project), a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing the arts to alternative high schools. As an artist, she draws from her diverse foundation in contemporary dance, martial arts, and traditional and contemporary Afro-Brazilian movement. Shelby is a proud native Angelino, mom, wife, avid runner and company member of the national touring Afro-Brazilian dance company, Viver Brasil.

Groundspace Project is an artist-run alternative space located just east of the 4th Street bridge in downtown Los Angeles.
Exhibition hours are Friday and Saturday, 1-6 pm.

1427 E. 4th St. #4
Los Angeles, CA 90033

Times Three! Damian Garcia, Veda B. Kaya and Terry Tripp
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 22, 6:00 – 9:00 pm
Closing Reception: Saturday, May 13, 4:00 – 6:00 pm
Exhibition Dates: April 22 – May 13, 2017

Groundspace Project is pleased to present Times Three! Damian Garcia, Veda B. Kaya and Terry Tripp, three painters whose work ranges from pure meditation to total distraction – a sure reflection of the times. In this case, however, it’s all about painting!

Please join us on Saturday, April 22 from 6:00 to 9:00 pm for the opening reception of Times Three!

Artists’ Statements:

Damian Garcia:
My work is a series of juxtaposed compositions influenced by organic patterns found in nature and linear structures representational of human engineering. Creating imaginative environments, I have taken the abstract patterns from the natural wood grain and linear elements to control the space within my canvas. Each ballpoint pen drawing is formed with multiple visual layers, allowing the audience to explore the image with child like curiosity during the time of interpretation.

Veda B. Kaya:
Interdependence and interconnectedness of life and an exploration of the balance between feminine and masculine are principal themes in my work.

I define a non-objective, geometric and aesthetic environment with transparent color and movement informed by a life long yoga practice. The detailed precision of line and hard-edge elements are integral parts of my creative process.

My paintings are my meditations for peace and transcendence.

Terry Tripp

Terry Tripp

I’m a visual artist who works in painting, illustration, and photography. My most current work is in expressionist paintings where I work in mixed media on canvas. I create vibrantly colorful images of cartoony and disproportionate characters and scenes pulling from a 1980’s pop-culture palette inspired by my childhood, and I work the canvas with rough brush strokes as I freely transfer thoughts and images onto the canvas like a pencil in a personal sketchbook. Words, phrases, and sometimes even short poems are written, crossed out, and replaced in the paintings to create fractured narratives. Although my images may appear fun and playful, upon closer examination, they can reflect an uncanny underlying nature.

Groundspace Project is an artist-run alternative space located just east of the 4th Street bridge in downtown Los Angeles.
Exhibition hours are Friday and Saturday, 1-6 pm.

1427 E. 4th St. #4
Los Angeles, CA 90033

Groundspace Project is happy to announce IT’S A WONDERFUL WORLD, curated by Betty Ann Brown, a  juried art exhibition scheduled for July 8-22, 2017, with a reception for the artists Saturday, July 8, 6:00 to 9:00 pm. Three artists will be selected out of the IT’S A WONDERFUL WORLD exhibition for CASH prizes.

We’re looking for artists who celebrate the marvelous beauty of our natural and built environments. Such celebrations can be figurative, symbolic or abstract, but should not be simply pretty in a superficial or “easy” way.

IT’S A WONDERFUL WORLD will be curated by art historian, critic, and curator, Betty Ann Brown. Brown has curated retrospective exhibitions for Hans Burkhardt, Roland Reiss, Linda Vallejo, June Wayne, and John White, as well as numerous themed exhibitions.  In addition, Brown has written critical reviews for various periodicals–including Art Ltd., Arts, Artillery, Artscene, Artweek, and The Los Angeles Times—and published several books, among them Exposures, Women & Their Art; Expanding Circles: Women, Art & Community; Gradiva’s Mirror: Reflections on Women, Surrealism & Art History; Hero, Madman, Criminal, Victim: The Artist in Film & Fiction; and Afternoons with June: Stories of June Wayne’s Art & Life.

CLICK HERE FOR THE ENTRY FORM.

Exhibition Dates: July 8-22, 2017
Opening Reception: Saturday, July 8, 6-9 pm

Please join us for the closing reception for Alex Kritselis, Travelers of Glow and Sorrow on Saturday, March 25 from 4-6 pm.
The artist’s talk will start about 4:45 pm.

Groundspace Project is an artist-run alternative space located just east of the 4th Street bridge in downtown Los Angeles.
Exhibition hours are Friday and Saturday, 1-6 pm.

1427 E. 4th St. #4
Los Angeles, CA 90033

Alex Kritselis: Travelers of Glow and Sorrow
Opening Reception: Saturday, February 25, 6-9 pm
Artist’s Talk and Closing Reception: Saturday, March 25, 4-6 pm
Exhibition Dates: February 25-March 25, 2017

Alex Kritselis is an artist whose practice I have admired for many years.  Creating art that is always a conjunction of awarenesses, Kritselis captures through his kaleidoscope lens perceptions of his experience and through those perceptions makes art.  No matter the medium, his artwork is always visually rich – but doesn’t necessarily yield to interpretation easily. It’s slow and primarily non-verbal, even as it flirts with semiotics.

The paintings in Travelers of Glow and Sorrow each represent a moment, each painting caught in a metamorphosis from the painter’s first act, articulating a subject matter, to his second act, obscuring his subject in veils of translucent, gravity ridden paint. The viewer’s participation is in the act of erasure itself, like that moment when the present transforms into the past, a memory soon shrouded in history and myth. These paintings are large scale and epic, almost cinematic in feel.
I am very happy to host Alex Kritselis’ second solo exhibition at Groundspace Project. The first, also a large scale installation, Imperial Eden/After the Dissent, was held in 2013.

Artists’ Statement:

It’s imperative to examine and understand the past, to remember where we came from and the journey we took to arrive where we are today. Through our work we find the passage that takes us to ourselves. From the beginning the eyes of the child see the world, ineffaceable experiences that form the imagination.

My current work continues the ongoing examination of human history’s indelible impact and influence on our modern psyche and physical environment.  In my work I juxtapose incorporeal fragments of thoughts, memories, and universally recognized symbols of civilization over time into dense, almost pixelated, configurations – In my current process I have moved toward fewer but more expansive panels through which to explore and question the same threads that continue to drive my work:  the chronicling of civilizations’ historic and current affairs, socioeconomic quagmires, conflicts, and the collective behavioral patterns they generate—ultimately, man’s ability to spawn narrative and create meaning from fragments.

Groundspace Project is an artist-run alternative space located just east of the 4th Street bridge in downtown Los Angeles.
Exhibition hours are Friday and Saturday, 1-6 pm.

1427 E. 4th St. #4
Los Angeles, CA 90033

Artist’s Talk and Closing Reception for Yoshie Sakai’s, KOKO’S LOVE!

YOSHIE SAKAI, KOKO’S LOVE
Artist’s Talk and Closing Reception: Saturday, February 11, 4-6 pm
Exhibition Dates: January 21-February 11, 2017Please join us for the artist’s talk and closing reception for Yoshie Sakai’s action packed video installation, KOKO’S LOVE! on Saturday, February 11, 4-6 pm.The adventures of Yukie, the protagonist of Sakai’s soap opera style video series, includes 7 videos; the long awaited Episode 2, a recap of Episode 1 and 5 related shorts are embedded in an immersive environment simulating Yuki’s life.You can also drop by Friday or Saturday, 1:00 to 6:00 pm through February 11.

Saturday, February 25, 6-9 PM

Opening Reception for Alex Kritselis: Travelers of Glow and Sorrow

Alex Kritselis: Travelers of Glow and Sorrow
Opening Reception: Saturday, February 25, 6-9 pm
Artist’s Talk and Closing Reception: Saturday, March 25, 4-6 pm
Exhibition Dates: February 25-March 25, 2017

Alex Kritselis is an artist whose practice I have admired for many years.  Creating art that is always a conjunction of awarenesses, Kritselis captures through his kaleidoscope lens perceptions of his experience and through those perceptions makes art.  No matter the medium, his artwork is always visually rich – but doesn’t necessarily yield to interpretation easily. It’s slow and primarily non-verbal, even as it flirts with semiotics.

The paintings in Travelers of Glow and Sorrow each represent a moment, each painting caught in a metamorphosis from the painter’s first act, articulating a subject matter, to his second act, obscuring his subject in veils of translucent, gravity ridden paint. The viewer’s participation is in the act of erasure itself, like that moment when the present transforms into the past, a memory soon shrouded in history and myth. These paintings are large scale and epic, almost cinematic in feel.

I am very happy to host Alex Kritselis’ second solo exhibition at Groundspace Project. The first, also a large scale installation, Imperial Eden/After the Dissent, was held in 2013.

Saturday, April 8, 6-9 pm
Thinh Nguyen: Love Sex Revolution AND The Kelly’s

PERFORMANCE NIGHT!

Saturday, April 8, 6-9 pm:

Thinh Nguyen: Love Sex Revolution AND The Kelly’s

PERFORMANCE NIGHT!

Thinh Nguyen’s current works examine non-binary identity where he reclaims his feminine superego (Long Long) from childhood memories growing up as a girl. For this performance, Nguyen will be Long Long singing mantra-songs he wrote in respond to the current sociopolitical climate. In part protest and empowerment, the songs are performed in various musical style from Pop to Vietnamese Folks for the duration of the opening to subvert and revolt against the unequal power structures within our political and cultural values.

Performance Schedule:
6:00 – 6:30 PM – Reception
6:30 – 7:00 PM – The Kelly’s Opens
7:00 – 8:30 PM – Long Long performs
8:30 – 9:00 PM – Closing
Groundspace Project is an artist-run alternative space located just east of the 4th Street bridge in downtown Los Angeles.
Exhibition hours are Friday and Saturday, 1-6 pm.

1427 E. 4th St. #4
Los Angeles, CA 90033