“H20,” the second part of a two-part exhibition at the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles, opened Dec. 6. It features paintings and photography on the theme of water from Marguerite Courtney, John Fitzpatrick, Domenico Foschi, Scott Laumann, Joel H. Mark, Steve Moulton, Makiko Okamoto and Chris Stanton, among others.

The lobby gallery and music room of the Jazz Bakery displays work from emerging contemporary artists from all over the world. Joseph De Mario, curator, has organized more than 100 exhibitions for the Jazz Bakery since he founded Bakery Arts Exhibitions in 1999.

A reception for the artists will be held Saturday, Dec. 13 from 4 PM-7 PM. I encourage you to check out this excellent show.  The exhibition ends on Jan. 30, 2009.

The Jazz Bakery is located at: 3233 Helms Avenue, Los Angeles, CA. 90034. I’ve included a few images at the end of this post.

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Takun Williams is an unstoppable graphic artist and illustrator. I’ve interviewed him here.

I’ve interviewed the outstanding artist and pro surfer Sean Tully here. Check out the Forums for all kinds of art-related excellence.

Joe Forte is a filmmaker and artist living in Los Angeles. “Wonder,” a series of his huge, larger-than-life baseball cards, is currently on display at the James Gray Gallery at Bergamot Station until Nov. 9. These mixed-media pieces are captivating—textbook examples of how to create impactful works that convey personal stories of loss and hope.

Forte says in his artist statement, “In their purest form, this collection of paintings investigate the conflict created by the image we seek to present, and the more revealing personal stories that resides just out of view — either hidden, forgotten or lost.  Through the quotidian medium of baseball cards, I explore this phenomenon of the public face versus the private self, with a particularly “American” emphasis on the way this phenomenon plays out in the realm of men.”

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I’ve interviewed the amazing NYC-based artist Michael Alan here. Be sure to check the forums for all kinds of art goodness.

You’ve undoubtedly seen Robbie Conal’s work in places like the LA Weekly. He combines social comment with undeniable technical expertise to produce rad paintings, drawings and mixed-media pieces, most of them pleasingly large-scale. 

“No Spitting No Kidding,” a retrospective of 25 years of his art, opened Oct. 18 at the Track 16 Gallery at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica. The opening was packed with an enthusiastic crowd who checked out the wide range of his work, including political portraits, collages involving Smurfs, skeleton baseball players and playful kittens. Although I recognized many of the politicians and scandal-ridden characters depicted, I was even more inspired by his heavy layers of paint and the carefully sketched lines that depicted every wrinkle, falsehood and bit of hope in their faces.

The piece at the top of this page was my favorite – I found it absolutely beautiful – but I tried to capture a sampling of his diversity in the accompanying images. (And the fella with the orange cap is skateboard legend Stacy Peralta.) The show runs until Nov. 22.

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Ai Yamaguchi’s “Hana wa no ni aruyoni (Flowers  as they are in the field)” opened October 11 at Roberts & Tilton in Culver City. According to the gallery’s web site, the work hovers “between Japanese animation and classical Edo-style painting.” I was taken with the beautiful color detail work on the figures’ clothing, contrasted against the stark white walls and floors of the gallery space. A hint of voyeurism present in the work gives it an added innocent sensuality.

The show runs until November 8 and is a highly recommended stop on your visit to the all the excellent galleries on that section of Washington Blvd.

Roberts & Tilton

5801 Washington Boulevard
Culver City, CA 90232

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