December 1-31, 2000
Jose Arenas, Nora Auston, Alex Jackson, Ron Laboray
Geography
The idea of location changed dramatically in the 20th century. Travel, immigration, film and television have altered our perception of what defines a place. The four artists in this show offer diverse views of how we recognize a site.
 Arenas: left, Mr Felix, 2000, oil on canvas, 46" x 57"right, No me Olvides, 1999, oil on canvas, 48" x 67"
Jose Arenas spent his childhood both in California, his birthplace, and Mexico, where his parents were born. The experience of growing up in opposing environments is reflected in his paintings, radiantly discordant with images of the old and the new. This contradiction and unification of two worlds provides an opportunity to reflect on the bicultural experience.
 Auston: California, #1 of 3, 2000,black vinyl and batting, 96" x 5" x 36"
Nora Auston makes objects that poke the viewer with humor. Her piece "California, #1of 3" is a soft sculpture of black vinyl and batting in the shape of California. Its silhouette is not immediately apparent, but only upon inspection does the flash of recognition occur. The vinyl is in a pattern formerly used on saddles and leather, an Old California of the Sergio Leone 'spaghetti western.'
 Jackson: Rainbow Desert, 1999, acrylic, gravel and glitter on plywood, 13" x 23"
Alex Jackson is interested in the idea of vacancy and how the environment is defined by culture in terms of occupation. His work responds to the absurdity of our invented distinctions between nature and culture, looking at the landscape as receptacle for meaning and taste, and as an object of aesthetic possession. Using such diverse materials as gravel, glitter as well as acrylic paint, he explores the conventions of landscape representation and interpretation.
 Laboray: Batman Superman Teamup, Little by Litte #3, 2000, plastic on alumilite, 16" x 23"
Ran Laboray constructs maps that look like paintings. These are maps to places that exist in both the world of Rand McNally and Fox Television: Gotham, Metropolis and Springfield, the home of the Simpsons. The act of mapping ultimately fails, it is not possible to depict a three dimensional object (the planet) in two, and yet we persist. These guides to places both real and imagined contribute to a false but necessary belief of an understandable world.
|
