Reviews & Interviews
FACES OF INDUSTRY
So I sauntered down the 110 to the vast industrial park that is Torrance last Saturday to see a great portrait show at Torrance Art Museum (TAM). Many fine and diverse works did I see at "The Reflected Gaze - Self Portraiture Today" show. There was painting, sculpture, electronic media, even a massive Futurism inspired machined tapestry by Chuck Close.
Perhaps the most curious object was a volcanic self portrait by Emily Counts featuring multiple detailed ceramic pieces in the likeness of the artist as well as inset lighting. The piece was very bold and enigmatic. I endeavored to interview the artist (I can do that sort of thing now that I'm a "journalist") and it turned out that I had met her years earlier at a mutual friend's wedding. Yes, I know, the world, it is small, especially the "art world".
Other thoughtful works included Dane Picard's electronic portrait that included photographs morphing together in cronological order from childhood to present. Ariel Erestingcol's Add Me made with fusion beads features a recreation of Facebook spam reminding us thatmany of our portraits already exist in the cloud.
Other favorites include Julie Heffernan, KAW, Gavin Nolan, Jennifer Nehrbass, and Justin Bower. But, I though the entire show was very good as a whole. So, if you find yourself touring the Caterpillar Plant, or thinking about getting into the Petrochemical or Aerospace industry, keep in mind Torrance has some culture too.
BY TTINLA :Treiops Treyfid
A look at virtual life on the D-list
by Virginia Pelley
SAN FRANCISCO ART GALLERIES OPENINGS
FIRST THURSDAY; 10.01.09
Togonon Gallery: Servando Garcia - Struggle; Ariel Erestingcol - Cewebrities, The Virtual Red Carpet.
Review by GLS: The double solo shows opening at the Togonon Gallery are the second solo exhibition there for Ariel Erestingcol and the third for Servando Garcia.
Ariel Erestingcol's show, his second at Togonon, entitled "Cewebrities, The Virtual Red Carpet" is comprised of portraits of individuals made famous by their internet and electronic media presence and status. Most of the pieces are created by painstakingly assembling thousands of small, colored, pixel-like plastic beads into life-like renderings of these online personas. The centerpiece of Erestingcol's show is a colorful and highly effective assembly of eighteen individual portraits combined into a large composite work entitled "Cewebrities," including a variation of the now famous campaign image of President Obama.
Also on display are several captivating celebrities in air brush, including a rendition of the now highly recognizable face of Susan Boyle who this year rose from obscurity to stardom virtually overnight, courtesy of the entertainment television media. Erestingcol obtained his Bachelor's degree from the San Francisco Art Institute and his MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. He is a native of Los Angeles, where he currently lives and works.
Art by Ariel Erestingcol.
Art by Ariel Erestingcol.
Air brushed Susan Boyle by Ariel Erestingcol (image c/o GLS).
Ariel Erestingcol and his art.
Pinkie cam detail of art by Ariel Erestingcol (fused mini plastic beads).
www.artbusiness.com/1open/firstth1009.html
Art Review: KCCLA 16th Annual Juried Exhibition
Friday night the Korean Cultural Center had an opening ceremony for their 16th annual juried exhibition, which has been gaining recognition since 1993. Fourteen artists were chosen based on the ability their work had in capturing the essence of the show. One of the shows jurors, Marc Pally mentioned that thematically, the show was curated similarly to this years Whitney Biennial; in that the subject of a society under stress would act as the main concern. The jury settled on a group of works that spoke to a certain kind of “confrontation of the real: stylistic, relationally or thematically”.My impression on the show as a whole was that it was expertly curated; there was a good balance of material and approach, diverse enough that each piece was able to stand out amongst its neighbors. Some of the work I really thought was remarkable, and I would like to highlight those artists.
The most formal of the pieces were the photographs. Kireilyn Barbers’ series of studies taken from hotel rooms were astonishing in her use of depth of field and color. The attention that she payed to the detail of sterile surfaces of spaces cleaned everyday created a great tension with the fact that they are used by many people for the most intimate of daily rituals. Jennifer Brandon’s work followed a similar thread in subject matter, but threw a wrench in it with her long rectangular studies of a mattress in the stages of its innards being ripped out. We associate the bed and bedroom as a place of rest and privacy, both Barber’s and Brandon’s work assume an uncomforting aspect - one of home where the evidence of living is wiped away daily, the other where the altar of the most intimate of spaces is violently assaulted.
A painting by Joseph P. Gerges, “Casting the First Stone”, depicts a group of young men looking uncertainly at the veiwer, some of them with rocks in their hands, one with an arm cocked and ready to throw. The figures are rendered expertly in oils, softly and down to the last details of reflection in their eyes. The paint strokes loosen at the edges, almost causing halos around them that vibrate into thick rose colored swatches contrasting with the sky blue ground color. The lighting and the treatment of the figures is almost seductive in the rich contrast and quality of the texture, but truly the expressions of the young men was emotive for me. I realized that the artist was not portraying the initial meaning in the title - referring to the Biblical passage - but the point in adolescence that every human comes to. The point in our lives where we choose a moral side, wether it be prompted by society or religion; and the uncertainty that is felt when acting upon it the first time; throwing our first stone; unsure if the accuracy of our judgment is absolute.
Also notable were the collages of Jaami Abdul-Khaliq Abdul-Samad. Eqxuisite in their detail and construction, he was able to accomplish something that I have rarely seen an artist of this genre do: take found images and create something thematic throughout several different peices without re-using the same source too often. Victorian illustration clippings combine with old record labels and detailed diagrams to somehow become portraits of Egyptian Pharaos and African Queens. The artist had a true gift for visual poetry, especially apparent in his ability to appropriate the imagery of one culture and use it to describe his relationship to another, one that he feels are his roots perhaps?
Along with being included in the exhibition, trophies and cash prizes were handed out to the chosen artists. The “First in Show” went to Ariel Erestingcol for his work “LZC646″ (pictured top), which refers to the license plate number of the Oklahoma City Bomber. Erestingcol’s work is truly remarkable; not only for his use of non-traditional materials - tiny craft beads make up the entire 6×8 foot piece - but for the process in which he approaches his art making. An image of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building right after the explosion is taken and pixelated into a grid. The artist then uses that grid to re-render it using fusion beads - each bead representing a pixel. Erestingcol describes this process as an attempt at comprehension, each unit in the image representing a modicum of understanding an event which has been filtered by the media and presented to us digitally.
The comprehensive theme throughout the exhibit was surprising, I kept remarking at the luckiness of the jurors who had the task of curating it. What are the chances at finding consistent strain of subject matter in a limited number of submissions? Perhaps the theme of distress has become more common, even amongst diverse backgrounds, as artists reflect the state of the world around them.
The exhibition runs through April 24th.
photo by Emberly Modine
Ariel Erestingcol
Up and Coming Visual Artist
Ariel Erestingcol
LZC646
Hidey Hole
- Emberly Modine
- Creative Director
Art Editor
Up and coming visual artist Ariel Erestingcol has just had his first solo show at Togonon Gallery on Geary street in San Francisco. I was lucky enough to see the show–a colorful, interactive experience that seemed rare, if only because Erestingcol chooses what many artists shy from–to confront some of contemporary America’s toughest issues: war, terrorism and the American dream. The show consisted of interactive and wall pieces. A homemade bomb shelter for one, titled “Hidey-Hole”, that is triggered as a viewer sits on the bright yellow vinyl seat in the center of the construcion–complete with sirens and emergency lighting, an upside down Rubbermaid trash can hung so someone standing on their tippy-toes is able to crank out a distorted version of “When You Wish Upon a Star”, while encased in a cocoon of mirrors lighted like a stage vanity. There is the “Landmark” series which depicts different cityscapes broken by a familiar pattern of colored bars, and an enormous depiction of the Oklahoma City bombing, all created out of tiny plastic beads.
I met him a couple blocks from his house in Hollywood at a restaurant in Thai Town. Behind him, a TV is tuned to a news station with footage of a raging fire in Griffith Park…
Emberly Modine: So tell us a little about yourself.
Ariel Erestingcol: My parents came to the United States in the mid ’70s from the Philippines. They bought a house in Hollywood on Alexandria Street, in a very ethnically diverse, working class neighborhood. They brought my siblings and I over one by one and I lived there until I went to the San Francisco Art Institute. My brother is an artist as well–he does multiimedia art, a lot of video pieces, and has always been interested in multicultural topics. My father isn’t necessarily artistic, but he was always very handy. He could build anything. He did his own upholstery when I was younger, and even built a whole house in the Phillippines out of bamboo. I would say I’ve learned a lot from both of them.
EM: Where do you find your subject matter?
AE: Everywhere. Mainly the news, situations I encounter, current events, things that happened post 9/11. I find this age we live in extremely interesting, as far as the anxiety we go through and the way that people deal with it, and the interactions and systems that we’ve created for ourselves, whether it’s using TV or the Internet. I am pretty interested in the general audience that has learned to communicate and interact in a virtual space–where our opinions, videos and photos become markers for our shared experiences. Something that got my attention recently is what happened last weekend in MacArthur Park–the pro-immigrant march that happened. They’ve been calling it the Melee March, which started peacefully and turned into a huge altercation between protesters, police and the press. People were being pushed away and told to clear out of the park by police in riot gear. There were even some scuffles between families with kids. Anyway, there are images being circulated by the press of police in riot gear with palm trees behind them, shooting rubber bullets into the crowd and beating people down with batons. These images really reminded me of images of the Watts riots, where you had the national guard lined up–silhouettes against the streetlights that illuminated palm trees and people running–and you take one look and know it’s Los Angeles. I guess a lot of my work really centers around definitive landscapes–time and place.
EM: It seems that, in your work, you find a subject and use that as a point of departure, and work backwards in time, finding similarities in your subjects, where others may find dissimilar experiences.
AE: Well, in the series I did called “Landmark”, I take an image of familiar cityscapes and make a juxtaposition with the image that the Emergency Broadcast System uses, and you see them and it’s like – Emergency – Earthquake in San Francisco – Oklahoma City Bombing – Flood in Tokyo – Terrorist Bombing in Manila….it’s the idea of an attack or a natural disaster and a common signal that people have developed to communicate this emergency, and we all consider this TV broadcast as an authoritative source that people look to for information in these situations: what do we do next? But this system is only in place for the biggest things–huge events. Every day, people deal with emergencies or violent situations that are commonplace, depending on what kind of community we are talking about. Things happen everywhere that fall through the net of this kind of infrastructure, or don’t even register. I am really just curious how people respond. When the cookie starts to crumble, how do people react?
EM: How do you think people are reacting to your work?
AE: As far as a response? Visually, I think people find it kind of refreshing. I work with a really heavy-handed subject matter, but I use a lot of craft materials in my work that may remind them of their childhood or things that people could buy from a hardware store. I think the subject matter is pretty pertinent to most people and is presented in a way where they think, “Wow, I could have made this.” It’s not so distant and mysterious as, say, painting. But you know, the pieces are put together pretty elaborately–some of them are made of thousands of little parts. Maybe it kind of diffuses the fact of someone talking about fear and having that in their faces, but the way it’s put together is kind of…fun. Maybe a little bizarre, hopefully interesting.
