LA – Balisle Blog

Recently, I ventured to Los Angeles for an art opening at HOTE gallery. The visit provided the opportunity to visit galleries and museums. Art lingers and pushes boundaries. California stretches form and from the North to South.

In Chinatown, Good Luck Gallery and Joseph Gross Gallery were open for intellectual curiosity. At Joseph Gross Gallery, Yan Houri’s Intuition exhibition defined movement and color. Houri’s website: “The work of Yann Houri focuse on the complexity of the human subject and translates human emotions and time challenges into how we define ourselves in this mechanical and virtual age. The capture of each moment of life and each vibration is what human kind fails to admire in a contemporary lifestyle that pushes him to play constantly against time rather than cooperate with it in order to appreciate the present even before trying to plan the future and regret the past…”

Sylvia Fragoso’s artworks at Good Luck Gallery highlight a local connection. She is an artist at NIAD (Nurturing Independence Through Artistic Development) in Richmond, California. From NIAD’s website: “Each piece of NIAD art is an original work of contemporary art that tells an individual story from the perspective of an artist with disabilities.”

Good Luck Gallery’s Breadth exhibition is a thoughtful curation by jill Moniz featuring the work of Ann Weber. For many years, Weber had worked in the San Francisco Bay Area until moving to Los Angeles. My husband and I proudly own of her pieces. Last year, Ms. Moniz selected my braille piece WOMEN for the ART SPEAKS! Lend Your Voice exhibit at Arena 1 Gallery in Santa Monica.

Ann Weber (Good Luck Gallery website image).

By incredible happenstance, I wandered into Quotidian (A jill Moniz project) in downtown Los Angeles. According to the venue’s website: “Quotidian presents Serpentine Fire featuring LA’s standard bearers in iconoclasm who push boundaries, developing new techniques, modalities and aesthetics. This community of makers feeds artistic and cultural curiosity, realizes visions and sustains itself through their work. Serpentine Fire, based on the song of the same name by Earth, Wind & Fire, captures a group of artists who have radical art practices, much like the band’s early music.” Entering the space was partaking in curatorial genius showcasing artistic excellence.

San Francisco based David Fullarton’s artworks engage visitors at The Last Bookstore. His sarcastic truths highlight the irony of our experience. Similarly, artist Laura Owens’ paintings at the Greffen Contemporary at the MOCA blur the abstracted line between pop culture and identity. Scale only magnifies content.

Laura Owens, Greffen Contemporary at the MOCA.

It takes serious commitment from venues, curators, and artists to support meaningful exhibitions. From galleries to museums, breadth traverses beyond the ordinary and everyday. California continues to rise up to the challenge!