Consensus

Christy Roberts and Erich Wise
Consensus
2013
wood, metal, led wire, acrylic, margarita mix, tequila
12' x 12' x 5' (dimensions vary)

Broadly defined, Horizontality is an attempt to engage in egalitarian group decision-making, without a leadership structure, through open debate within a diverse and participatory network. This form of direct democratic expression has become prominent within some contemporary political communities, notably within the Occupy movement. Consensus, by Christy Roberts and Erich Wise, expresses a critique of the concept as idealized.

Within every group, there will be marginalized subgroups or those who may not be capable of vigorous debate and persuasion. Since the claims of horizontality are that the views of every member of the community are worth considering, worth subjecting to communal review, doesn't the presence of such overlooked subgroups cause a glitch in the system? With only the voices of those skilled in social influence or those from a respected subgroup rising to consideration, the desired egalitarian results are subverted.

In Consensus, this problem is represented by the unbalanced seesaw; those with social entitlement are given greater "weight" in decision-making. Yet, through empathy and an honest process of opinion-gathering, this unequal allocation of power may be resolved. It may be frustrating, but getting the situation properly balance, truly horizontal, can bring about sweet results.

Consensus portrays this concept with a drink container balanced in the middle of the seesaw. Though it reads "Ugh", a sound of frustration and distaste, the liquid within can be a delightful treat.

Detail of Consensus (2013) by Christy Roberts and Erich Wise

We're looking forward to seeing you at the TAM.

Peter Everett: Utopia

Detail of Utopia (2012) by Peter Everett

Currently on view at the TAM, we have a few works by Peter Everett featured in the lobby and the exhibition hall. Our lobby sculpture is Utopia, a large dodecahedron, with faces of one-way mirrors, that encloses a model city. The structures are modeled on real-world financial buildings, but arranged in an idealized geometric grouping. This "Utopian" design is built upon a rotating platform and is reflected within the mirrors in an infinite regression.

Here's a video showing the work in motion, alongside its complementary video screens, which show historical examples of Utopian architecture:


Utopia installation view from Peter Everett on Vimeo.

In addition to the lobby sculpture, the exhibition hall features a collection of Everett's paintings.

Detail of Tongues (2011) by Peter Everett

But the exhibition is wrapping up this week. So, come on by the Torrance Art Museum and see these fine works before the curtain falls on the show.

We're looking forward to seeing you at the TAM.

Detail of Utopia (2012) by Peter Everett

Software

Software: 21st Century Ceramics from Lo Angeles

Software is a survey of contemporary ceramics in Los Angeles, featuring the works of Danny First, Mitsuko Ikeno, Nobuhito Nishigawara, Brian Rochefort, and Kim Tucker. It was curated by Jason Ramos. Currently on view in the Torrance Art Museum's Gallery 2, this exhibition will run until May 16, 2013.

Los Angeles has a strong tradition in challenging traditional forms of ceramic art. Such innovators as Peter Voulkos and Ken Price have pushed the "potter's craft" in new directions, but, as time passes, they have themselves become the "traditional" and the standard against which new generations of ceramicists reexamine the aesthetics of clay. It is a long dialectic of practice, seeking to evolve distinct styles of expression.

So, Software is a "snapshot" of five artists, representing both the influences of the past and the attempt to create a unique new vision.

Works by Brian Rochefort (front) and Mitsuko Ikeno (behind)

Here are links to learn more about these artists:
Danny First
Mitsuko Ikeno
Nobuhito Nishigawara
Brian Rochefort
Kim Tucker

Works by Danny First

So, come on by the TAM to check out these works. The exhibit will be running until May 16, 2013. Don't miss out!!!

We're looking forward to seeing you!

Another gallery view of Software at the Torrance Art Museum, curated by Jason Ramos

Karen Cope: A Symphony of Mankind

Yoda, part of Karen Cope's installation, A Symphony of Mankind

With under two weeks left until the Torrance Art Museum wraps up the current exhibits, I figured that it would be a good idea to spotlight Karen Cope's exhibit, A Symphony of Mankind, which is featured in our installation hall. In this exhibition, numerous distinct faces, sculpted out of pigmented gypsum, are arranged together along the walls in a manner that blends the vast array into a harmonic unit.

Although each is a unique caricature, with individual quirks and expression, Cope's technique and material creates an underlying sense of commonality. It's quiddity versus essence. The visage is individual, but the core is universal.

Hitchcock, part of Karen Cope's A Symphony of Mankind

But these words and photographs are not sufficient in expressing the sensation of walking among the works themselves. To see them simultaneously as both a whole collection and as individual pieces is an engaging experience, as your eyes scan over the installation, pausing or being arrested by distinct features and the trace of the sculptor's touch.

It's definitely something to check out before the show closes. Karen Cope's A Symphony of Mankind will be running until March 9, 2013.

Karen Cope's A Symphony of Mankind at the Torrance Art Museum

And here are a few videos showing Karen Cope's practice:

"Constructing the Portrait"

"On Sculpting Eyes and Hair"

"Demonstration at the Brentwood Art Center"

Karen Cope's A Symphony of Mankind at the Torrance Art Museum runs until March 9, 2013

We're looking forward to seeing you at the TAM!!!

Talks, Discussions, and Demonstrations

Jason Ramos (left) moderates a panel discussion on painting in Los Angeles, with Catlin Moore and Grant Vetter

We had a very eventful day at the Torrance Art Museum on Saturday, February 9th. The afternoon started with a sculpture demonstration by Karen Cope, providing information as to technique and context to her works currently on view, One Gross Face. Then, Grant Vetter gave a talk on his book, The Architecture of Control, discussing the influence of ideology on a wide array of subjects.

Our "main event' was the "Painting in Los Angeles" panel discussion. Moderated by Jason Ramos, the panel was comprised of Catlin Moore, Christopher Pate, Max Presneill, and Grant Vetter. Conversation ranged among various topics, from questioning why art critics recurrently claim that "Painting is Dead" to considering the role that commercial pressures, specifically when establishing gallery representation, plays in how a painter approaches the art of painting.

Yeah, the panel had a lot of "artist's art talk" but it was a lively conversation and presented many engaging opinions and compelling observations.

Karen Cope demonstrated her sculptural technique in Gallery Two.

It was a good time. The TAM thanks all of you who came out to participate in the events, artists and art lovers alike. ;-)

For more information on this panel discussion, you ought to check out "Panel and Paradox at the Torrance Art Museum" at the Painting In L.A. site.

Although the talks and demonstrations are past, the shows continue. Paradox Maintenance Technicians, Theatrical Dynamics, One Gross Face, and Dark Room Presents: McLean Fahnestock, these exhibits all continue until March 9, 2013. So, there are a few more weeks left to come check them out.

Don't miss 'em!!!

Christopher Pate (l) and Max Presneill (r) were panelists at "Painting in LA"

We're looking forward to seeing you at the TAM!!!

Matt MacFarland: Clusterfuckwich

Clusterfuckwich (2012) by Matt MacFarland
tinted resin and assorted trash
5 x 6 x 4.5 inches


Here's a spotlight post on one of the works currently displayed in "The Subterraneans: The artists behind LA's artist-run spaces." Matt MacFarland's resin sculpture of sliced bread, into which various bits of trash are embedded, is part of the contingent of art works from Elephant, an art space in Glassell Park.

Although a colorful and humorous piece, Clusterfuckwich plays with the serious emotional contrast between that which is wholesome, such as a loaf of bread, and that which is repugnant, such as discarded trash. Placed in conjunction, it leads one to consider how that which we blindly accept as desired commodities actually contain interior pollutions, hidden within a pleasing presentation.

When we ask for our "daily bread," are we aware of the "trash" inside?

Sideview of Clusterfuckwich (2012) by Matt MacFarland

Elephant is located on 3325 Division St., Los Angeles, CA 90065. Check out the website to find out about the many exciting events that they host.

And here's a video of Matt MacFarland's Clusterfuckwich:

Fun stuff!!!

So,come on by and check out this interesting work for yourself. And, if you're near Glassell Park, pay a visit to the fine folks and Elephant. In either case, it'll be a fun time. ;-)

Clusterfuckwich (2012) by Matt MacFarland

We're looking forward to seeing you at the TAM!!!

Opening Night for Oh Nancy: Blank Land

Gallery One: North Wall featuring works by Katie James, Nathan Wellman, and Oh Nancy

Oh Nancy's "Blank Land" opened last night for the first day of a two day show. There were many fine works on display and a decent level of attendance. It was a fun time.

I figured that I would share a few images with you all. Hopefully, if you were not able to check out the show on opening night, these photos might inspire you to pay the TAM a visit on Tuesday, some time between 11 am to 5 pm, to view this excellent exhibition before it closes.

After all, Nancy, Bill Oolie, and the Corn Team need to move on before the Preacher and his zealots catch 'em. ;-)

Wicked Words (2012) by Emily Link



The West End alcove featuring works by Michelle Matson, Cara Despain, and Andrew Shaw



View from the Vitrine



Gallery One: East Wall with works by Christopher Wawrinofsky, Oh Nancy, and Arthur Henderson


And here's a vid:

Breathing chip bag with lung (2011) by Nick Rodrigues

Remember, Oh Nancy's "Blank Land" closes this Tuesday, July 3rd. Don't miss it!!!

We're looking forward to seeing you at the TAM.

Michelle Carla Handel: Big Yearn, Let Down

Big Yearn, Let Down (2012) by Michelle Carla Handel
Wood, fabric, silicone rubber, fiberfill, vinyl
87 x 65 x 22 inches
Courtesy of the artist

Although the TAM is closed until July 21, when "Baker's Dozen 4" opens, there are still a few pieces on the venue. Yeah, the general public can't easily view them, but, if you press up to the windows and peer into the unlit gloom of the lobby, then Michelle Carla Handel's engaging sculpture, Big Yearn, Let Down, can be seen, still standing simultaneously erect and flaccid.

Visitors to the recent show, "Between the Knowing", had plenty of opportunities to appreciate this playful work. It'll still be around when the next show opens. So, make certain to come and take a look at it. ;-)

It's an interesting piece. The material diversity creates a strong contrast between the rigid and the drooping, the glossy and the matte, the patterned and the plain. These two giant fabric staves, juxtaposed in an interpenetrating composition, create a playful contrast between bright desires and dark disappointments.

That's a quick and easy analysis, but the work has other tensions, subtle and technical, that will reward a longer scrutiny, viewed in person.

Detail of Big Yearn, Let Down (2012) by Michelle Carla Handel
Wood, fabric, silicone rubber, fiberfill, vinyl
87 x 65 x 22 inches
Courtesy of the artist


So, mark your calendars. The doors open on July 21 for "Baker's Dozen 4". Come see this cool sculpture and so much more!!!

We're looking forward to seeing you at the TAM.

The Rose Blossoms in the Night

Adam Bateman's As the Rose (2010), seen at night


Last month, I shared a few photos of As the Rose (2010) by Adam Bateman. It's the featured sculpture at the TAM patio. During the Opening Night of our current shows, I wandered out to take a few nocturnal shots of this engaging work.

So, here are some images for you all. ;-)

As the Rose (2010) by Adam Bateman, lights and shadows



As the Rose (2010) by Adam Bateman, close-up to the curves

Enjoy!!!

Between the Knowing: Opening Night

Opening Night for "Between the Knowing" at the Torrance Art Museum

Finally, the waiting is over. "Between the Knowing" and "Two-Headed Monster" are open for viewing. We had a modest but engaged crowd turn out to celebrate the show, which will be running until June 2nd. That's only seven weeks away!

You've seen some installation photos, but check out the art with people in the mix. ;-)

Opening Night view, besides Beth Lipman's Centerpiece with Bananas, Pears and Grapes (2011)

A group of viewers watch Rick Cluchey's video performance.

Viewing the central alcove featuring Chuck Moffit's sculpture

Tiempo (2011) by Steve DeGroodt delineates the front of Gallery 1

Good stuff, but photos don't do justice to the exhibition's layout or to the works themselves. So, come on down to the TAM and see them in person.

We're looking forward to seeing you at the TAM!!!

Adam Bateman: As the Rose

As the Rose (2010) by Adam Bateman, at the Torrance Art Museum patio


The TAM has a new sculpture to grace the Museum Patio, Adam Bateman's As the Rose, an engaging work composed out of irrigation implements.

A strong theme to Bateman's work is the contrast of the Modernist aesthetic with the Pastoral. Through the utilization of landscaping or agricultural materials in creating abstract forms, the work expresses anew the traditional concept of transcendence through the observation of nature, but, perhaps, subverts it through the formal arrangement of material.

Certainly, to observe this sculpture "as the rose" is to be seduced by the organic, spiralling structure. However, have the abstraction and material selection severed the connection between Nature and Art, deciding upon pure Form and Design over representation or traditionalism?

I don't know, but you can come by to see this thought-provoking work to decide for yourself when the museum reopens on April 14.

As the Rose by Adam Bateman, reflected on TAM's closed doors.

Until then, you'll only be able to view it from a distance, from between the bars of the patio gate. ;-)

Close up of As the Rose (2010) by Adam Bateman

Looking forward to seeing you at the TAM!!!