Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Karrie Ross Publishes a book documenting the process of artists collaborations featuring 12 artist couples: Our Ever Changing World Through the Eyes of Artists: Couples and Collaborations" Exhibition Opens on March 28th at the Red Pipe Gallery.

"Our Ever Changing World Through the Eyes of Artists: Couples and Collaborations"
Artists highlighted in the book appeared at Vroman's Pasadena for a Book Signing Event on February 22, 2015
Shana Nys Dambrot and Karrie Ross
at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena, CA.
FOR IMMEDIATE  RELEASE, March 2015
Art Exhibitions Los Angeles, Downtown
Chinatown
CONTACT: Karrie Ross
310-915-0920  karrie@karrieross.com

Art Exhibition: 
“Our Ever Changing World: Through the Eyes of Artists — Couples and Collaborations”

Location: The Red Pipe Gallery, Chinatown
978 Chung King Road, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Opening Reception: 
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Time: 6pm to 10pm

Conversation with the Artists: 
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Time: 1pm to 4pm

On view at The Red Pipe Gallery are works by the 12 couples highlighted in the book,  “Our Ever Changing World Book 2: Couples and Collaborations.

Artists: Beanie Kaman, Michael Wood, Aline Mare, Gary Brewer, Susan Savory, Bruce Dean, Anna Stump, Ted Meyer, Wini Brewer, Bill Leigh Brewer, Tania Van Herle, Stephen Rowe, Leigh Salgado, Mat Gleason, Pamela Grau, Jeffrey Crussell, Dori Atlantis, Richard Bruland, Stevie Love, Bruce Love, Ph.D., Ginger Van Hook, Luke Van Hook, Joey Forsyte, Alexander Kritselis, Karrie Ross

Just how DO Artists live together?  Is it a collaboration or...?

“I noticed that artists work to bring something that is hidden into light. That this artistic way of seeing and being in our world opens us to new ways of acting and thinking. Artist’s different perspectives help to bring about change. I like thinking that artists are different. So I decided to explore this idea further.” Karrie Ross, the curator of this show and an artist herself, embarked on a journey to publish books, exploring the art of collaborations between couples that are both working as artists or in related fields. She invited the couples to collaborate with her in a publishing venture and thus created an attractive documentation of the process for making art. 
On view at The Red Pipe Gallery are works by the 12 couples highlighted in the book and the public is invited to attend the opening reception on Saturday March 28th from 6pm – 10pm and the Conversations with the Artists on Sunday March 29th, from 1-pm – 4pm to meet and greet the artists.  Each artist couple will have work on display for sale as well as be there to talk about their experience with the book, their artwork and the collaboration with the author.

“Our Ever Changing World—Through the Eyes of Artists —Couples and Collaborations” brings together twelve couples or 24 artists, one an artist and the other also an artist or involved in a connecting profession. One main question and six self-guided interview questions with photos are included in the book. What is revealed is an insight into how strengths, weaknesses, focus, determination, confidence and intention all play a part in the creation of a loving, giving, playful, atmosphere that allows artists to thrive.” States, Karrie Ross.   www.oureverchangingworld.com

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Art Meets Fun! Photo Journal By Ingrid Dietrich. Sept. 21, 2012

Curator Veronica Berens and Director Danilo Santos


The Chocolate and Art, Los Angeles
Friday, September  21st, Saturday September 22nd, 2012
at KGB Studios, China Town, Los Angeles
1640 NORTH Spring Street, Los Angeles 90012

Art Meets Fun!

The Chocolate and Art, Los Angeles, had an outstanding art exhibition in the industrial zone of China Town. Every ten weeks, Chocolate and Art's curator Veronica Berens and Director Danilo Santos, display a fantastic selection of creations from underground artists from the Los Angeles Area.

The show is always a delight for those art-hunters who appreciate having a good time. The Chocolate and Art Show features live music, body painting,  and  the famous "Chocolate Fountain" accompanied with all sorts of  seasonal fruit, cookies, and marshmallows. 

Ten music bands performed over the two nights of the event. Dancing is always encouraged.
Blue Dolphins, Bearcat, The Janks, Lava Lava, Dax, Emily Clibourn, Anonymous, Stereo Scenario, Dax, Flugvel.

The show features over 75 of the most amazing emerging artists. The exhibition includes paintings, photography, drawings, graphic design creations, body painters, tattoo artists, life drawing artists, jewelry designers, etc.

September's featured artist was painter Elizabeth Grube. Her paintings are colorful and vibrant, inspired on the every day's life. Please watch a three minute interview with Elizabeth Grube  by Danilo Santos, Director and creator of The Chocolate and Art Show.








The Chocolate and Art Show is an event where you can be yourself, where you can get inspired, dance, drink, and meet new people.  Join the Chocolate and Art group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/207706195913089/

Next show: November 30th and December 1st, 2012


The Chocolate and Art team
Photograph by Michael Sirota










Live body painting








Photography by Ingrid Dietrich http://www.ingriddietrich.com/

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Gina Genis Explores the Shadows of lives past in "Mnemonic Ritual" - FOCA, Curated by Grace Kook Anderson, Reception - June 16, 2012 PhotoJournal Review by Ginger Van Hook



In recent years, photographer Gina Genis has pursued a unique exploration 
of nothing less than the ghosts of the shadows of people's lives. What they've left behind after they are gone, and what they reveal while they are still alive through a series of photo peeks into the lives of the elderly beyond their windows draped with lace, is a valid direction of work that has consumed Genis, and added up to a significant body of work for this Orange County artist.
In a series of works appropriately titled "Window Peeping"
Gina Genis photographed her subjects at night
 in a compassionate manner to reveal such delicate issues
 as loneliness and the culture of aging in contemporary America.
Gina Genis the artist as well as the successful author of



will be in Los Angeles this weekend!

For those interested in engaging Gina Genis in a study of mesmerizing subjects, 
she will be exhibiting her work in the Los Angeles Basin, locally in Chinatown 
this weekend June 16, 2012. 
The opening reception is scheduled at
 FOCA Gallery 970 N. Broadway Suite 208, Los Angeles, California 90012.
In a show together with Mary Cecile Gee and Nigel Poor, Gina Genis exposes loss, the drive to overcome sadness and the strong motivations compelling survivors to move on.


Mnemonic Ritual looks at the uncomfortable subject of loss, mourning, and the persistent remnants of time passed. Too often the ritual passage of death and loss are shuffled along at a pace so quick, there is little time to reflect. However, artists Mary Cecile Gee, Gina Genis, and Nigel Poor reflect on the difficult moments between loss, moving on, and determined timelessness. Through their own personal rituals, the artists work through the very materials that are left behind, inherent with history and aura. Unexpected reactions of irony, humor, beauty, and even cathartic joy, are distilled from the works from very intimate, personal encounters to a broader reconciliation with social history. Curated by Grace Kook-Anderson, curator of exhibitions at Laguna Art Museum, a full-color brochure will accompany the exhibition.

** DISCUSSION WITH THE ARTISTS at 7:00 pm.



Gina Genis Photo and Workshops
www.ginagenis.com


Past Exhibit in Orange County:


"Secret Lives" - Biola University - March 19 - April 6, 2012

Next Exhibits:


"Mnemonic Ritual" - FOCA, Curated by Grace Kook Anderson, Reception - June 16, 2012

"When I'm 64" - Wignall Museum - September 2012


Gina Genis posed for her solo show at Biola University. Photo By Ginger Van Hook©2012

Photo By Ginger Van Hook©2012

Photo By Ginger Van Hook©2012

Gina Genis’ Window Peeping: 
Redefining Intimacy and Aging in Contemporary American Culture
by Brandelyn Dillaway, Mt. San Jacinto College
Re-Published courtesy of the artist.


Gina Genis’ recent series of photographs, Window Peeping, captures the nocturnal
activities of a cross-section of average American senior citizens. It was on evening walks around
a retirement community that Genis began to photograph interior scenes revealed through open
windows. These photographs were not artificially constructed images shot in a studio, but were
spontaneously and discreetly shot without the knowledge of the subjects. The result is a
collection of strikingly honest images that capture people in the quiet intimacy of their domestic
surroundings. The implications of Genis’ artistic process, in addition to the subject matter of each
photograph, creates a body of work with multiple layers that does much to examine, on a wider
level, what intimacy and aging mean in today’s sensationalized, youth-oriented culture. On a
more personal level, these brief glimpses into the lives of the elderly speak to the complex nature
of aging - its cultural, social, familial, and biological facets.

The act of looking has long been a point of debate among art historians when considering
the relationship between the viewer and a work of art. Is the viewer simply an observer, an
uninvolved bystander? Or does the viewer occupy a position closer to that of a voyeur, an
uninvited outsider looking in? This theoretical quandary continues to be a gray area and point of
debate, but due the nature of how the Window Peeping photographs were obtained, it is
unavoidably clear in Genis’ work. By looking into these open windows, while the occupants
inside are caught unaware, Genis’ camera is the vehicle for the viewer’s voyeurism. In simply
viewing the work, the viewer is implicitly involved in this covert observation; they too are
looking in witnessing private moments. The viewer’s reaction to this realization will reveal much
about their personal boundaries in regards privacy – their own and that of others. American
culture has become openly voyeuristic, made tacitly permissible by a widespread acceptance of
and participation in social networking websites and reality based entertainment. Personal
discretion and an inconspicuous existence are becoming increasingly rare in a social value
system that rewards exhibitionism and outrageousness with the promise of fame, no matter how
fleeting.

Traditionally, voyeurism has been a term loaded with all sorts of sexual connotations. It
has been primarily positioned as a psychological issue that involves spying for the purpose of
sexual gratification. But in recent years the term has expanded to occupy a more desexualized,
mainstream context. The success of tabloid magazines, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and reality
television, to name only a few media outlets, clearly indicates that many Americans have become
fascinated with other people’s lives. They are interested in taking a peek inside the lives of
others, as a means to entertain themselves with conflict and drama that they are personally
removed from and not directly affected by. America’s voyeuristic culture has grown to the extent
that with so many willing to indiscriminately display their personal lives for all to see, there has
become an expectation that everyone should subscribe to such transparency.

What makes others’ lives so fascinating, and what initially attracts the viewer to Genis’
work, is the natural, human tendency toward curiosity. With Window Peeping, Genis has
effectively blurred the very fine line between voyeurism and curiosity, where it is quite difficult
to concretely discern whether the viewer should be considered a voyeur or simply just an
innocent, inquisitive observer. Much of this ambiguity surrounding the role of the viewer stems
from how Genis photographed her subjects. She did not photograph these people to exploit them
or to create shock value. They are not intended to be entertaining, artificial constructs of “reality”
presented for passive consumption. Rather, they are a simple and straightforward documentation
of the human experience at its most shared and fundamental level. Further blurring the line
between voyeurism and curiosity, Genis made the conscious choice of keeping each subject
distinctly anonymous, with intentionally distorted faces or careful angles that slightly obscure
faces behind blinds or window panes. The works are not narrative pieces about the individuals in
the photographs. Instead they are about the spaces in which they live, the activities in which they
are engaged, the lives that they lead – the work is about the human condition in general.
Similar to voyeurism, intimacy has been a term that, in the past, has had sexual
connotations. But shifts in social mores and values, driven primarily by mass media, have
resulted in the repositioning of the concept of intimacy. Entertainment, publications, music, and
video games are rife with content that has made sexuality and sexual activity mainstream and
commonplace, almost to the point of being banal. Activities and topics once considered personal/
controversial/taboo, and therefore intimate, are no longer special or private. Instead, they have
become an unfortunate thread in the fabric of daily existence. From this, intimacy has become
the rare moment of capturing someone’s true self, not their artificial self presented for public
display. The new intimacy is being able to simply transcend the fake and ostentatious. In a world
where a constructed reality dominates as entertainment and communication, the real has now
become intimate.

This new type of intimacy is seen in Genis’ Window Peeping. The face of each subject is
distorted because the viewer is not intended to look at the person in terms of their physical
characteristics. Instead, their whole existence is laid bare, which makes these works much more
intimate. The viewer is presented with a clear picture of who these people truly are through their
interior décor and their personal activities set in a private, domestic space where there are no
pretenses or false personas. The intimacy of their quiet existence is also felt through proximity,
achieved with a close vantage point, tight cropping and framing by the exterior architecture.
When looking at the intimate domestic scenes of Window Peeping, the viewer must, to
some extent, acknowledge what exactly these photographs capture. For in a clear, matter-of-fact
way, Genis’ work exposes some essential truths about the human experience that many choose to
deny or ignore. She carefully dances around the concept of age, a very sensitive topic despite the
fact that it is universal and unavoidable. Her photographs capture some of the realities of aging
with honesty, clarity, and force. She makes it very difficult for the viewer to emotionally detach
themselves from the subject matter because this work is, in part, about them and the people who
they share their lives with, such as a parent or a grandparent. Because of the personal nature of
the work, each viewer will react to it differently. In looking at these works, there may be a
realization that life can be quite ordinary, despite romanticized expectations of what life should
be and how it should be lived. The viewer may be struck by a sense of tragedy, for an almost
stifling loneliness pervades these photographs. These people are alone, save for the outdated
material objects that surround them. Life is clearly transitory and the passage of time is
inescapable.

In addition to the emotional and psychological effects of coming to terms with the
inevitability of aging, Genis’ work also says much about the ambivalent place that the elderly
seem to hold in today’s mainstream culture, a culture that primarily celebrates youth. Again,
mass media and popular modes of entertainment are responsible for this cultural focus. Everyday
people are bombarded with idealized manifestations of youth as they relate to beauty, fashion,
recreation, and lifestyles. These concepts of youth are communicated as a set of easily read
external factors, such as physical appearance, novelty, and vitality, which contribute to the
formation of oversimplified stereotypes and misrepresentations of what it means to age. The
result is a clear generational and cultural gap that has lead to the marginalization of the elderly
through the implication that those who cannot measure up to the expectations of this fast-paced,
materialistic, youth-based society are irrelevant or are simply left behind. Thus, aging is misread
as a period of decline and disengagement.

The photographs of Window Peeping delicately affirm some of the wider cultural views
detailed above. In each photograph there is a distinct quality of segregation - both physical and
emotional. The exterior architecture of the homes strictly defines each composition, enclosing
the space of a brightly lit interior that starkly contrasts the dark outside space, where the viewer
stands looking in. This physical separation is further exaggerated by the fact that the people
inside appear to be trapped, imprisoned by blinds or window panes. It is as if the truth of their
existence confines them and they cannot escape. Some of the photographs feature multiple living
units directly adjacent to each other. Yet despite such close proximity, the architecture serves as a
barrier, suggesting that there is a limited sense of community. Further, in the majority of the
photographs there is a single lone person, caught in a sedentary pose. The lack of interaction and
activity give the works a vague sense of melancholy and isolation, suggesting an emotional
segregation.

Gina Genis’ Window Peeping is an important body of work because it reflects significant
cultural shifts in America regarding intimacy and aging. Mass media intrusiveness, which has
been embraced by the wider population, has dictated that conceptions of intimacy change to
narrowly fit within the shrinking private realm. In Window Peeping, Genis has used this new
intimacy to document a group of people that tends to be marginalized. The traditional position of
the elderly as wise and relevant heads of family is something that is growing increasingly rare;
reverence and respect is being replaced by obsolescence. This is especially pertinent today as
baby boomers become senior citizens in growing numbers. Window Peeping acutely captures this
social, cultural, and demographic transformation while asking the viewer to reconcile wider
cultural attitudes with their personal views regarding the realities and the inevitability of aging.

References:
Bogart, Leo. Over the Edge: How the Pursuit of Youth by Marketers and the Media Has
Changed American Culture. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2005.
Featherstone, Mike and Andrew Wernick. Images of Aging: Cultural Representations of
Later Life. London: Taylor and Francis Routledge, 1995.
Friedan, Betty. The Fountain of Age. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Simone Gad "Recent Works" Exhibition Opens in China Town, Los Angeles, California-- June 26, 2010

Join Simone Gad for her opening Reception June 26, 2010!
Los Angeles, California--Photographs by Ginger Van Hook



Simone and Ron invite you to join them in China Town at L2Kontemporary!



Oh, soooo purrrfectly SOLD! Red Dot Simone!





Simone Gad, "The Hong Kong," 2009, Acrylic on canvas, 
36” x 24”





Simone Gad: "Recent Work"
June 26 - July 24, 2010
Opening Reception: June 26, 7-10pm

990 N. Hill Street #205 
Los Angeles, California 90012


Phone: (323) 225-1288
Fax: (323) 225-1282
Email: l2kontemporary@sbcglobal.net
Website: www.l2kontemporary.com
Hours: Thursday – Sunday, 1-6pm;
or by appointment




L2kontemporary is pleased to present the third solo exhibition at the gallery from Los Angeles-based artist and performer Simone Gad. Her new work, which focuses mainly on buildings and their facades, addresses issues of old Los Angeles and Hollywood; what has disappeared from view and what remains. Bold, lush, oozy-goozy paintings, potent collages, and naïf drawings evoke memories of her early childhood in Brussels and of the post-WWII European diaspora to The Land of Sunshine and Oranges, Movies and Magic, Hope and Disappointment. Truly unique and timeless, Gad's oeuvre opens a portal for reverent reflection.


                                



"Two Foo Dogs,"2009, Acrylic on canvas,
36” x 24”




"Lanterns,"2009, Acrylic on canvas,
40” x 26”