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June 2012 |
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| 365 |
Julee Lee glides from south of the 38th parallel. Her interest in self-portraits stems from not seeing her image reflected back at her in the community she grew up in. A child of the 80’s, her 365 project spans up and down 580, 880 and I-80 all the way to Reno. Julee Lee’s photos yearn for a place which is not here. Julee wonders and wanders, wishes and wills, teaches and learns in Oakland.
Julee Lee
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| Carly Ivan Garcia & Brian Leo |
“Carly’s contemporary, neo-modern abstract works incorporate an urban language that appeals to modern society. His colorful, expressive and bold style can be viewed as explorations of a new generation of visual social media language that conveys freedom of expression and the growing movement to connect and engage people in conversations. Carly’s works pioneers a new direction in abstract art, his works are illustrated by multilayers of shapes, bold strokes and sketches that pull the viewer into a vortex of dynamism and color.
Brian Leo -
In what he refers to as a “garbage parade” of small paintings, artist Brian Leo addresses culture, politics and American identity. The parade, a cavalcade of tiny images exhibited en masse, show events of deep cultural significance flanked by bizarre meditations on moments of Leo’s personal experience. Each tiny piece, in turn, contradicts itself; episodes rank with chaos and suffering explode off the canvas in bubblegum garage-pop tones.
Working within the language of present-day visual culture, where talent show winners are as recognizable and evenly glossed as the latest war atrocities; Leo creates a tangible and overwhelming visual conversation, accurately presenting the warped and whimsical bombardment that is contemporary American life.
Somewhere between Osama Bin Santa Claus and Angelina Jolie’s disembodied lips, Leo, unravels and reconstructs the experience of living as a first generation American, of Korean and Italian heritage, at the forefront of the 21st century. He draws upon this background for inspiration in his work, recently manifesting itself as a series of paintings which depict the North Korean dictator and murderer of Leo’s patriarch, Kim Jong Il.
In what can only be described as a moment of lost innocence, an AK-47 toting Husky greets Kim Jong Il, “the ugliest Asian,” outside the Superdrome. His chain smoking Golden Retriever comrades only look on in passivity, awaiting th-e reaction of the deemed “alpha male.”
This, and a litany of other fever dream surrealities shift and swirl around the indoor-outdoor gallery space at Capla Kesting Fine Art, located at 121 Roebling Street, Brooklyn where Leo’s recent installation of over 200 artworks is expected to draw over a thousand visitors, and artist Brian Leo stands in the center of it all.
As he stares at a toxic, tumor laden portrait of his home state, New Jersey, a self-effacing smile disguises the mind behind madness. “A lot of times, I’m not sure where the images come from, or why they end up together,” he points to a well manicured fingernail which lays as a foundation to a suburban dream home. “This one’s easy. The root of my family’s American dream paid in part by my Mother working at a nail salon.” Others aren’t as easy to identify, he admits, while holding an image of skeleton-like guppies with human heads and skinny children’s legs, which swirl around a tiny slice of pizza. “I guess a lot of it has to do with questions of globalization. Things we have, which come to us so easily, and that others couldn’t dream of.”
Leo’s work also reflects the cynicism and questioning that plagues the media-saturated younger generation. Questions of truth, behind the never-ending array of contemporary tragedies is clearly a repeated theme in Leo’s work. Instead of using his painting as an opportunity to mourn or repent, Leo instead explores his own fears and conspiracy theories of what lies behind the headlines. One painting shows a melting submarine detonating an atomic bomb underwater. “Did you know it’s possible to have a manmade tsunami?” Looking at Brian’s paintings, you can see a slant of misgiving in his tone of voice, “other than a few tourists, the majority of the dead from the 2004 tsunami were poor underprivileged Asians.” His eyes shift to his large SuperDrome painting, where a few teeny tiny victims haunt the front lawn. “It’s hard to believe that all the death, the vigilante justice, the chaos and starvation of the Katrina gulf coast, happened only one year ago.” His somber kindness exudes evidence of a worldly self-consciousness which blends with a Frankenstein-like creativity, exploding out of these tiny paintings.
It’s that misgiving slant in Leo’s tone that the viewer keeps coming back to in his paintings. Not quite sarcasim, but not yet mature enough to be a lecture, leaving the audience to question the racism and greed that sits in the underbelly of the day to day. His use of bright colors and whimsical humor provide a flashlight and sense of hope, which makes this often dark content seem less so.
Carly Ivan Garcia
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| Loe |
Loe Nudell Lee was born in Minneapolis Minnesota to a Chinese father and a Jewish mother. She studied art at Skidmore College in NY and at the University of Minnesota. Her main influences are Gustav Klimt, Wangechi Mutu, Zak Smith, and Claude Monet.
Loe has shown her work at various cafes in the Twin Cities and in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has also produced commissioned work.
Loe Lee
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| Sharpie & White-out |
Trent Nahas
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| Unnatural Disasters |
This recent body of work explores the intersection between the man-made and natural worlds. The paintings illustrate man’s complex and often convoluted relationship to nature and depict instances in which theses forces both compliment one another and collide in destructive ways. These works celebrate man’s desire to build, innovate and create, while acknowledging the fact that our impulse to grow and consume is eroding the ecological framework that we depend on to sustain our wasteful habits.
In these paintings pools of ink recede like oil-saturated waters at low tide. Trees emerge from a tangled field of structures, gears, and wires. My process involves equal parts control and chaos, and echoes tenuous socio-ecological relationships depicted in the imagery. The use of synthetic material reinforces the commentary on man’s impulse to consume, contain and modify the earth’s resources in order to accommodate our own needs and desires. The paintings pay tribute to the resilience of the natural world and encourage the viewer to reconsider the perceptual boundaries between man and the environment.
Website: http://dburke.org/
David Burke
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