The OC Art Blog

Happy 4th

VIA

Amy Caterina - Hero

Speaking of Amy Caterina, here's a great story in the OC Register about how she donated a kidney to Mike McGee and how everything went. Must read. Make sure you give her a hug when you see her at her opening on Saturday night.

OC Weekend

On Saturday night Amy Caterina opens This Used To Be Real Estate, Now It's Only Field and Trees at GCAC.

Also at GCAC there will be a group photo show featuring artists such as Naida Osline, Marya Alford and Eric Stoner.

On Saturday night OCCCA opens Altars - Offerings - Totems & Tip Jars featuring Richard Bohn, Diane Stovall & Linda Southwell

Night Gallery in Santa Ana opens a new Metal and Ceramic show on Saturday night.

The Hoff Foundation Announces Grant Program Recipients for the 3rd Quarter

July 1, 2008:  Huntington Beach, CA – The Hoff Foundation announced today that it will award quarterly grants totaling $3,000 to the following Artists and Arts Organizations based in Orange County and Long Beach.

Regina Klenjoski Dance Company: $1,000 to support the 2008 SOLA Contemporary Dance Festival.

Jennifer Abod - Producer/Director: $1,000 to support post-production costs for the independent documentary The Passionate Pursuits of Angela Bowen.

Andrea Dominguez: $1,000 for graduate program scholarship support.

The Hoff Foundation is a private arts foundation formed in 2008 with a commitment to and passion for the arts. The Hoff Foundation will play a significant and unique role in the development of the arts in Southern California

More information about The Hoff Foundation and how the grants are awarded can be obtained at their website located at www.thehofffoundation.org.

Olafur Eliasson's Waterfalls - NYC

OC Weekend

 The Attraction Repulsion opens Friday Night at Go Rilla Gallery

Also on Friday Night Hibbleton Gallery opens Happily Apathy Featuring Lane Heraclitus. Have fun out there!

Elizabeth Armstrong Leaving OCMA

In a big blow to OCMA, Elizabeth Armstrong is leaving.

Does this have anything to do with the rumors on the street that Director Dennis Szakacs is "difficult" to work with? Has anybody actually kept track of the turnover that has been going on at the Museum? All this while the Museum is planning it's move to the Performing Arts Center. It will be interesting to see if they'll be able to replace Ms. Armstrong who was instrumental over the last several years of putting OCMA on the national map. Tough loss.

OC Art Blog in New Mexico

I'm currently in New Mexico so posting will be spotty this week. While I'm here I will be checking out Site Santa Fe's 2008 Biennial so more on that later. There are a couple of openings this weekend you should attend so stay tuned for that. More later.

Contemporary Collectors Fellowship Award

The OC Based group Contemporary Collectors announced their 2008 Fellowship Reward recipient and the $10,000 award will go to Andrea Bowers. All the details of who was nominated and how they were nominated can be found here. Congrats to Andrea!

OC Weekend

There's actually a lot to do this weekend so get out there and support your scene.
Peter Saul opens at OCMA this weekend.


























The Land of Retinal Delights : The Juxtapose Factor opens at the Laguna Art Museum this weekend.



























Saints & Sinners opens at the Artery on Saturday night.

Mindy Cherri & Charles Krafft @ J. Flynn Gallery

Artist Interview: Sherie' Franssen

It's been a while since the last Artist Interview so we are long over due and I'm happy to be bringing back the series with the best painter (IMHO) based in Orange County, Sherie' Franssen. Without further ado:

Tell us about your work:
Visually the work is always based on the human figure, in some sense. Painting the flesh is a visceral experience for me and not something I will ever willingly give up.  Bacon famously said, "We're born, we copulate, we die..." and that says it all for me. Whether the work takes on a realistic or abstract appearance, just the use of oil paint is inherently sexual and there's no escaping it.  Because the same cannot be said for acrylic, it is useless to me.  I try to work every day and the most successful pieces are born out protracted periods of trial and error. There is always an initial idea, sometimes a very small one, but it's just a starting point.  If I'm patient, the painting develops it's own subject and takes twist and turns that would have never occurred to me and that's the greatest reward.

Artist influence:
Rembrandt, Bacon, DeKooning, Joan Mitchell, Per Kirkeby, Susan Rothenberg, Baselitz early work, David Park, Diebenkorn early figurative, Nathan Oliveira early existential figures...the whole Baroque and Roccoco periods. How could I forget Velazquez and GOYA...maybe Goya is the one, the everything for me. Because of his humanity and incisiveness and not a day passes that I don't look at him. Rembrandt...the inherent voluptuousness in all the DRAWING and PAINTING...and they look like they were done yesterday and reach across time with their presence.  These are elusive qualities unique only to him.  Bacon, his grasp of reality is so prescient today and must be considered by anyone seriously looking at the figure. DeKooning combines qualities of the two mentioned above.  Susan Rothenberg for her fearless and brave brushstrokes.  David Park for his humanity. Diebenkorn for his detached elegance.  Nathan Oliveira for his agonizing love. Velazquez because he embodies all the romance in painting I can bear. Last and first, Mark Dutcher because he is our dreamer painter for today and almost no one touches him.

What motivates You:
To tell you the truth, the need to paint is a force I can't quite explain. My earliest memories are about just wanting to do it and that it was the most natural way for me to tell a story.  It is a compelling feeling that is always present and nothing makes it go away, not even the ACT of painting.  The only time I feel not motivated is right after a show goes up, but that is mostly mild depression that I can't do it again. The solution to that is to pick up the brush.

In California you can stand on your own and find your own way without cleaving to any one dogma or school of thought, and I see that as a good thing.  Out in Orange County I feel isolated from the LA scene, but being a loner it's not so bad.  In the OC there's are nice art communities if you take advantage of it, but that's a personal choice. I like being away from the influence of LA, but there are less venues in OC, so maybe that's a disadvantage.  I tend to keep to myself, so I don't know much about those communities.  Before I was 38 years old I had never been to a museum nor did I know about the artworld as it is today.  I have just felt my way along and made attempts here and there to get the work shown.  I cannot take the credit though, because it is the kind and supportive people who have shown the work who have made things good for me.  In the end the most important thing to me is to improve the painting.

Next thing up..
A group show at Jancar Gallery called "No One Under 18", then a solo at Dolby Chadwick in SF in December, after that, well, we'll see....

Jessica Dobson @ Hibbleton Gallery

If you're looking for little music with your art next weekend. Jessica Dobson will be performing at Hibbleton Gallery on Saturday night June 21st. Contact the gallery for more info.

Finishing School Blog Project

Finishing Schools latest online project is now up. Go be part of the community.

Mindy Cherri & Charles Krafft @ J. Flynn

This Saturday night is the opening you won't want to miss. J. Flynn Gallery opens LOL featuring hot OC artist Mindy Cherri and northwest legend Charles Krafft. The opening runs from 7-10pm and I'm sure it's going to be packed.