PETER LODATO: DIAMONDS/DIVISIONS/VOIDS - Exhibition Catalog Now Available

Santa Monica, CA - William Turner Gallery is pleased to present, solo exhibition of exceptional new works by Peter Lodato, opening  January 13th, 2024. 

Peter Lodato’s (b. 1946) artistic journey reflects an evolution, from immersive light installations, to captivating paintings that explore the complexities of human perception over the course of his six decade-long career. In addition, Lodato would himself influence a number of artists, teaching Art History at Art Center in Pasadena, and University of California Irvine with notable students such as James Turrell and Chris Burden.

His initial foray into art consisted of environmental light installations,  characteristic of the West Coast's Light and Space movement in the 1960’s, which sought to transform physical spaces into immersive experiences for viewers. He credits the Roman Pantheon’s oculus for his interest in interpreting his experience. This body of work led to his inclusion in the 1981 Whitney Biennial.

As Lodato transitioned back to painting, he carried forward his fascination with perception, creating works that initially appear as austere, geometric abstractions but upon closer inspection, reveal layers, brushstrokes, and vibrant colors that play with space and depth. The dichotomy of vision—its capacity to both reveal and conceal—serves as a thematic cornerstone in Lodato's artistry. His reductive compositions, often featuring divided forms and bold colors, engage viewers in a visual dialogue between simplicity and complexity. Inspired by the Abstract Expressionist’s Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman, Lodato's use of vertical bands of color draws viewers into the canvas, inviting them to experience the artwork both physically and transcendentally. Hard edges feather out into diaphanous atmospheric vapors, creating luminous, Color-field suspensions floating on a colored ground– the formal consequences appear to both recede and project, dematerializing the art object and simultaneously constructing a void of flat, hard-edge, matted pigment. The artists hand is evident in the textural materialization of paint executed with an expert hand. In reasserting the picture plane in favor of the flat form, the abstractions are not in fact “subjectless”, regardless of their  reductive nature, they are intended to elicit a deep emotional response and expose the paradoxical nature of human perception.   

Informed in part by Eastern philosophy, Lodato’s palette observes the color schema assigned to the various corporeal chakras and their corresponding color assignments. Red for example symbolizes the root chakra at the base of the spine, characterizing strength and vitality, whilst white on the other end of the spectrum, illustrates the crowning light of spiritual wisdom.    

Lodato holds a Graduate degree from California State University. His artistic contributions have been recognized through a solo retrospective curated by the Frederick Weisman Foundation (2000), and exhibitions at prestigious institutions such as PS1 in New York City (1978), Whitney Museum of American Art’s Biennial (1981), the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. His works grace esteemed collections in various public and private institutions, including the Brooklyn Museum, the Seattle Art Museum, the Dallas Museum of Art, and the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art. This extensive presence in renowned collections underscores the impact and significance of Lodato's artistic vision within the realm of contemporary art. He lives and works in Venice, California.

VISUAL ATELIER 8 - An interview with Casper Brindle, Master of Light, Color, and Sensory Exploration

VISUAL ATELIER 8

An interview with Casper Brindle, Master of Light, Color, and Sensory Exploration

Image: Rob Brander for William Turner Gallery

Exploring the enchanting world of Casper Brindle
Jaimy Favela Le

Casper Brindle, a contemporary artist rooted in the 1960s & 70s Light and Space movement, explores the expressive possibilities of color, light, and form in his paintings. From vibrant technicolor to subtle monochromatic hues, Casper Brindle’s work consistently features a central focus, drawing viewers into enigmatic spaces of perception. Influenced by the Finish Fetish and Light and Space movements, he masterfully employs color reminiscent of Mark Rothko and Jules Olitski, creating immersive fields that evoke deep emotional responses.

Casper Brindle’s paintings, influenced by Southern California’s car culture, utilize airbrushed sprays for atmospheric depth, demonstrating a synthesis of diverse artistic sensibilities. Born in Toronto in 1968, Brindle, now based in Los Angeles, has exhibited internationally and is held in prestigious collections like the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation.

It is an incredible occasion to be able to chat with Casper Brindle about his awe-inspiring and sensory artwork! We would love to know what you think your child-self would think of you now as such an accomplished artist? What do you think little Casper would say to you? And what would he think about your expansive body of work? Is he glowing with pride?

Thank you for the kind words. I think Little Casper would be happy with my accomplishments so far. There is something innately childish about being a professional artist. Experimenting and “playing” with the materials in front of you. I could compare it to the feeling of playing with toys in the preschool sandbox. I am forever grateful to have had such a supportive mother, a terrific illustrator and designer in her own right. I’m deeply fortunate that I am able to make a living doing what I’m very passionate about.

What a wild trip it is to take in your illuminating works that seem to unfold more of themselves, the more you spend time with them and interact with the space them. We would love to know more about how you went from utilizing LED tubes for lighting up a painting to now being able to skillfully achieve an effect of illumination by using only color. What was the process like for you personally?

Yes, for years I was incorporating and embedding LED lights into my paintings and never really found what I was looking for. I was yearning for a certain magic, a more organic quality which the artificial light provided by the LEDs could never achieve. What most interests me is the manipulation of light, whether it be with refraction in an encapsulated form, such as the light glyphs, or using paints that intentionally transform as you walk around the works. Materiality is a primary principle of my practice as I have spent years experimenting with the applications of different materials.

Your work speaks to the auras felt when perceiving colors, light, a core, and atmospheric spaces. Contemplation about perception and connecting with the presence are a couple things that come from immersing oneself in your body of work. Do you think your work reflects these experiences from the living world or is it its own concentration of sensory conjuration?

Both. I think the materials are a grounding force for the pieces, whereas the treatment and color perception of the materials allow for the pieces to become almost otherworldly. However, the orchestrated fabrication of the pieces reflects the organized chaos of both the natural and the built environment that surrounds us.

What dream settings do you envision your colorful works in? Are there particular places in the world that you hope to bring your art to?

Of course, artists are always fantasizing about ideal settings for our work – Museums, major collections, within prominent public and architectural venues. I am no different and have been thrilled to have my work acquired and shown by museums, like the Weisman Museum, The Luckman, Lancaster Museum of Art, the new Frank Gehry hotel in LA and by a number prominent collectors. Looking ahead, I have an exhibition planned in Brussels at Gallery La Patinoire Royale, Valerie Bach, in April of 2024 and will be showing new paintings and sculpture that I am presently working on and excited about.

Soon following, I will be focused on my Los Angeles exhibition in September at the William Turner Gallery. Possibly less traditionally, I’d love to explore placing my work in “atypical” settings: a foggy forrest, a beach, a desert. Changing the context changes the piece. A glowing object in the middle of nowhere tells a much different story than a painting hung on a white wall of a gallery. Hmm, could this be a short film? You’ve got the wheels turning!

We also know that you are also a sculptor. Can you divulge a bit about how this way of creating your art differs in from how you approach making your paintings? Taking something that you typically form on a 2D surface to a 3D realm?

The three dimensional work is more of an elaborate, organized process, compared to the typical trance I’m in while I’m painting. With my paintings, I’m just going on rapid fire instincts in a meditative state. With the sculptural work it’s about logical problem solving. Like a puzzle. The Light Glyph sculptural works are expanded iterations of the Portal Glyph paintings -They just extend into three dimensions. Both explore the same theory, but within different mediums and materialities.

Maybe a comparable example is the painter as an actor and the sculptor as the director in theater or film. The actor is always reacting to a situation in front of them instinctively, but the director (sculptor) is planning the entire vision out before the production has begun. Two different processes for me, neither better than the other. Although, I enjoy the visceral process of painting more, both outcomes are equally fulfilling.

What does abstraction mean to you? Describe to us the way you philosophize the human senses in response to abstract visualizations that imbue a particular experience.

I’m in search of something beyond, something that can be truly simple and complex. Making my work is a selfish act, as I’m making the painting or sculpture solely for myself, to release it from my mind, without thinking about how they will be seen or felt. It’s a place where I can be hyper focused yet, in a meditative state. The artwork may be used as a conduit for the viewers own experiences, but I would never force a narrative onto them. Abstraction to me is being free of story telling or narration. To create a work based on raw emotions or even lack of emotions. Free of rules. The freedom to dance any way you like.

What does the process of dreaming up a painting or sculpture look like for you? Is it the case that the end result always matches the first drop of inspiration?

My paintings or sculptural works come to me usually in solitude, whether that be just before bed or alone in my studio. With my paintings, I may have an idea to explore, but rarely do they end up visually resembling my initial thoughts. I find in painting the decisions are made quickly and based on instinct. Sculpture for me is a much more thought out concept as you are dealing with construction and fabricating a well explored object with prototyping all while aiming to achieve the concept that was originally in my head.

What has been a major highlight for you as an artist so far? What sort of new things are you seeking to further your creative endeavors? Any personal revelations that you wish to share over the years?

My highlights constantly change as I grow, but a recent noteworthy highlight was working with Mika Cho who curated my Museum exhibition at The Luckman space at California State University Los Angeles. It was a phenomenal show and experience. Cho’s execution
and presentation were terrific. Constantly thinking of new ideas, projects, materials and collaborations, I know there is always something inspiring around the corner. It’s important to do the work you enjoy as opposed to chasing trends. I believe that if you do your own thing, a thing you are truly passionate about, everything will eventually fall into place.

ART REVIEW - White Hot Magazine / Andy Moses: Recent Paintings

By LORIEN SUÁREZ-KANERVA September 11, 2023

Andy Moses’ Recent Paintings will be showcased at the William Turner Gallery in Los Angeles from September 9 until November 11, 2023. Moses Recent Paintings’ distinct color use encompasses a predominantly white, blue, black and gold palette. All-white color tints, shades, and their lustrous variability are at play amidst clear, sharper, fluid lines, and softer open gradations, leading toward ethereal spaces. Moses’s sensibility spans a buoyantly luminous subtlety and achieves a refined definition through a meticulously grounded and richly orchestrated embodied perception. Maurice Merleau-Ponty pointed to embodied perception as the experience of the self in an environment at the crucible towards forms of relatedness that reveal meaning and expand perception.  

Geomorphology 1607, Acrylic on canvas, over concave wood panel, 57 x 90 inches, 2023

Fiber Birren, Johannes Itten, and Carl Jung address the subject of color each through a psychological vantage point, cultural nuances (like Jung’s groundbreaking study of mandalas of the East by introducing these to the West), and Color Theory. The sensorial effects of color suggest a responsive universality based on similarities that bridge cultural bounds.  In his works “Color and Meaning” and “Color and Culture,” John Cage supports these observations on color's meaningful effect on sensorial understanding across cultures.   Most salient in Moses’ works is the combination of white and blue, where black shifts through a reflective play with light toward shades of blue. From these earlier scholars' observations, colors such as whites speak of clarity, illumination, and spirituality, and blues inspire serene tranquility and introspective depth.

As a countertone, gold's earliest cultural associations with the sun's radiant power extend the hue's significance to encompass wealth and prominence. For Jung, gold represented the self's individuation process, stimulating wisdom and enlightenment—likewise, Itten and Birren associated illumination and divine inspiration with gold. Extensively, gold in East Asia, including Japanese 18th-century iconography, signifies wealth, power, good fortune, and divinity.

Geomorphology 1606, Acrylic on canvas over concave wood panel, 57 x 90 in, 2023

Moses shares the American Transcendentalists’ numinously intuitive perception of nature alongside the critical figures of Thoreau, Whitman, Emmerson, and their predecessor, the Canadian Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Poetry such as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s lines from his poem “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls” are evident in Moses’ paintings, and they highlight a kinship, reveling in transcendental sensibilities grounded in the human experience of nature and its patterns throughout time.

 “The little waves, with their soft, white hands,
Efface the footprints in the sands.”

Geodesy 1514, Acrylic on canvas over circular wood panel, 72 in diameter, 2023 

Longfellow summarizes this generational contribution towards a deepening receptiveness and recognition of how these contemplations become influential legacies in his poem “A Psalm of Life.”

“Lives of great men all remind us.
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints in the sands of time.”

Geodesy 1515, Acrylic on canvas over circular wood panel, 72 in diameter, 2023

Similarly, Moses perceived an affinity and kinship from the East with Ryukyuan lacquerware for its craftsmanship and conceptual design motif through his introduction while viewing LACMA’s “The Five Directions: Lacquer from the Ryukyu Islands” exhibition. This iconography and the craft itself of creating a painstaking layering of resin polished into lacquer was characteristic of Japan’s Ryukyu Islands from the 18th century.  The motif speaks of benevolent mystical forms seeking wisdom in East Asian cultural iconography. One particular piece in LACMA’s exhibition, a circular tray, inspired his painting titled Geodesy 1515. The matter of the enlightenment is also poetically crafted as an adornment – Dragons Chasing the Flaming Pearl. The Flaming Pearl holds as its essence the themes of wisdom within a spiritual scope. At the same time, the dragons culturally appear as strong protective forms that control natural elements.

Circular Tray with Dragons Chasing a Flaming Pearl, Black Lacquer on Wood Core with Mother of Pearl Inlay, 3.5 x 35.25 in, Ryukyu Islands, 1700-1800, LACMA Permanent Collection.

The American transcendentalist ethos, presented in the poem “Come, said my soul” by Whitman, attests eloquently to their literary movements’ vision of universal unity.  Their writings draw deeply from their dedicated contemplation and communion with nature. This is akin to the sensibility the mystics have shared throughout time.

Geomorphology 1608, Acrylic on canvas over concave wood panel, 57 x 90 in, 2023

“Come, said my soul,
Such verses for my body let us write, (for we are one,)
That should I after death invisibly return,
Or, long, long hence, in other sphere,
There to some group of mates the chants resuming,
(Tallying earth’s soil, trees, winds, tumultuous waves,)
Ever with pleas’d smile I may keep on, Ever and ever yet the verses
owning – as, first, I here and now,
Singing for soul and body, set to them by name,
Walt Whitman

Andy Moses’s paintings attest to this universal transcendence, poetically defined, and breathtakingly revealing its cultural lineage’s kinship. WM

ANDY MOSES: RECENT PAINTINGS - Saturday September 9, 5-8PM

ANDY MOSES: RECENT PAINTINGS
September 9 - November 11, 2023
Opening Reception: Saturday, September 9, 5-8PM

Greg Miller: Once Upon A Time Exhibition Catalog Now Available

Greg Miller's artistic versatility is evident in his adept use of various painting styles. With a deft hand and craftsmanship, he navigates different techniques to achieve diverse visual effects in his work. Using a Renaissance practice of layering paint, he is able to achieve the photorealism in his portraits which is a highly labor intensive and skillful process.

One can observe Miller's skillful mastery of realism in his highly detailed and precise portrayals. Whether it's capturing the nuanced expressions of faces or rendering intricate textures, his attention to detail demonstrates his command over the Realist style.

The exhibition’s title comes from the work Once Upon a Time, which illustrates many of the themes, and techniques characteristic of Miller’s oeuvre. Central to the image is a black-and-white painting of a vintage Hollywood city-scape during its “Golden Age”.  Super-imposed, is the profile of a comic book action-hero surveying the vista. To the right, Grisaille is applied with spray paint to produce a photorealistic portrait of a woman seductively peering out from what appears to be a cropped still-frame. The scratched surface alludes to wear, and the passage of time. Collaged below is a text clipping of “the right” with a clock next to it, suggesting “time”. On the far left, a faceted crystal highball glass is labeled with a clipping reading “ACTION”.

Once Upon A Time, acrylic on canvas, 60” x 72”, History, acrylic on canvas, 36” x 72”, Truth, acrylic on canvas, 48” x 48”

GREG MILLER

Greg Miller (b. 1951) was born in Sacramento, California and holds a Master of Arts Degree from San Jose University. Once a long-time Venice, California resident, he currently resides in Austin, Texas.

His work is featured in numerous museum and private collections, including those of: the San Jose Museum of Art, Newport Harbor Museum, Crocker Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Laguna Art Museum, Riverside Art Museum,  Frederick R. Weisman Foundation and Charles Saatchi Foundation. The Get Go, a volume of his writings, photography and paintings was published in 2010, and the first comprehensive monograph of the artist, Signs of the Nearly Actual, was published in 2009.

GREG MILLER Once Upon A Time 
June 10, 2023 – August 12, 2023 

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Alex Couwenberg: SuperGlide - Exhibition Catalog Now Available

In this new series of visually exquisite works, Alex Couwenberg utilizes a jazz-like ensemble of color, line and texture to create lyrically engaging, deftly complex compositions. These multi-layered canvases captivate the viewer with the precision of their virtuosic execution, but they are at heart wonderful improvisations - reductive and additive processes drawing upon his intuitive and spontaneous reactions in the moment. Couwenberg simultaneously builds upon and excavates the surfaces of his paintings, constructing an abstract archaeology of his own deeply personal, semiotic patois. Born and raised in Southern California, Couwenberg’s work expresses the seemingly contradictory sensibilities of the region - the love of nature, and its variegated, open-spaced color and light, and, conversely, the embrace of an urban architecture, in all of its physical and cultural density.

A graduate of The Art Center College of Design and The Claremont Graduate School, Couwenberg worked under the guidance of Karl Benjamin, one of the leading figures in the Southern California-base school of Hard-edge geometric abstraction. Beginning in the mid to late 60s, Benjamin was instrumental in developing a highly refined painting style, process, and philosophy of tightly ruled shapes and edges. Concurrently, other artists in LA began working with industrial materials to create highly refined surfaces, termed “Finish Fetish”, and investigating alternative mediums and technological advances. Both of these influences coalesce into Couwenberg’s post-postmodern vernacular, characterized by its layered formal, material, and textured surfaces.

A synthesis of styles and processes particular to the artist's experience materialize on the canvas to construct the poetics of his investigations. Masking off portions of the painting in his process recalls the batik technique of wax-resist dying and geometric patterning used in his father’s birthplace of Java, Indonesia, a former Dutch colony. His parents met in the Netherlands and immigrated to the U.S., making Couwenberg a first-generation Eurasian American. This synthesis of cultures manifests in his pristine Neo-Plast lines, which disrupt the rigid grid of De Stijl to formulate topsy-turvy cartographies embedded with encoded sign- systems. The alternating black-and-white banding alludes to “Invasion Stripes” used by Allied forces to define friendly aircrafts on their fuselages and wings during World War II but can also refer to Chevron stripes. The industrial spray gun is employed to create diaphanous atmospheric effects, where the foreground and background oscillate, while pearlescent paints shimmer on the surface. Couwenberg lacerates striations on portions of the architectonic compositions with tools such as brooms, all the while revealing intersections between the complex networks of positive and negative spaces. These circuits are comparable to the labyrinthine freeways Angeleno’s surmount and the dextrous, freestyle choreographies skaters wreath. Couwenberg orchestrates self-portraits that intimate a collective unconscious unveiled through material and process, ultimately converting them into cultural artifacts.

Chasing Pono, 2022, acrylic and spray on canvas, 72“ x 66“

Couwenberg’s paintings have been shown in several solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. His work can be found in numerous public, private, corporate, and museum collections around the world. Museum acquisitions include the Crocker Museum of Art, the Daum Museum in Missouri, Lancaster Museum of Art and History, Laguna Art Museum, Long Beach Museum of Art, and Nushi-Umeda, Tokyo to name a few. In 2007, Couwenberg was awarded the prestigious Joan Mitchell Foundation Award for his achievements in painting and in 2012 was featured as the subject of Los Angeles based filmmaker Eric Minh Swenson’s project titled “The Making Of La Fonda,” which focuses on the artist's life and studio practices.

ARTILLERY MAGAZINE - RACIAL RECKONING Mark Steven Greenfield Illuminates the Black Experience - By Clayton Campbell

A short video highlighting the Califia from Mark Steven Greenfield's exhibition HALO

California’s namesake, Califia (c. 1510) is the mythical Black warrior Queen who raised a menacing army of Amazons on the fabled island of California, a utopia brimming with pearls and gold. Commanding a Naval fleet and an aerial flock of five-hundred winged Griffins, the pagan Queen is a fierce adversary for the Crusaders but is eventually conquered, converted to Christianity and married off to a chivalrous Spaniard. She returns to California with her husband to establish a new Christian dynasty as further adventures ensue. The literary character is from Castillian, Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo’s 16th century epic poem, Las Sergas de Esplandián. When Spanish explorers, under the command of Hernán Cortés, learned of an island off the coast of western Mexico rumored to be ruled by Amazon women, they named it California.

Mark Steven Greenfield @ Historic Broadway Station - Timelapse Video

MARK STEVEN GREENFIELD - A Survey 2001 - 2021
Currently On View at MOAH

Mark Steven Greenfield is a native Angeleno. Born into a military family, he spent his early years in Taiwan and Germany, returning to Los Angeles at the age of 10. Entering into an American adolescence after being abroad gave Greenfield a unique look at the negative stereotyping of African Americans like himself, sparking his interest in the complexities of the Black experience both historically and in contemporary society. Greenfield’s creative process is based on research that delves into topics of Black genealogy, heritage, and cultural representation. His artwork is anchored in aspects of Black history that have been buried, forgotten, or omitted. 

Mark Steven Greenfield studied at what is now the Otis College of Art and Design and went on to receive a Bachelor’s degree in Education from California State University, Long Beach in 1973. To support his artistic practice, he held various positions as a visual display artist, park director, graphic design instructor, and police sketch artist before returning to school to earn his Master of Fine Arts degree in painting and drawing from California State University, Los Angeles in 1987. Since then, Greenfield has been a significant figure in the Los Angeles arts scene, serving as arts administrator for the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, director of the Watts Towers Arts Center and the Towers of Simon Rodia, director of the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, and as a board member for the Downtown Arts Development Association, the Korean Museum, and The Armory Center for the Arts — to name a few. Greenfield has been teaching painting and design courses at Los Angeles City College since 1997.

PRESS - Autre Magazine - Oliver Kupper speaks with Casper Brindle

Casper Brindle, LIGHT | GLYPHS - Catalog is now Available

We encourage you to view the digital catalog of LIGHT | GLYPHS. We will be printing a hard copy of this catalog. If you would like to receive a hard copy of the catalog please contact the gallery.

CASPER BRINDLE ARTIST PAGE
EXHIBITION PAGE FOR LIGHT | GLYPHS