Santa Monica, CA - William Turner Gallery is pleased to present Vapor Wave, a solo exhibition by Jimi Gleason,  opening April 5 and running through May 31, 2025.

Vapor Wave is Jimi Gleason’s most ambitious body of work to date. Utilizing a rich vocabulary of materials and styles, Gleason has built up gossamer thin layers of iridescent paint to create a series of paintings that are engagingly enigmatic. They confirm an artist at the height of his talent, confidently exploring the power of nuance and understated expression.

In this new series, vaporous ribbons of color play across lustrous surfaces that morph and shift as one engages them. The effect elicits a sense of unexpected revelry - much like the kind one might experience gazing across a lake in a predawn moment, captivated by the growing light as it caresses and undulates across the water’s surface.

And like water, Gleason’s surfaces are quietly in motion, their iridescent paints subtly shifting in hue as light plays across them. In some of the canvases, sharp diagonals bifurcate the compositions, providing dramatic structural rifts to these ethereal surfaces. The effect is a hypnotic and prismatic visual structure, where light, color and form intersect in ever-changing play. Gleason has a uniquely personal connection to water: he grew up surfing, and took up rowing in college. When he talks about his work he also talks about, “the way the light looks underwater,” and early mornings rowing when the calm water reflects the sky at dawn. 

Like many artists working in the Light and Space arena, materials and their catalytic visual effects are essential to their work. In Gleason’s case, he employs silver nitrate and pearlescent paints to activate his surfaces, which catch and reflect surrounding light, further engaging one’s sense of the surrounding space. Gleason is a leader in that next generation of Southern California artists to work in the Light and Space ethos, carrying the dialogue forward and using his work of art to explore the phenomenological properties of perception.

Born in Newport Beach, CA, Gleason received his BA from UC Berkeley in 1985. He studied printmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute before relocating to New York City, where he worked as a photo assistant and technician. Returning to California, Gleason was employed in the studio of Ed Moses for five years. Combining the disparate technical and compositional skills developed during his exposure to printmaking, photography and mixed media painting, Gleason is now the subject of considerable curatorial and critical attention. 

Gleason’s work is exhibited in significant public institutions, including the Hammer Museum, the Frederick R. Weisman Foundation, the Long Beach Museum, the Seattle Art Museum, and the Tucson Museum of Art.The artist’s paintings are actively collected by a growing number of major public and private collections around the world.

JANUARY 25 - MARCH 22, 2025

OPENING RECEPTION
Saturday, January 25, 5-8PM

Numina (ˈnu mɪn, ˈnyu-)  n. pl:  divine or supernatural power or presence, especially as associated with a particular place or object

Santa Monica, CA - William Turner Gallery is pleased to present Numina, Casper Brindle’s first solo exhibition at the gallery in four years, excitingly delayed by numerous national and international exhibitions, including an extensive exhibition in 2022 at The Luckman Gallery, Cal State LA. Numinawill run from January 18 - March 15, 2025.

Numina, presents two bodies of work, Light Glyphs and Veils, each of which involve dramatic investigations into light, color and the fluid, ever shifting nature of perception.  The exhibition ranges from painting to sculpture, and exemplifies Brindle’s restless experimentation and evolving modes of expression. The works are poetic, sensual and spatially dynamic. Utilizing automotive paints and pigmented acrylic, Brindle has created works that reflect and diffuse light in ways that are nuanced and engaging. 

Brindle’s Light Glyph’s, are luminescent and mercurial sculptures, constantly shifting in hue as the viewer moves around them. Absorbing and reflecting light, they have a meditative quality that calls one’s attention to the moment, and the subtle shifts within that moment. The word Light, in the series’ title, references perception and the power of light to illuminate, to inspire, and to guide. The glowing vertical bands in the center are the Glyphs, which act as mantra-like focal points for the viewer. The Glyphs also reference ancient, pre-linguistic  modes of communication, where symbols or marks were carved in relief to convey ideas in lieu of words. This exhibition introduces new extensions to the series, where, in addition to single works, the Light Glyphs are  presented now in various groupings, which foster a rhythmic, jazz-like interaction to one’s experience. 

The Veils introduce Brindle’s newest series, where diaphanous washes of color float on elegantly suspended sheets of acrylic. Painted in layers from the back of these sleek, crystalline surfaces, the paintings are bold and captivating. For Brindle, they are an abstracted homage to those moments of awe, where we find ourselves in nature’s thrall. Unsurprisingly, Brindle cites his love of nature, and the ocean in particular, as major sources of inspiration, where the artist has spent innumerable hours studying the sensory effects of light across its constantly changing surfaces.

Numina also presents Brindle at the dynamic leading edge of a dialogue, between artwork and viewer, that began in Southern California in the late 60s and early 70s and became known as Light & Space. The shift that began it all was as subtle as it was profound. The idea and purpose of the artwork shifted; from object to catalyst; from looking “at" the artwork to our experience of “perceiving” the artwork. Artist’s like Robert Irwin, James Turrell, Helen Pashgian, Fred Eversley, and many others, began to explore this notion of how their work could heighten one’s experience and perception.

For Casper Brindle, that initial sensibility has been embraced with an adventurous spirit, leading in boldly new and exciting directions.

Born in Toronto in 1968, Brindle’s family relocated to Los Angeles in 1974 from the United Kingdom, and he has called the city home ever since. By Brindle's early twenties he moved to the burgeoning art scene in Venice CA, where many of LA’s cutting edge artists had studios. It was there that the artist became immersed in the ideas of Light & Space, with which he has worked ever since.

Casper Brindle’s work has been exhibited across the United States and internationally. His work is held in numerous prominent private and museum collections including the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, The Laguna Art Museum, the Lancaster Museum of Art and History, and the Morningside College Collection in Sioux City, IA.

Phenomena features a range of work, from representational depictions to abstract expressions,  celebrating the power and visual splendor of the natural world as a resource for creative expression and investigation.  For centuries, artists have pictorially documented their observational studies of natural phenomena and the world around us. Manuscripts such as Natural History (77 CE) by Pliny the Elder and The Book of Miracles (1552), chronicled divine wonders and horrors in illustrations, often serving as warnings of the consequences of human deeds upon their environment and the mysteries of the natural world. Utilizing these extraordinary codexes as a genesis for Phenomena, the exhibition explores related themes.

In the 16th century, “cabinets of curiosities” or “wonder rooms” in Europe served as spaces to showcase collections curated for the artistic and scientific interests of their patrons and served as precursors to museums. With missions to both amuse and enlighten, “cabinets of curiosities” functioned as sources for entertainment and educational resources, thus intersecting art and science. In the late 19th century, scientific inquiry shifted from museums to university laboratories bifurcating the two discourses. Phenomena merges the two disciplines as they once had been integrated in the cabinets of curiosities.

Artists in Phenomena: Charles Arnoldi, Natalie Arnoldi, Ryland Arnoldi, Kelsey Brookes, Alex Couwenberg, Franco Defrancesca, Lawrence Gipe, David Lloyd, Ed Moses, Jeff Overlie, Melanie Pullen, Jennifer Wolf

Please us this Saturday for a short performance by Yuki Shibamoto. Yuki will be performing a an original composition inspired by the art of Japanese American artist Shingo Francis currently on view at the gallery.

REFRESHMENTS AT GALLERY - 3:00 PM
YUKI SHIBAMOTO PERFORMANCE - 3:30 PM

We are thrilled to announce the Bergamot Station Arts Center WINTER OPEN is scheduled for Saturday, December 9th, 2023. This day-long experience will feature a diverse array of exhibitions, performances, and interactive experiences across multiple galleries, making it a must-attend event for art enthusiasts!

For nearly thirty years, Bergamot Station Arts Center has stood as a dynamic nucleus of artistic expression in the heart of Santa Monica. As we approach this year's WINTER OPEN, anticipate an immersive voyage into the realms of creativity and the collective spirit of our community.

Parking Information: Parking is available on-site, and overflow parking can be found at Kite Pharma, 1800 Stewart Street.