Artist Spotlight: Deborah Decker -- Under the Radar

Deborah Decker, Mike, Oil on glassine, 72 x 70"

TAG Gallery is proud to present a body of work from Deborah Decker entitled Under the Radar. This body of work utilizes the figure in conjunction with the artist's interest in socio-political matters. To this end, the work explores various facets of the human condition and memory, and external determinants that influence both. Decker’s work grew out of her interest in the study of empathy and the hardships which are all too frequently magnified and exacerbated by economic, social, and political realities. 

Deborah Decker, Double Girl With Pink Hair, Oil on glassine, 72 x 70"

Under the Radar is based on the day-to-day realities and memories of the students who live in Inglewood, California, under the flight path of the Los Angeles International Airport. This work endeavors to blur the boundaries of ‘the other’ who is perceived as being different in some fundamental way. The other is a false illusion of hyper-reality created by differences between and within social classes, or a community within a society, a family, a high school clique or a neighborhood gang. 

Deborah Decker, Shanell, Oil on glassine, 67 x 36"

Decker invites the viewer to meet these students: their full body portraits hang in an installation type setting, while jetliners from the LAX's relentless and noxious presence fly constantly over their heads.

Deborah Decker, Installation View

Tuesday, November 21st – Saturday, December 16th

Artist Panel Discussion: Saturday, December 9, 3pm

Artist Spotlight: Katie Crown -- Watercolors

Katie Crown, Crossing Signal, Watercolor, 49.5 x 49" 

Watercolors, Katie Crown’s newest exhibition at TAG, features abstract watercolors that focus on the convergence of shape, form, and color. 

Katie Crown, Quartet, Watercolor, gouache, 37.5 x 30.5"

Though the works were completed in 2017, many pieces were based on watercolors Crown painted in the 1970s and 1980s, updated and adorned with geometric and chromatic patterns. To this end, Crown views this renewed expedition into her past as a journey into an artistic diary. 

Katie Crown, Curious Forest, Watercolor, gouache, 38.5 x 30"

The work started as landscapes but evolved into non-objective, abstract, and geometric forms. 

Compositionally, arcs and triangles are mainstays of this work while Crown utilizes airbrush techniques as well as expressive, saturated color to bring a sense of texture and grit to the works, engrossing the viewer in each piece’s own geometric universe.

Katie Crown, Flag of No Nation, Watercolor, gouache, 54 x 47"

Tuesday, November 21st – Saturday, December 16th

Artist Panel Discussion: Saturday, December 9, 3pm

Current Exhibition: Katie Crown, Deborah Decker, Joan Wynn

Tuesday, November 21st – Saturday, December 16th

Opening Reception: Saturday, November 25, 6 – 9PM

Artist Panel Discussion: Saturday, December 9, 3PM

Katie Crown - Watercolors

Katie Crown, Carnival, Watercolor, 48 x 36"

Deborah Decker – Under the Radar

Deborah Decker, Zarhia, Oil on glassine, 67 x 36"

Joan Wynn - Alive

Joan Wynn. On High, Brass, cast concrete, 14 x 6 x 3"

Current Exhibition: Betty Sheinbaum Retrospective

TAG Gallery is proud to host a retrospective for founding member Betty Sheinbaum. This exhibition, running now through December 16th, covers an expansive look at the artist's exploration in several different mediums over the course of more than five decades of her artistic practice.
This exhibition showcases 98 works, including previously unseen pastel work, paintings, collage, sketches, and abstract experimentation with different found objects.
Throughout her life Sheinbaum carried a natural and comforting humility that manifested itself not only through her artworks, but also through her personal philosophy and ethos. Sheinbaum never once created for recognition or praise, but to learn through the process of doing, of being a perpetual student.
Art Critic Marlena Donohue has said, “Coming to art seriously in the 1950s, long before feminism carved for women the freedom to select and juggle roles, Betty Sheinbaum doggedly tucked art into the stolen space between marriage, mothering, political activism, and astute art collecting. She managed to fit making art into a life that included raising four children, working with her husband in his political activities and running two successful bi-costal galleries of contemporary craft…Whatever else Betty Sheinbaum has accomplished in her busy life, she is indeed an artist. She is an artist by virtue of an honest, unpretentious desire to hone rather than rush her skills, by virtue of the inventiveness of her productivity and mostly by virtue of her quiet, unrelenting commitment."

Click here to see more installation images.

Opening Reception: Saturday, December 9, 5-8pm
Exhibition runs through December 16, 2017

Artist Spotlight: Shelley Lazarus -- Nouns

Shelley Lazarus, Besties, Watercolor, ink, 16 x 22"

Shelley Lazarus has always strived to have her paintings speak to their audience on their own merits, evoking different sensations and emotions to a wide array people as they are viewed. When working on a piece the artist tends to make up narratives about the day, different people, or her neighborhood.

Shelley Lazarus, Couple, Watercolor, 18 x 18"

Everything we see, do, or feel has a noun attached to it, so that other humans can identify with it or understand a particular thing or concept fully. Be it love, fear, risk, beauty, rapture, and so even in art, works are given titles to identify where or what the artist felt in order to assist viewers in engrossing themselves in paintings. This collection is Lazarus’ latest set of nouns.

Shelley Lazarus, Deck View, Watercolor, 22 x 24"

As far back as Lazarus can remember, her left hand held some tool to make a mark with. However her true medium of choice has been watercolor ever since she found out all she needed were a small pad, travel size palette, water, and brushes to make her creations. Lazarus will find a bench, pull out her portable gear and get lost in the moment of creating. A non-purist about her work, Lazarus often includes all kinds of mediums -- pencils, pens, and crayons while working on Yupa paper.

Shelley Lazarus, Beachies, Watercolor, ink, 37 x 29"

The exhibition runs through Saturday, November 18, 2017
Sunday Afternoon Jazz, Sunday, November 12, 2-5 pm
Artist Panel Discussion: Saturday, November 18, 3 pm

Artist Spotlight: Carol Kleinman -- Reflections

Carol Kleinman, Window Dancing on the Rue de Rivoli, Single Exposure Photograph, 39 x 59"

TAG Gallery is proud to present “Reflections”, an exhibition of surreal photographs of reflections on windows by Carol Kleinman. This exhibition pushes beyond reality, transmuting the everyday and commonplace into visual fantasy. The multi-faceted reflections, captured in Paris, Amsterdam, Los Angeles and New York, range in tone from romantic to intense to whimsical.

Carol Kleinman, A Chorus Line on 3rd, Single Exposure Photograph, 17 x 18"

Kleinman’s trademark single exposures of reflections are the result of a visual treasure hunt. “I’ll spot a reflection on a window, get captivated by its complexity, and, with a click of my shutter, and capture the image. Reflections seduce me by their symphony of layer upon layer of life... all of it culminating in the very personal moment when light, motion and planes of reality merge!”

Carol Kleinman, Back on the Beach, Single Exposure Photograph, 26 x 32"

The startling photographs in this exhibition are not composites. They are single, complex images that actually existed at a specific time and place. The viewer sees what the artist saw, creating an intimate bond between artist and viewer. Kleinman’s work is meant to help viewers perceive the many visual secrets reflected in the daily world around us.

Carol Kleinman, A Face in the Window, Honolulu, Single Exposure Photograph, 26 x 16"

The exhibition runs through Saturday, November 18, 2017
Sunday Afternoon Jazz, Sunday, November 12, 2-5 pm
Artist Panel Discussion: Saturday, November 18, 3 pm