Coming Exhibition: Peter Kempson, Patricia Doede Klowden, and Gary Polonsky

June 18 - July 13, 2013

Opening Reception:
Saturday, June 22, 2013, 5-8 p.m.

Artist Talk:
Saturday, June 29, 2013, 3-4 p.m.


Peter Kempson, Controlled Chaos

Peter Kempson, Steven Spielberg, Director, Mixed Media, 42 x 30 in., 2013

Known for his photo-realistic acrylic L.A.andscapes, Peter Kempson has been exploring a wide-range of subjects and new media for a little over a year. His new works include a portrait of Steven Spielberg rendered as a montage of scenes from his movies, and “20th Century Modern,” a large piece celebrating modernist architects from Frank Lloyd Wright to Frank Gehry. There are also color studies, an ode to the film industry, entitled “Cinemetropolis,” (which imagines an entire city devoted to film history, production and Hollywood ephemera like Angelyne’s billboards) and a tongue-in-cheek piece called “Abstract Painting Hung on an Inappropriate Wall.” Like a modern-day Hieronimous Bosch, Kempson renders these diverse subjects with meticulous attention to detail, employing photo-montage and painting together with a dose of social satire.

Patricia Doede Klowden, Sliced

Patricia Klowden, Abstract Figure, Glazed Ceramic, 15 x 6 x 5 in., 2013

Klowden’s current series, Sliced, continues her examination of the figure in ceramic and bronze, with representational forms as well as abstractions that invoke the figure without full representation, and ceramic vessels that approach the physical body from a more intuitive perspective. Each of the ceramics has been sliced into horizontal bands that are then re-pieced together to form the whole. Heads, torsos, vessels and abstracts, all sliced and re-made, with a resulting repetition of horizontal line that breaks the vertical pieces into complex compositions, and offers a sense of play mixed with dynamism. Klowden finds fascination in the resulting reconstructed forms, and the way in which the edges refuse to be re-pieced as they once were. The eye of the viewer then has the opportunity to conceive of the original form, and to make its own connections. The bronze figures, remaining whole and un-sliced, stand as a counterpoint and reminder of the unaltered physical body, while the multiple glazes Klowden uses on the surface of the ceramics in blues, greens, purples and golds offer luminous cool depths, with moments of warmth pulling us back in to a feeling of flesh.

Gary Polonsky, The Food Series Continues

Gary Polonsky, 5 Carrots, Acrylic on Mixed Media, 48 x 40 x 15 in., 2013

In his latest exhibition, artist Gary Polonsky further explores large-scale food studies, focusing his most recent work on classic American confections. Working from real food while using non-traditional canvases of balsawood, styrofoam, and wire mesh, Polonsky’s three-dimensional works break the surface and effectively blur the line between painting and sculpture. “Each piece in this series attempts to advance my ability to describe, recreate, and emphasize the beauty and wonder that can be found in almost any object,” says Polonsky. Magnifying his subjects’ detail, Polonsky’s wall-based constructions echo themes of nostalgia while beckoning viewers to take a closer look at an array of tantalizing salty and sugary treats - just short of taking an indulgent bite.