Cultural IllusionsNew Exhibit TAG GalleryFebruary 28 - March 24, 2012Featuring:Katie Crown, Ernie Marjoram, Juan Rosenfeldt

Opening Reception: Saturday, March 3, 2012 5-8 PM
Artist Panel: Saturday, March 10, 2012, 3 pm

Figuratively Speaking, Katie Crown


Mixing humour and noir, Katie Crown’s figurative paintings darken the sunny, saturated sea-sides of Southern California. Both her oil paintings and ceramic sculptures are characterized by a play on geometric patterns and the pathos of the human condition. Her pieces might seem the California love child of Mondrian and Alice Neel, capturing an isolated, voyeuristic beach culture, culminating in a Dis-United States of America. Crown navigates the familiar beaches of Southern California where fun in the sun actually reveals a complex and dark and entertaining social dance.

Guilty Pleasures, Ernie Marjoram


In Ernie Marjoram’s latest show, Guilty Pleasures at TAG Gallery, the Los Angeles based oil painter monumentalizes our soothing psychological yet "not-so-healthy" dishes, and examines the moment just before we bite. We zoom in on the foods we take for granted, and discover their personas, temperaments and tastes through the thick impastos of pasta, pot roasts, and yes, even cheeseburgers. We enter the landscape of our own anxieties, taking stock of the thick, fun and exuberant dishes that give us comfort in our times of emotional malaise.

Elements of Change, Juan Rosenfeldt


As if dioramas from the story of Coelho’s Alchemist, the works of Juan Rosenfeldt transform found objects of earthly time into contained experiences of eternal aesthetic contemplation. In the Elements of Change at TAG Gallery, the Venezuelan-born Rosenfeldt creates a visual correlation to Borges’ Magical Realism suffused with the surrealism of Meret Oppenheim, and Joseph Cornell. In examining the delicate balances of computer parts, butterflies, stamps and string, we discover the fragile nature of our existence and the sheer wonder of it’s fruition.

Juan Rosenfeldt: TAG Gallery Interview

Juan Rosenfeldt
Tradewind Lullabye
Assemblage 21 x 10"

Where did you grow up? Does where you grew up have an influence on your art making today?

I was born and raised in Venezuela; being first generation born American from a northern European family, my influences were strong and contrasted. At home I was influenced by all things from the old world. My father was a big fan of classical music, old engravings and so on. Outside of home it was the opposite, color and rhythm, bright and loud, from a culture of a nation on the tropical caribbean region. Both worlds were prominent and influential, I think this is why I chose later on to live in Spain. It's exactly the mid point geographically between Venezuela and Estonia.

When did you realize that you wanted to be an artist?

I don't recall the when. The creative itch has always been there, since day one.

Does your own life experience play a role in your imagery?

Absolutely, there's no separation. it's like alchemy and the alchemist. I'm my own laboratory, and whatever the current pressing issue, concern or quest, becomes the end result in the art piece. Or the other way around, the creative process assists me in figuring "it" out.

Juan Rosenfeldt
3
Watercolor 17 x 12"

What is the process that you use for your work? Take us through the steps taken that lead to what we see?

It's basically two-fold. A seed idea/vision that expands through sketching, planning and producing. And a random encounter with an object/element that inspires the final artwork. Going to beaches, for example, after a storm, on the Pacific coast, is a treasure throve of driftwood and distressed debris.

A "casting" process between found objects is a big part of my workflow, how disparate objects and ideas come together come together and create a new reality.

What art historical art movement would you choose as identifying most with your work?

If I could narrow down, it would be early to mid 20th century: Gauguin, Klee, Miro, Cornell, Beuys, etc. The art in this particular era was deeply involved in inner-self exploration, along with symbolism as well as drawing from the well of primitive art, from cultures and times where the notion of art didn't even exist.

Juan Rosenfeldt's exhibition opens February 28, 2012.