ART CITIES:Los Angeles-Brad Miller, Ryan Callis & Films
Edward Cella Art + Architecture Gallery in Los Angeles, for the summer presents solo exhibitions with works by: Brad Miller and Ryan Callis, also a program of film screenings. Edward Cella Art and Architecture is one of the few galleries in the world committed to exploring the creative reciprocity of art, architecture and design. For the gallery’s expansion to Culver City Cella commissioned a collaboration between Jessica Fleischmann / still room and Rachel Allen Architecture to reinvent his new space and graphic identity.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Edward Cella Art + Architecture Gallery Archive
Exploring the psychoanalytic relationships we have with objects, Brad Miller in “Stones and Object Relations Theory” presents ceramic wall sculptures, an installation of abstract ceramic stonework, and paintings. Recalling this frenzied energy from his Venice Beach studio, Miller physically interacts with his work, applying layers of slip and paint, firing, torching, sanding, tumbling, and grinding away layers. This gradual process reveals their temporary condition as objects that change according to the needs of the those who use them. Employing methods of abstract expressionism and conceptualism, Miller orchestrates accidents to build forms that mirror found stones, and paintings that could be sculptures in an exacting manner. He says, “I want to put more natural things back into the world, so I make these rocks and paintings the same way the earth does, with clay, and pigments and dirt and energy”. Exploring his own intuition in relationship to memories and dreams of the ocean, Ryan Callis in “Ocean Memories” presents new paintings that combine abstraction, figuration, and illustration. Charged with hyper awareness, personalities, suffering, and bliss, Callis uses a conceptual system that codes secret phrases and words into geometric forms like Morse Code. The completed paintings reveal traces of each of these gestures with a post-modern sensibility. In describing his approach to making art he says, “Sometimes when I am out in the ocean I look back at the beach, where the physical end of Western Civilization is and all of its promises. I like to think that at least for a moment, I am somewhere beyond that space”. “Twenty/20” brings together twenty videos by twenty artists and film makers for a month long exhibition. Featuring a new artist everyday each work will play on a loop from the time the gallery opens and until it closes. The works in this exhibition critically approach elements from the human and natural world such as the ocean, sunshine, memories, and seasons. Artists: Jesse McLean, George Legrady, Manny Krakowski, Chip Lord, Bruce and Norman Yonemoto & Jeffrey Vallance, Lilja Birgisdóttir, Adam Berg, Alexander Paul Stevens, Kevin Cooley, Kristoffer Borgli, Chris Smith, Clarissa Tossin, Guido van der Werve, Joseph G. Cruz, McLean Fahnestock, Alex Slade, Jennifer Vanderpool, Virginia Lee Montgomery, Aaron Giesel andDavid Horvitz.
Info: Edward Cella Art + Architecture Gallery, 2754 S. La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, Duration 22/7-19/8/17, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 11:00-18:00, http://edwardcella.com
