Painting as theater - the works of Yvette Gellis

Painting as theater - the works of Yvette Gellis

By Simone Kussatz

Los Angeles based artist Yvette H. Gellis has been an Artist-in-Residence at the 18th Street Arts Center since August 2008.

Born and raised in Chicago, Gellis was classically trained at the École des Beaux Arts in Aix-en-Provence, in the south of France, before she started painting abstracts and making installations. “The training was unbelievably confined,“ she says. “Even when we were doing figure drawing, they wanted the entire figure on the paper. Therefore, the limb couldn’t be going off the page.” Subsequently, Gellis went to the U.K. to study Shakespeare at The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in order to progress as an artist. “It was really to study the theatricality, tragedy, drama and the humor and all these aspects of life,” she says. “We have to make psychological choices on a daily basis, and so life mirrors art and art mirrors life.”

In addition, Ms. Gillis’s work is inspired by southern California’s Light and Space artists, notably Robert Irwin, James Turrell, and Larry Bell. “I’m influenced by their work with this sublime light. At the same time, I’m committed to the mark in painting. Every move I make is a mark. I make strong, powerful and confident marks. That’s the foundation of my practice.” Further, Gellis applies philosophical, spiritual and scientific theories to her work, incorporating a range of knowledge from quantum physics to the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda. “I’m interested in everything in terms of intuition. Jung talked about the spiritual instinct in art. Donald Kuspit talks about intuition. But even more fascinating to me is Tesla and his idea of energy, like the Zeno effect, where everything is energy and electricity and our thoughts are influencing what’s happening to us.”

Aside from creating huge installations, Gellis works primarily on large scale paintings with abstract imagery. Among other media, she employs oil, acrylic, oil pencil, graphite, and charcoal. Her paintings engage exuberant colors – pinks, purples, reds, oranges, bright greens and blues, -- or pastel hues often placed adjacent to thick black calligraphic marks or rich grey-toned forms. Some of her paintings present architectural structures, providing perspective and depth. In others she combines feminine organic shapes with masculine man-made ones, juxtaposing bright and dark colors and establishing vivid contrasts. Painted beams of light appear, suggesting a spark of sublimity. Parts of some of her paintings are covered with resin, which seems to have a life of its own, while the other forms are connected with each other.

Gellis’ preference for large-scale paintings derives from an incident during her studies at Claremont Graduate University, when a professor noticed that she painted from her shoulder rather than from her hand. Also, the confinement of the graduate studios pushed her once again to do abstract works and installations. “There is something rather dramatic happening with the work I’m doing, as I see painting as theater,” Gellis explains. “I employ the surface of the canvas like a stage to set up a theatrical condition, where the abstract mark functions as the protagonist, or the heroic self. The more space I have, the better.”

In a review in Art in America, Constance Mallinson put Gellis’ work in the context of 1950s New York Abstract Expressionism, comparing it especially to the works of Franz Kline and Robert Motherwell due to her black calligraphic lines. However, the influence of ‘50s Bay Area figuration, notably Richard Diebenkorn and Elmer Bischoff, also shines through. “I’m inspired by great art in terms of where it fits into a long term conversation,” Gellis explains. “Again, confident mark-making is really fundamental to me. I’m not interested in a mark trying to find itself or to try to sell an idea. I’m really committed to the artists from the ‘50s who promoted the idea of intuition, phenomenology, presence in the mark and color. But for me it doesn’t stop there, I go even further than that.”

Instead of trying to make pictures, Ms. Gellis is trying to get to the essence of the experience that inspired her to paint in the first place, which she then tries to communicate through her paintings. “It’s kind of when you paint a horse and you don’t describe the beauty and the muscles and the sweat,” she says. ”It’s more like using your senses, what was the feeling of being on a horse, when the hands rubbed up against the strength of that neck and the power of that animal compared to me?” She continues, “When you go to Venice, Italy, and see those fabulous four horses inside of St. Marks, you can see the symbolism, but also all the attributes that are connected to a horse. It’s a big heavy theme to take on. So to do that successfully one needs to be a master painter. Susan Rothenberg did some fantastic horse paintings years ago, capturing this. But I don’t want to do that, although I have the technical skills. For me this was just an exercise at school, but the idea of using those senses one can still find in my work today.”

Gellis tries to blur the distinction between painting, installation and the environment. “They’re really informing each other, so the objects I’m using in the installations, the fabric, the tubes, are functioning like a paint brush,” she explains. “Through my installations I want to create a three-dimensional abstract painting, so that the audience can walk into the painting, as if I were to create a gallery space.”

Although Gellis is fond of the 19^th century Hudson River School, she doesn’t produce representational paintings herself, but only uses the concept of sublimity in her work. She considers herself an abstractionist rather than an abstract painter per se. “My marks and the abstract marks in my paintings are very controlled and they are very thoughtful,” she explains. ”It’s not as if I’m just moving paint around abstractly. There is a long process to putting together these paintings. I collect a lot of photographs, some of them my own, and I do a lot of research and look at abandoned and destroyed places, photographing and looking at them and finding a meaning in this fleeting energy in life that comes and goes, this quickness of life, this ephemeral aspect to living.”

(Edited by Peter Frank)

The contents of this site belongs © to Simone Kussatz

The works of Megan Madzoeff

The works of Megan Madzoeff

By Simone Kussatz

California artist Megan Madzoeff, trained at Art Center College of Design and Claremont Graduate University, doesn’t stick to one genre. Instead, she has a penchant for mixing abstractions with real images, inviting the viewer to submerge in her art work, as in her abstractions with ostriches that were showcased last year during the exhibit “Realities of Abstraction” in Project_210 in Pasadena. ”People feel uncomfortable if they can’t recognize what an art work is," Madzoeff says. "I’ve been always fascinated with ostriches. I love their faces and expressions. They look very curious to me. I wanted the viewer to look at my paintings the way ostriches take in the world through their eyes.”

In a fashion similar to Jackson Pollock, Madzoeff creates paintings utilizing pouring techniques, which she later contours with a palette knife. In one of her works, “Hive of vestige," she creates a bright green shape on a white background that looks like a parrot, whose left wing extends to a mountainous grey ground. In front of the painting, on the gallery's floor is a pile of dirt, providing the work a life in three dimensions. “I was so fascinated by the shapes that I created through the pouring of the paint," observes Madzoeff, "because they are things I would have not thought about on my own. And then I had this idea of worship and looked at my piece as a narrative. I don’t worship in my life, but I’m fascinated, because so many people take it seriously and there are wars over this. So, it’s kind of mocking worship.”

Aside from painting, Madzoeff, who studied film as an undergraduate, also does sound installations. In “21^st Century Indexing," the viewer is surrounded by three white walls bearing an indistinct pattern in shades of green, orange, black, and blue. Fourty-two little speakers installed in the walls - each play something different - creating a chaotic sensation that refers to the overwhelming effect of the media on the human being. “I had to work in advertising and make senseless advertisements for movies. I could see how the ads and news were manipulating and bombarding people. And most people are not aware of its exhausting power. Also, in the air there is all this wireless activity happening, and we don’t see it, but it’s all over the place and I wanted to demonstrate how these multiple activities are coming at you.”

In another piece, “24 986 Miles," Madzoeff took about 4500 photos over a year, shot out of her car window during her daily four-hour commute between Orange County and the Mid-Wilshire district in Los Angeles. “I was sitting there wasting hours away in my car and then started taking pictures and documenting, and became really excited about it. Suddenly it became this big story of commuting and Los Angeles and the freeways and the trucks, and so I thought it is interesting that all our things come on trucks, yet everybody hates these trucks, because they’re big and they go slow, but on the other hand we want things in the store.”

Madzoeff belongs to the third generation of Armenian immigrants in the United States. When I asked her, if her Armenian roots come into play in her work, she said “The third generation doesn’t feel completely Armenian or American. I think one can find a relationship to this in my work. I don’t like to belong to any one thing. I’m a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Being Armenian-American gave me a different perspective and I feel I can relate to everything.”

Madzoeff is currently working on different projects, including a photography book about “24 896 Miles.” She’s also preparing for an exhibit on June 11^th at the City Council Art Gallery and Performance Space in Long Beach titled “Ménage à Trois – an evening of Art, Music and Wine, benefiting a woman’s cancer foundation (for further information please visit the website http://www.facebook.com/pages/Liberty-Lounge-Productions/454094120656). “I first wanted to show my abstractions with the ostriches that I had shown last September in Pasadena and I was going to have them framed. But then I've felt I’m kind of passed that work and wanted to go back to pure abstractions, which I’ve done in the past and moved away from.”

http://www.madzoeff.com/

Edited by Peter Frank

All contents of this site (c) belong to Simone Kussatz

Artist Warren Long - lover of life and appreciator of nature

Artist Warren Long – lover of life and appreciator of nature

By Simone Kussatz

Artist Warren Long has been working as a professional artist for more than 20 years. He’s a regular at Hamilton Galleries in Santa Monica, which has showcased his work since 1996. Aside from numerous other galleries in California, his paintings have been exhibited in Milan, Italy and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

However, before Long got into painting, he first started out as a functional artist, making sculpted furniture, such as carved peacock chairs and large fish tables for Tops Gallery in Malibu. Influenced by artist Jim Wagner, known for his Santa Fe style furniture and paintings, Long explained that working with furniture became too labor intensive for him. “I’m not a carpenter,” he said. “What I wanted to do was to splash paint onto canvas. There is an immediate gratification in that.”

The California artist has also been known for his murals. One of his largest ones can be seen behind a high-school at Morning view Drive in Malibu. "They're a lot of work, but I like doing them. I use scaffolds."

Yet, Warren Long hasn’t always followed an artistic path. Before his brother’s death, he wanted to become a doctor and majored in ecological systematic biology at San Francisco State University. He only minored in art. But the frequent visits in the hospital to see his brother, who was an artist, made him realize that he’s more inclined to the artistic world. “I couldn’t see myself being so exact, doling out medicine. I’m too casual for that. Yet, medicine and anatomy still interest me and I often apply this to my paintings.”

Long- a prolific and versatile artist - spent part of his childhood in Mexico. His collection of work consists of animals, flowers, figurative, landscape and seascape paintings, in which he often adds skeletons and skulls to his imagery. “It’s probably, because I lived in Mexico, where they celebrate the Day of the Dead. To me death is a natural thing. I find skulls striking. You certainly will notice them.”

Long has developed his own style. He combines beauty and nature with unusual settings. Therefore his style is easy to recognize and one cannot pigeonhole him. From humorous images such as hula hooping penguins or a floating pig to elegant water ballet swimmers and lavish flower bouquets, Long knows how to express himself visually in a unique way, allowing his mind to fantasize without limits. “This is what’s going on in my head”, Long explained. “I like pigs. They are sweet. They’re kind of god’s jokes. My brother actually raised some. As far as the swimmers in the ocean - my wife was a synchronized swimmer and I tried to do that, it’s a lot harder than it looks. But I think it’s beautiful. It’s kind of funny too. It’s hilarious and beautiful.”

In addition Long has a collection of works where different atmospheres dominate the canvas, such as “Moonlit” or “Blue Number 18”, one depicting a lagoon at night and the other a life-guard station. “My wife and I like to go out swimming a lot. I find the life-guard stations comfortable and beautiful. Often there is not even a person in there, but just the fact they exist turn them into sanctuaries. Theoretically, they are there to help you if you’re drowning. There is something pretty about them. I’ve done quite a few of those with different color combinations.”

Aside from being an established artist, Long also teaches art. Among his students were actor Mel Gibson’s children who came to learn from him, when he was still teaching at a private school in Malibu. Now Gibson’s son has followed in his teacher’s footsteps and also exhibits his art work at Hamilton Galleries.

Among Long's collectors are Harry Shearer & Judith Owen, Brooke Adams and Tony Shalhoub, Robert and Leslie Zemeckis, Ozzie & Sharon Osborne.

For more information please visit http://www.warrenlong.com/, http://www.hamiltongalleries.com/

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The "Invisible Siegfrieds" ended their four-day march

The “Invisible Siegfrieds” ended their four-day march

By Simone Kussatz

For four days, the “Invisible Siegfrieds”, who were part of composer Georg Nussbaumer’s innovative Ring project “Invisible Siegfrieds Marching Sunset Boulevard,” marched down Sunset Boulevard, pulling a cart on which alto Christina Ascher sat on, hidden behind a silver awning. The appearance of the helmeted Siegfrieds along with the strange sounds deriving from Ascher - who was listening to the Ring over headphones and only accompanied specific tones of the opera - had put many passersby into a state of astonishment. The reactions had been versatile, from people stopping and taking photographs to a driver rolling down her window, playing “Die Wallküre” full blast.

Yet, the participation in the project had been less than expected. “I’m a bit surprised about the low number of “Invisible Siegfrieds” we were able to recruit,” Nussbaumer said. “I thought that in a metropolitan city we would find at least ten people marching with us, because then the interplay between silence and singing would have been more effective. It would have given Ms. Ascher a counterbalance. It’s also a pity, because artists could have had a truly unique and interesting experience.“

The event ended Tuesday, April 20th at 7:45 p.m. at Will Rogers State Beach in front of Gladstones. CNN was there and about 30 people awaiting the Siegfrieds to participate in the last part of the project (Horn! Drop! Drink! ) and to watch Ascher dressed as the Statue of Liberty sing into the surf.

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The works of Mark Hix

The works of Mark Hix

Like Jack Vettriano, Séraphine Louis and Henri Rousseau, Philadelphia-born artist Mark Hix is self-taught. His collection of art work, including oil paintings, works on wood, mixed media, and drawings, can be viewed at Bleicher/Golightly Gallery in Santa Monica in June 2010. Influenced by contemporary, neo-expressionist and independent artists, Hix’s works are a reflection of his life experiences and spiritual growth, created in his downtown Los Angeles studio at the Brewery Arts Complex.

What stands out most are his portrait paintings from “series paintings 1,” made of thick layers of oil paint. Among them are writers from the Beat Generation, Alan Ginsberg, Willam S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac. “More than being fascinated by the Beats,” Hix explained “I’m fascinated with individuals that are desperate to be heard and brave enough to try.” Furthermore, the 46-year-old emerging artist did a series on American folk singers, including Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie. “Although I appreciate American folk music, I’m more interested in who they were and what they did - ambitious restless souls.”

Although it might occur that Hix paintings carry political statements, especially in his portrait paintings of Sitting Bull, he looks at them more from a general philosophical perspective. “There was someone that stood in the face of enormous opposition, unwilling to let go of his principles.” For portrait paintings, Hix doesn’t use life models, but photographs. He mostly works with a palette knife and developed a unique technique by painting his works upside-down. “It helps me to focus on shapes and values,” he said.

One of his paintings “The Journey,” from “series paintings 2” shows a mostly black and white image with an elderly man, walking over a bridge in a winter landscape. Hix emphasized that “The Journey” is a metaphor for life. “The individual aged, still continues on his path alone,” he said, “making his way through the dense cold brush and trees of the forest (nature). There is a strange comfort there.”

Two of Hix’ paintings “After Cezanne” and “After Van Gogh” - the one showing a still life, the other a landscape - are studies and copies of works by Cezanne and Van Gogh. “After Cezanne” was inspired by Cezanne’s “Still Life with Red Onions,” although a cropped version of it, “After Van Gogh” by Van Gogh’s “A wind-beaten tree.” However, they’re not an homage to these renown painters, “but simply exercises,” he said. Whereas his copies look as if they were made by brush strokes similar to the originals, Hix stressed that he only used a brush to draw and lay them out. Only sometimes he went back and cleaned something up with the brush, yet he never models or blends with it.

Despite the fact, Hix has worked primarily on paintings in recent years, he likes to stay flexible.

His earlier work consists of a series of mixed media pieces - made out of burlap, plaster, oil paint, sometimes using photos and other objects. His piece “Moonlit,” an image mostly in blues and purples with a silhouette, is from his series “Shadow Figures”. The line of the Silhouette is created by the quick application of the plaster onto the burlap. “This allows me to create an illusion of depth in a new way,” he said.

Hix’ works on wood appear to have had an Asian influence. One piece called “Tree on a Hill” shows a tree on a slope that’s firmly rooted, but slightly crooked. There are three areas in the painting, where the wood is exposed, which are meant to project a metamorphosis. “In my eyes, they are romantic pieces,” he added.

Hix also has a collection of drawings, which depict speople he admires, Cezanne, Keaton, Modigliani and Thoreau. They were drawn upside-down like his paintings - with an ink pen, fast and free.

By Simone Kussatz

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The Chinese monk

It was during Moonfestival, the streets were filled with people, when I decided to take off for a hike behind Nanputuo temple in Xiaman in Southern China and suddenly found myself lost. It was a hot and humid day.

Nervous for a moment, I looked to the left and right and through the dense forest, when I suddenly heard someone's gentle footsteps walking over small fallen off branches and foliage on the ground. Suddenly a Chinese monk appeared in front of me. And although I wasn't able to explain myself to him in words he quickly could pick up from my gestures that I needed his guidance to find my way back. So, he invited me to follow him. But as we kept hiking and climbing over rocks, I realized he was lost like me.

We kept on moving, stopped in between, and smiled at each other, and kept on moving, stopped in between, and smiled at each other.

We then hiked around the mountain, when a young Chinese woman came across us. She spoke English and knew the way back to Nanputuo temple. Enthusiastic to meet a Westerner, she decided to join us. Later, I found out she was a student at the university, where I taught at. I was glad to have an interpreter on my side, although I would have preferred to communicate directly. The monk walked ahead of us and we followed him. We started laughing joyously, as I was trying to take pictures of the monk and his feet. His gown sometimes floated in the wind within trees and bushes, which seemed mysterious and poetic to me.

When we took a rest on top of the mountain, the monk sat down cross-legged and told us the story how he once was in love with a young woman, before he turned into a monk. However, the woman's mother didn't want her daughter to be with him, because he was a vegetarian. Heartbroken over this he turned into a monk. Years after though the mother and daughter turned into vegetarians themselves, so that the daughter was looking for him. And when she found him, she learned it was too late for them to rekindle their relationship, because as a monk he no longer could be with a woman.

There was a moment of silence.

Before our paths split down at Nanputuo temple the monk offered me to go on a journey with him to another monastry a bit further up north. I kindly refused the offer, although the idea of it seemed adventurous. Before I left, he asked, if I could send him copies of the photographs, but then we realized it would be difficult, he had no home and an e-mail address and was moving from monastry to monastry.

Story and photos by Simone Kussatz

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Zen moments

During my stay in China, I was looking for places, where I'd be undisturbed, away from the crowds of people. I felt intrigued by the light and played around with it. Some of the images were shot around Nanputuo temple - a Buddhist temple in Xiamen - others on campus of Xiamen University, or on the piano island "Gulangyu" and at the "Forbidden City" in Beijing. The blue bench with the pink bougainvillae was taken in the Bangkok zoo, when I was trying to escape from China during the holidays. I tried to apply these moments that I call "zen moments" to my life in the U.S. During Thanksgiving 2009, I took a trip by car to the Grand Canyon and stopped at Red Rock in Nevada on my way to go for a run. I came across this rock and felt fascinated by nature's beauty with clouds hanging on top of it and decided to change the color photo into a black-and-white one to add a more dramatic appeal to the image.

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Photos by Simone Kussatz