finearttrekkinLosAngeles: 2016

Saturday, October 8, 2016

Inglewood Open Studios Tour Celebrates Its Tenth Year! Saturday, November 12 & Sunday, November 13, 2016. 12pm-5pm

Inglewood Open Studios Celebrates its Tenth Year! Saturday, November 12th and Sunday November 13,2016 12pm - 5pm

For Immediate Release:

Inglewood Open Studios Tour Celebrates Its Tenth Year!

Saturday, November 12 & Sunday, November 13, 2016. 12pm-5pm

 LOS ANGELES, CA – Inglewood has become the fastest growing artist community in Los Angeles. It is also the fastest growing city, undergoing daily changes for and around the NFL stadium, Hollywood Park Casino, along new Metro lines and downtown Inglewood. The tenth annual Inglewood Open Studios tour will showcase the impressive depth and talent of this community on the weekend of November 12-13, from 12:00 to 5:00pm both days. As always, Inglewood Open Studios remains an artist run event, co-organized by local non profit Inglewood Cultural Arts (ICA).

On both Saturday November 12 and Sunday, November 13, Inglewood artists will open their studios to the public, inviting visitors to personally tour their private working spaces and enjoy art created in all media--drawing, painting, sculpture, mixed-media, photography, print making, installation, video and performance.

To mark our 10th year anniversary, co-founder Renée Fox will curate a group show of 2016 Inglewood Open Studios artist participants at Residency gallery, a new gallery in Inglewood, managed by Rick Garzon. With its second exhibition about to open, Residency has already had reviews in Contemporary Art Review la (also known as CARLA) and Artillery. The group show will serve as stop #1 on the tour route, and, as a preview of art that can be seen on the tour. Group show dates: Saturday, November 12 through Wednesday, November 16 with a closing reception on November 16 from 6-9PM.

An official map with Inglewood Open Studios location details will be available online, at Residency gallery and at all artist studio locations on the tour. For additional information on Inglewood Open Studios, including the printable tour map, please visit www.inglewoodopenstudios.com Free shuttle transportation will also be provided by the City of Inglewood.

Participating Artists -

Inglewood Open Studios participants include both established and emerging artists. The 2016 Inglewood Open Studios artists are listed in alphabetical order:

Adrienne Adar

Susan Amorde

Brian Biedul

Martin Bruinsma
Kelly Brumfield-Woods

Darel Carey
Matthew Carey

Anne Cheek La Rose

Joyce Dallal
Bibi Davidson
Beth Dubber
Martin Durazo

Renee Fox
Sue Francis
Calida Garcia Rawles

Michael Giancristiano
Nancy Jo Haselbacher

Shelly Heffler
Astrelle Johnquest

Michael Massenburg

Christopher L. Mercier
David Newcombe
Lindsey Nobel
Kenneth Ober
Toni Reinis
Joan Robey
Alexandra Rose
Dawn Rosenquist
Karen Sikie
Stan Smith

ZinShu Spock,
Ernie Steiner

Holly Tempo

Sidney Tuggerson, Jr.

Ginger Van Hook

Luke Van Hook

MonaLisa Whitaker

Exceptional Children's Foundation (29 artists)

Inglewood, CA -

Photo by Ginger Van Hook©2012
Inglewood, CA -

Photo by Ginger Van Hook©

Inglewood is nestled in the center of Los Angeles County. Bordered by the LAX International Airport, it is in close proximity to Otis College of Art and Design and is surrounded by the cities of Culver City, El Segundo, Marina Del Rey, Westchester, and Torrance.

Inglewood Cultural Arts -

Inglewood Cultural Arts, Inc. (ICA), functions as fiscal receiver and co-organizer for the Inglewood Open Studios. ICA is an independent, multidisciplinary nonprofit arts organization serving residents of Inglewood and surrounding communities. ICA's mission is to enhance the quality of life in the community by providing diverse cultural arts programs. www.inglewoodculturalarts.org

Van Hook Foundation-

Van Hook Foundation (VHF) is the media sponsor for the Inglewood Open Studios and may be contacted for additional information.

VHF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in Inglewood and located at the Beacon Arts Building Gallery 1D.

The Van Hook Foundation’s mission is to promote the merging of fine art and science through the curating, jurying, installation and mounting of artistic, educational and scientific exhibitions for the public and to Promote Visibility of the Local Arts Communities in Los Angeles and surrounding areas. vanhookfoundation.blogspot.com, www.gingervanhook.com, www.lukevanhook.com, gingersartjournal.blogspot.com

For additional information, please contact press liaison Ginger Van Hook at gingervanhook@gmail.com

Photo LA.2016 Celebrates its 25^th Anniversary

at the REEF * LA Mart

Photo Journal by Ginger Van Hook

Twenty Five Years at the center of the eye of the camera’s lens is quite something to celebrate as PHOTO LA 2016 launched it’s VIP event on Thursday, January 21^st, to throngs of celebrity photographers, artists, collectors and art aficionados; but the real mark of a spectacular photo-gravy extravaganza is the crowd that accumulates late into a Sunday afternoon, the last day of the event, when most folks are expected to run home to catch the tail end of a football game, there were still cars packed in the parking lot and the elevators were full of incoming photography enthusiasts!

Taking a stroll against the far wall I came across the show “Round Hole, Square Peg Wall of Fame” curated by Phil Tarley. In so far as the landscape of gender issues is concerned, Tarley has succeeded in addressing an important issue at hand with this exhibition, namely the lack of diversity in the field of photography that celebrates human sexuality and its diverse culture in our present day and age. Presenting a new perspective on the LGBTQ art community, Phil Tarley noted that the ruling of the Supreme Court in favor of same-sex marriage was fostering a wellspring of acceptance in the trans-gender community and Phil Tarley wanted to capture just that sense of spirituality in the photographs and photographers he featured on his Wall of Fame. A few of the artists displaying their works included Mei Xian Qui, who’s elegant images of romantic sensuality explore the same sex love in the most restrictive of cultures, as well as Josef Jasso, Michael Palladino, Brooke Mason and Franz Szony. Franz Szony is the artist exhibiting the image that stood out as a title piece, one of the largest of the images exhibited above eye level, almost to the ceiling appropriately placed in a high position at the top of the corner of the aisle. The image portrayed a scene of flying birds, butterflies and winged creatures with a soft focus on the erotic naked back of the body of a female, with the juxtaposition of the face of a male, the hands of a man, but the contradicting slender fingernails of a woman, smiling, long silky purple hair flowing, surrounded by colorful parrots, cockatoos and even a translucent bat, hanging upside down while the elegant cross-gender subject sits on a long bar, suspended in what appears to be in the heavens, much like a mythological creature. The ARTIST CORNER GALLERY commanded the entire end of that aisle as there were not one, not two, but three shows simultaneously exhibiting artwork that demonstrated a great deal of new work with subjects that graced the edges of taboo. In particular for those with any degree of shyness, the images cultivated a blushing response, and yet, the celebration of the diversity of human sexuality was finally out in the open. With this new freedom of expression taking on center stage, at PHOTO LA, I moved along observing that the status quo in photography had finally been shaken up a notch or two, by Phil Tarley.

My journey seeking original photography processes continued and a couple of aisles down, I was immediately aroused by the splendor of brilliant abstract digital renderings the like, I had not been attracted to before. The works of Tom Wheeler and Donn Delson stopped me in mid-stride. “A Study of Light Amplification” had me captivated by the sharpness of the color schemes. The raw amplification of the saturation button on a photo-shop application came to mind with the digital prints by Donn Delson. His work was as eerie as it was attractive in a vortex of black space, something akin to the surprise of color in the darkness of outer space! The prints of Tom Wheeler had a unique color blended quality as well. Wheeler’s work had surreal landscapes that mimicked reality, and yet portended another plane of fictional space. Both these artists may be found at the TAG GALLERY in Santa Monica, California.

My relationship with images on the wall was not my only interaction with the celebration of photography at PHOTO LA 2016 this weekend. I had gathered to meet up with a few of my contemporaries; artists, photographers and curators that enjoyed some of my similar interests, Gina Genis, Karrie Ross and Mallory Cremin joined me for lunch and a walk through the emergence of new styles of photography, explorations of time-lapse imagery, and the introductions to talent that had long been percolating new works, overflowing with passion. One of these introductions was with Norman Kulkin who really turned photos upside down…literally…Mr. Kulkin exhibited the backs of all old photos, black and white, all of the backs, together on one plane. It was a gorgeous abstraction and reverence to what is really on the “other” side!

And later, I was also privileged to meet Artist Juri Kroll, and Jay Mark Johnson whose photography works utilized a scanner function to absorb the entire image in a scene and create the illusion of rushing colors on a canvas. His world-renown photography was closer to the renderings of paintings, but the process implemented still used the mechanics and technology of the camera lens!

Finally, late on a Sunday afternoon, there were mysteries found, within PHOTO LA 2016, that captivated my attention in another way. I wanted very much to peruse the book, “FOUND: THE LOST PHOTOS OF THE ROLLING STONES” and I took a peak into the presentation “Backstage Pass with Music Photographer Rob Shanahan”. The programming presented during PHOTO LA 2016 in these last four days was exceptional. The participation by The J. Paul Getty Museum’s Department of Photographs at the Exhibitions took audiences on Docent tours that featured the photography in all walks of life, including the Journalistic Photography of the Press, the emerging photography of the local schools of photography in our California Southland, which by the way, included my Alma Mater, Otis College of Art and Design, and some of the most interesting speakers in our art communities gave Artist Talks each day as PHOTO LA 2016 did not hold back in the excellence of their programming celebrating 25 years of photographic appreciation!