Over the course of 2013, Angels Gate Cultural Center will host exhibits and installations that represent the year’s theme: Into the Wilderness: The Journey Within. Multiple perspectives ranging from “ecological to introspective” will be featured. Sunday saw the opening of four new exhibits that will run for the next few months.
Downstairs you can see Forest, for the Trees through March 8 – The Arroyo Arts Collective and Yarn Bombing Los Angeles invited artists from around the globe to participate in this “built-in environment site-specific, fiber-based installation. A “forest,” complete with creatures, made entirely out of yarn. Crocheted trees, knitted rocks, a fuzzy squirrel, even butterflies on the wing. One can stand and look for a long time admiring all the craftsmanship and finding all the elements.
Also downstairs is Free Water: Wilderness and Infrastructure through March 8 - this installation piece by Eloisa Guanlao is an investigation of water in southern California and represents “the tension between technological development and ecological aesthetic.”
Upstairs is Los Angeles National Forest through April 19, an installation piece by Keith Rocka Knittel that is a 7’ x 7’ x 7’ room filled with a “planned wilderness.” Considering we are surrounded by non-native fauna, golf courses and man-made lakes, the work asks the question, “What is escape, when surrounded by fabricated artificial?” I liked the In N Out palm trees standing in for the real things.
Searchin’: Los Angeles and the Quest for the Sublime through April 19 is a collection of photos and videos inspired by conceptual artist Bas Jan Ader’s project, In Search of the Miraculous. Of note is a collection of 18 black and white photos by Thomas Altheimer entitled “One Night in Los Angeles, In Search of the Miraculous II.”
In addition to the exhibits, the downstairs space currently contains some impressive student art from several San Pedro schools. Picasso-inspired abstract portraits from five Holy Trinity students stood out.
Angels Gate Cultural Center is located at 3601 S. Gaffey Street. The exhibits are free and open to the public. Check the website for hours http://www.angelsgateart.org/
Comments