Tessar Lo's Abstract Evolution

When Tessar Lo departed Los Angeles to return to his native Toronto, one of the promises he made was that we would be seeing some major evolution from him before long. Just a few months later, that growth has already begun to bear fruit, and several of his new paintings will be on view at Nucleus Gallery's "Momentum" show this Saturday, July 18th.

"Meeting Place"


In his latest body of work, Tessar is reaching for a looser aesthetic, trying to see with a child's eye and a naive heart. One could say he's trying to get lost as an artist – to break loose from the habits and preconceptions of the past and find a new path around which to construct his dreamlike themes of transformation and desire. This exploration involves an element of improvisation, which is inherently risky in an art movement wedded to the idea of the unique "brand" or "style," though it is accepted and even lauded at the higher end of the contemporary art market.

"Shan 2"


Although Tessar is pushing farther into abstraction, the work remains quietly full of wonder, somehow simultaneously dynamic and suspended, and imbued with a solitude that could evoke sorrow or longing with equal fluency. Moving farther away from the sepia-infused, muted color palette of his early, more illustration-based work, he is beginning to embrace an array of warm, rich hues which are cooled and tempered by the negative space in which they are suspended. His compounded layers of color conjure a sense of luminescence and his streaking, spattered, scribbled textures give the viewer an almost sensual awareness of surfaces, which can be somewhat frustrated by a layer of glass. As Tessar is currently working on canvas instead of his customary paper, that alienating element will be absent, which may make for a more immediate experience of the work.

"lapinlapin"


In "lapinlapin," there is a real power in the depth of the negative space and how the fragments are being pulled away into it as if drawn by some outside force. The ambiguous, organic way the white fragments are integrated could be read as disintegration – stuffing coming out – or something benign and beautiful, like flower petals or snow, or memory.

While Tessar's journey is still incomplete, this is certainly an audacious start. When he finds that lostness he seeks, the result will be unique and compelling... and then he will no doubt endeavor to lose himself again.

"Monster"


Join me on July 18th at Nucleus to see his paintings, as well as the surreal natural history of Tiffany Bozic and the sexually charged vision of Ina Kyung Lim. Tessar is also currently contributing work to the "Monster?" show at Copro Gallery and the Kokeshi exhibition at the Japanese American National Museum. Last but not least, be sure to check out Tessar's extremely limited hand-touched gocco print on wood – another facet of his mountain/muse motif.

Travis Louie's "Monster?"

On July 11th, a group art exhibition entitled "Monster?," curated by the wise and wonderful Travis Louie, will open at Copro Gallery. It will include work by more than 50 amazing artists, including Ron English, Femke Hiemstra, Jessica Joslin, Audrey Kawasaki, Tessar Lo, Martin Wittfooth, Chet Zar, Amanda Visell, Ana Bagayan, Annie Owens, Attaboy, Bill Basso, Bob Eggleton, Brandt Peters, Brian Despain, Brom, Chris Ryniak, Dan Quintana, Ekundayo, Dave Chung, Dave DeVries, Davey Wong, Deseo, Dice Tsutsumi, Donato Giancola, Francesco LoCastro, Fred Harper, Heidi Taillefer, Isabel Samaras, James Zar, Jason D'Aquino, Kirk Reinert, Kris Kuksi, Kris Lewis, Lola, Mari Inukai, Mark Texiera, Mark Garro, Mike Lee, Mike Knapp, Miles Teves, Molly Crabapple, Nash Dunnigan, Nouar, Peter Nguyen, Robert Mackenzie, Stephen Hickman, Steve Ellis, Steve Price, Vince Natale, Tim O'Brien, Tristan Elwell, Vincent DiFate, Willie Real, Vincent Nguyen and Xiaoqing Ding.

Mark Garro "Allure"


Though he's been painting like a madman for his upcoming solo show at Roq la Rue – not to mention Ron English's Godfather-themed "Family Tradition" show, Gallery 1988's "Crazy 4 Cult: 3-D" show and the Japanese American National Museum's "Kokeshi: From Folk Art to Art Toy" exhibition – Travis was kind enough to take some time to answer a few questions about this show and what he is looking for as a curator.

Robert MacKenzie "Noodles and Romance"


Erratic Phenomena: One of the reasons you wanted to curate this exhibition was to showcase some amazing illustrators you know who haven't yet infiltrated our neighborhood of the gallery circuit. Tell me a little about why you selected this particular group of artists, and how you see your role and responsibilities as curator.

Travis Louie: I picked these artists mostly because I thought their work needed to be seen. Many of the artists in this show are production artists whose work is never really appreciated on a singular level. We usually see their names in the closing credits of a motion picture, but don't really know what they actually did for the film we were watching – or as illustrators, we see their work as book cover illustrations, or in magazines like Rolling Stone, Time, Playboy, etc., but the beauty of what they've done is taken for granted.

I would love to see artists like Nash Dunnigan, Vincent Nguyen, Mike Knapp from Blue Sky or Dice Tsutsumi from Pixar get some love from this gallery scene. They are creative minds with great drawing and painting skills. I did put some veterans from the scene in the show as well, like Audrey Kawasaki, Isabel Samaras and Ron English.

Greg Couch "The Thing With Feathers"


EP: Every day, more and more artists and galleries are jumping on the lowbrow/pop surrealism bandwagon. Which trends would you like to encourage in this burgeoning movement? Are there tendencies that we should guard against, as well?

TL: I'd like to see more creativity. I think a lot of the new artists fall short conceptually. Also, I see a lot of copying of other artists' visual styles and elements coupled with mediocre painting technique. The galleries should stop promoting secondhand artists who are obviously trying to blend in with a current trend (big-eyed girls, anime, robots, faux-graffiti, etc.).

A gallery owner (I won't say who) tried to tell me how great someone's brushwork was, and he really had no clue about what constitutes "good brushwork." Folks, there is a significant difference between having a strong style that exaggerates anatomy, and exaggeration because of a lack of anatomical knowledge. I'm not saying I'd like to see all things painted realistically or naturalistically, but I would prefer that the artists know how to draw something, at least. I've seen so many artists whose drawing was so bad I can't believe they got shows.

That said, a well-rendered piece can be kind of stale-looking too. It is not just how well you paint, but what you paint. We should ask ourselves: Stylistically and thematically, what are the common denominators in this scene? Is it the galleries who decide such things, and artists that just happen to show in them are lumped together? Is there a definite sociopolitical ideology that we are all following or expressing? I don't think so. What defines this scene? I can definitely tell you there is no connection stylistically between Lori Earley and Mars-1, or Craola and Natalia Fabia, or Amy Sol and myself – yet all are considered part of this scene.

Kirk Reinert


EP: What qualities do you look for in an emerging artist with potential?

TL: Ideally I would want to see artists that bring not only a uniqueness or freshness to their vision, but also the feeling that their work could expand beyond just being a gimmick. There is a confusion about what some artists perceive to be a trend or style in this scene, which is actually nothing more than being derivative or copying what others have done.

I like to see some skill and technique married to great concepts and vision. I like whimsical work, a sense of humor – it's too easy to be political or to be posturing. I enjoy artists who understand what they are referencing when they do a homage to work from another era, or are influenced by what they saw as children.

EP: Thank you, Travis!

"Monster?" opens at Copro Gallery in Santa Monica on July 11th. Travis Louie and many of his talented friends will be in attendance.

Tim O'Brien "Chuck Brown"

"Skatopia: 88 Acres of Anarchy" World Premiere

Some good friends of mine have just completed a documentary about Skatopia, a hardcore skateboard park come hillbilly punk cult in rural Appalachia where anything goes. Skatopia: 88 Acres of Anarchy will have its world premiere in New York City on July 11th at the ACEfest indie film festival. If you're in NY and into skate culture, make sure to book tickets in advance, as seating is limited. If you're not in New York, sign up to find out when it will be showing at a film festival near you.



"Skatopia is an Appalachian farm where hardcore skating, punk rock and hillbilly culture collide. Mad-Max style demolition derbies and spontaneous car burning accompany all-night skate sessions. Pain is a badge of honor. Tony Hawk calls Skatopia a 'rite of passage' for hardcore skaters." – Skatopia website

Check out a Rolling Stone photo essay about Skatopia here.

Thomas Doyle's Encapsulated Memories

For nearly a year, I've been looking at Thomas Doyle's sculptural miniatures with a certain sense of longing. I was fortunate enough to come across his "Acceptable Losses" at LeBasse Projects a couple of weeks ago, and it was even more powerful in person than it is in photographs.

"Acceptable Losses"


Thomas seems to have an innate ability to encapsulate ominous, visceral emotions inside these little glass domes. For me, this particular piece brings to the surface all sorts of raw feelings about relationships, as well as memories of my childhood and my parents' divorce. The godlike perspective also allows a sense of the isolation and containment of bad thoughts. It's working on so many levels, for something so ostensibly simple.



Thomas' work to date has been grouped into three series – Distillation, Reclamations and Bearings – each of which explores a different emotional landscape. "The Distillation series is really about boiling life down to the moments that define who we are," he revealed. "Consequently, many of the works deal with the interactions between parents and children in or around the home. The house is really the center of the universe for a child – it's the stage for the majority of memories, and it's the symbol of security, joy, terror, etc. Most of the homes in that series are imperiled, but maybe no more so than the families they house. In that way, the houses take on personalities of their own."

These narrative sculptures enclose ambiguous yet suggestive scenarios in a timeless, faceless bubble that encourages the viewer to imprint the pivotal moments of their own life onto the tiny figures below them.

Thomas writes, "My work mines the debris of memory through the creation of intricate worlds sculpted in 1:43 scale and smaller. Often sealed under glass, the works depict the remnants of things past — whether major, transformational experiences, or the quieter moments that resonate loudly throughout a life. In much the way the mind recalls events through the fog of time, the works distort reality through a warped and dreamlike lens."

"The Reprisal"

"The glass itself contains and compresses the world within it, seeming to suspend time itself — with all its accompanying anguish, fear, and bliss," he added. "By sealing the works in this fashion, I hope to distill the debris of human experience down to single, fragile moments. Like black boxes bobbing in the flotsam, these works wait for discovery, each an indelible record of human memory."

"Courier"

As usual with great artists, the urge to create new worlds began in childhood. "My mother was really into taking me to museums, and I spent many, many childhood hours with my face pressed up to glass display cases, peering into dioramas and other simulated worlds," he said. "When I was four years old, I made a small scene with a block of wood coated in white and blue Play-Doh. On this I perched a small plastic penguin. So I guess this all started pretty early.

Later, I studied painting and printmaking, but ended up feeling limited by those media. After time, I realized I should just be making what made me the happiest, and I started the miniature work. I often say that if the nine-year-old me traveled forward to meet the current me, he'd probably give me a huge high five – and maybe demand to stay."

This Sunday, one of Thomas Doyle's sculptures will be featured on the front cover of half of the New York Times Magazines at newsstands, illustrating the "Architecture Issue."



Keep an eye on Erratic Phenomena for an interview with Thomas later this year, as well as news about his upcoming show with LeBasse Projects.

If you find this sort of work interesting, be sure to check out the photographs of Jonah Samson, Frank Kunert, Minimiam and Helen Nodding. I would like to thank Reevo at the excellent art and design blog Ektopia for initially introducing me to the work of these unusual artists, as well as to that of Thomas Doyle.

Kelly Vivanco's "The Conservatory"

Erratic Phenomena readers are hardly strangers to the work of the fabulous Kelly Vivanco, but up to this moment, I have never done one of my intensive interviews with her. That's about to change.

"Rabbit Ears"


Kelly Vivanco has been quietly painting away in Escondido, California for over six years, honing her skills at depicting her inner world until creating an enigmatic yet compelling scenario has become almost second nature. In much of her work, it is the eyes that first captivate the viewer – they are deep, glistening pools of emotion that can evoke a storyline in a glance. Even her animal characters are imbued with distinct personalities and roles in the mysterious allegory in which they dwell. All of Kelly's work has a distinct narrative sensibility, bringing to mind the great children's illustrators of the turn of the century – a vintage storybook feel which is made contemporary by the self-possessed attitude and quirky style of her subjects.



[My interview with Kelly Vivanco has just been featured on the Hi-Fructose website. You can read the rest of it it here.]

Kelly Vivanco's first Los Angeles solo show, "The Conservatory," will open on June 12th at Thinkspace Gallery. It will be an amazing night for art, so make sure to come out and enjoy Kelly's work, as well as Sarah Joncas' solo show in the front room. Both Kelly and Sarah will be there, and no doubt have wonderful installations in the offing.

"Curious Bouquet"

Martin Wittfooth's "Babylon"

Martin Wittfooth crept up on me, somehow. I was intrigued by his rusty buses, crazed desert plains and resigned, suffering beasts – and then last year, his work suddenly took a huge leap forward, casting off much of its kitsch and reaching for the technical rigor and luminous atmosphere of the great turn-of-the-century landscape painters. At the same time, his apocalyptic themes gained more focus, zeroing in on the pathos of a discrete instant in a dreadful future that seems all too possible, despite the surreal apparitions that wander its blasted, depopulated landscapes.

"Saints Preserve Us"


Born in Toronto in 1981, Martin spent much of his childhood in Finland, returning to Toronto in 1993, where he later earned his BA in illustration at Sheridan College. Moving to the fine-art mecca of New York, he garnered an MFA from the School of Visual Arts and settled in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn.

Martin's decaying industrial neighborhood has proven to be an inspiration in itself. "There isn't a lot going on here – it's quiet and the landscape is beautiful, but not in any conventional sense," he explained. "Most people would be shocked at such a fond aesthetic description of this neighborhood. What I respond to, though, is that what you see all over the place here are the remnants of things that once served some purpose, but have outlived their usefulness, and have either been abandoned or left to oxidize and decay... I can't count how many instances of inspiration for my work I've encountered in just walking around these blocks."

"A Milder Fate Than Tyranny"


Martin has been putting the finishing touches on his work for "Babylon," his upcoming show with Jon Todd at Yves Laroche Gallery in Montreal, but he agreed to set aside some time to give me some insight into his work.

The Questions:

Erratic Phenomena: Tell me a little about your experience of growing up. Was anyone in your family an artist?

Martin Wittfooth: My grandfather was an avid illustrator and cartoonist, and it stands to reason that I received the ambition to create art from him, even though I never got the chance to meet him. I remember growing up in Finland, poring over his drawings and watercolors and feeling that I could get somewhat of a sense of who he was as a person through the work.

EP: Is there a particular moment that stands out for you as a turning point or an artistic awakening?

MW: I don’t recall any specific instance in my life that made me want to pursue this career, probably because it never felt like a “job,” but just something I always felt compelled to do.

"As We Waited"


EP: When you first emerged on the gallery scene, your work was more overtly surreal, and often contained tongue-in-cheek elements which lightened the tone a bit. Since then, your technique has become much more refined and classical, often resembling traditional 19th-century landscape painting with an apocalyptic twist. Do you feel you are still evolving toward an aesthetic goal that will take more time and patience to reach?

MW: I like to think that with every painting I make, and with every new show I prepare a body of work for, I’m evolving in some direction. The artists I most admire are the ones that have constantly challenged themselves throughout their lives, never giving up the search – artists whose work shows progress as they continually explore their individual worlds. This is something I strive for in my own work as well, and will continue to do until I can’t paint anymore. Should I be fortunate enough to live to an old age, I expect that the paintings I will create then will be drastically different from what I’m doing now, yet still retain the gills and tailbone of these earlier times of my artistic development.

"The Great Parade of the Unwashed"


EP: Lately you've been concentrating on the destruction mankind has wrought on the earth, depicting flooded, ruined, depopulated landscapes through which gargantuan mutant animals make their way despite the devastation, while fire rains from the skies. You've said your recent work is "about nature reclaiming what was once taken from it."

Clearly you are tapping into our subconscious anxieties about war – through references to the Cold War and the flaming oil wells of Iraq – as well as our ongoing destruction of our own habitat. Such overt socio-political messages are not particularly common in the world of pop surrealism. Do you see yourself as advancing a moral or political message, or is apocalypse a metaphor for something more subtle? What about this concept compels you?

MW: I’ve adopted this theme as a personal response to the variety of disturbing issues the earth is ravaged by, collective fears (often manufactured by political agendas), and the alarming predictions some of the world’s smartest people have made for our future. I feel the need to try and process this tension through my paintings, with the hope that on some level it can contribute to the dialogue, trying to reinterpret some of these heavy issues on the symbolic playing field of the canvas.

"Blind Travelers"


EP: You have an ongoing series called "Aesop's Folly" which disturbingly explores the melding of two different animal species into a single miserable specimen. Many of your animals are suffering – blind, wounded, aflame – and those that are whole often appear to be angry, perhaps even seeking revenge for the devastation we have caused. What inspired the prominence of damaged animals in your work, and what does it signify for you?

MW: In my work – which reflects my feelings of the real world as well – animals are involuntary players on a stage that we’ve created, victims and witnesses of our pursuits of power and “progress.” I feel that on the whole, we’re largely ignorant and complacent about the global havoc we’re creating with regards to the natural realm. Perhaps less now that we’re getting a steady dose of harrowing news about such things as dead-zone lakes of trash collectively the size of the United States growing in the oceans, daily additions to the extinct-species list, and countless other such cheerful bits.

Yet the vast majority of people seem to turn a blind eye to these things. This is disturbing to me, but I can understand it from the standpoint of wanting to shield oneself from depression and a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness in the face of the overwhelming number of these problems. Unfortunately, our detachment from nature has created a massive lack of empathy for the co-inhabitants of the planet. The atrocious, faceless machine that is factory farming is an example of this, and the paradox of the meat produced in this fashion being made into a variety of “comfort foods” hasn’t escaped me.

I feel the need to process this stuff through my art – the only way I really know how to, really.

"Stasis"


EP: Your giant mutant animals remind me a bit of Atomic Age science fiction movies like Godzilla and Them!, in which irradiated monsters wreak havoc on humanity. Did "nuclear monster" movies have an influence on you, or did this idea come from somewhere else?

MW: I actually don’t cite the monster movies as an influence on my paintings, but I suppose my work shares a similar origin to theirs – the fear of unknown consequences. In exploring the idea of animals inhabiting a world that we’ve abandoned, I gradually found myself playing with their scale in relation to their surroundings rather than the species “mixing” of my earlier work, which is something that does echo the nuclear monsters of those movies.

"Nocturne"


EP: Lately, you've begun to portray some of your smallest creatures surrounded by dewy, slightly overblown still lifes in the manner of Dutch Baroque masters like Jan Davidsz de Heem. They seem like an interesting technical challenge for you as a painter. What are you hoping to achieve with this series?

MW: I’ve always admired the meticulous attention to detail and the great sense of atmosphere found in the work of the early still-life painters, and thought that it would be an interesting idea to explore the merging of my world with that aesthetic – in the process also putting myself in a really challenging spot with regards to trying to pull it off technically, which excites me. I approached this idea with the sense that the two could go together rather well, and read as scenes of the small places within the world that I’m trying to create, while most of my larger paintings depict the zoomed-out perspective.

"The Western Express," 2007


EP: Buses and refrigerators are a recurring motif in your work. What do they symbolize for you, and how did they come to take such a prominent role in your vision?

MW: Abandoned, moored buses and refrigerators share one element that I love to paint – oxidized metal, rust, and peeling paint. From a symbolic perspective, these abandoned relics suggest a lack of direction and the futility of humanity’s obsession with self-preservation.

"Paralysis"


EP: When artists talk about the work they admire, it can be very revealing. One of your major influences is the Dutch Renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Bruegel specialized in landscapes which showed the mundane, gritty side of life and was one of the first artists to paint social satire and political allegory. Like his predecessor Hieronymous Bosch, he envisioned apocalyptic tableaux of the last days of mankind, which were at times presided over by giant mutant beasts. Tell me a little about your relationship with Breugel's work.

MW: Bruegel the Elder’s work struck a chord with me when I first studied his “Tower of Babel” painting. A lot of his work deals with human overindulgences, which is something I gravitate to visually as well. His work is a great example of striking allegorical social commentary.

"Light Sweet Crude"


EP: What other painters or illustrators from the past move you powerfully, and what aspects of their work do you find most intriguing?

MW: With regards to the handling of really life-like light and atmosphere and imbuing their subject matter with very visceral “soul,” I love the work of Velasquez, Rembrandt, Raeburn, Sargent and Caravaggio. The former four were of course mainly interested in portraiture, but even so, I really connect with their work. Other artists whose paintings have demanded hours of my attention are landscape painters like Albert Bierstadt and Jacob van Ruisdael – epic stuff.

"Along the Western Front"


EP: In your world, "Babel" is a graffiti artist who tags buses and abandoned buildings, and it's also the destination of the defunct bus in "The Western Express." "The Tower of Babel" is one of Pieter Bruegel the Elder's best-known paintings, and that structure seems to appear dimly through the smoke in "Along the Western Front." One of your paintings is entitled "Babel Fish" (presumably a nod to the translation fish in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), and "Babylon" is also the name of your upcoming show at Yves Laroche Gallery in Montreal.

Of course, the Tower of Babel is a Judeo-Christian myth in which humanity tries to build a tower to the heavens in a hubristic act of defiance against God, who quells their ambition by confusing their languages and causing them to scatter over the face of the earth. Curiously enough, the ruins of the city of Babylon are located a short distance from Baghdad. Obviously you have a certain fascination with the idea of Babylon. Tell me why you find it so interesting.

MW: "Babel" has a dictionary definition of “a place or scene of noise and confusion; a confused mixture of sounds, as of voices or languages” – a state that I think rings true of our world today. I think that the ancient story of the Tower of Babel draws an intriguing parallel with modern times – that of a society that is driven by blind ambition and arrogance toward a very potential collapse; religions, governments, and ethnic groups in various states of disagreement and conflict; a world out of balance and in a deep state of confusion. The suggested aftermath of these things in my work is my attempt at playing around with the idea of a New Babel.

"As We Slept"


EP: I would ask you about your process, but you've already posted such an amazing overview of the painting phase of it at Hi-Fructose that it would be redundant. However, it would be interesting to know more about the conceptual underpinnings of your process – how you envision, research and formulate a composition for one of your paintings.

MW: Ideas for paintings usually tend to sneak up on me quite suddenly, without much warning. It usually just involves me seeing something that provides the initial inspiration – such as an aged, character-laced building in Brooklyn, a movie, or a random photograph – or alternatively something I’m reading will trigger ideas.

Once I get on a roll off of the initial idea, I’ll do a fair bit of digging around to research what it is I’m going to paint. The general look of the finished painting takes shape in my head fairly early, and as I start to sketch out the piece, the more fleshed out the whole thing becomes. By the time I start painting, I have a pretty clear idea of what the finished piece will look like, as I’ll often do a color study to use as a guide.

"Aesop's Folly XIV"


EP: I understand you try to paint a portrait a week in order to hone your skills. Do you think we will be seeing the results of those figurative workouts in a gallery setting in the future, or will portraiture remain an exercise for you?

MW: Portraiture has turned out to be hugely important in my development as an oil painter. Painting from life is the only way to really understand such things as how light behaves on tangible form, and has informed me a great deal about the importance of such things as subtlety, patience (I paint layer-on-layer), and the delicate handling of atmospheric effects. This is most definitely something I will continue to practice for as long as I can, and lately I have begun to think that at some point in the potentially near future, I’ll probably include some of these portrait paintings in a show, if only to display one aspect of where I’m coming from.

"Saints Preserve Us"


EP: I love the barnwood shelving that frames your recent painting "Saints Preserve Us," an intense and massive piece that would be the focal point of any room. Along the same lines, I could imagine you doing a massive triptych à la Bosch's "Garden of Earthly Delights" someday. What do you think?

MW: I have some rather grandiose ideas for something along those lines in the future. I have a few solo shows scheduled in the next couple of years for which I’m planning to create some more intensive large-scale pieces that delve deeper into some aspects I’ve recently begun to explore, such as installation work and the merging of tangible objects with the two-dimensional surface, custom frames, that kind of thing. I am really excited to get going on these projects.

EP: If you could hang just one classic painting from history on the wall of your studio, what would it be?

MW: This is a tough one, but possibly “Netherlandish Proverbs” by Pieter Bruegel the Elder from 1559.

"Svetogorsk"


EP: Is there anything else you're finding really fascinating at the moment? Literature or philosophies that spark your imagination?

MW: I’ve been getting a lot of inspiration from a variety of TED lectures – experts on a wide variety of topics sharing some highly influential ideas. I also listen to a wide array of podcasts, recently finishing a series called Climate Wars on CBC by journalist and author Gwynne Dyer, which, as the title suggests, talks about imminent conflicts that are likely to result due to changing climate patterns around the world. Another podcast I’m hooked on is Real Time with Bill Maher – oftentimes searing critiques on current topics, stimulating debates, plus I fully agree with his stubborn lash against religion and badly managed politics and a variety of other stuff.

I should note that this isn’t all that I fill my head with. I also watch my fair share of movies and read books that have next to nothing to do with current issues necessarily, but these are some go-tos for me in developing new ideas for paintings and to keep up to date with what is being discussed.

"A Day Without Rain"


EP: What are you looking forward to right now? Hopes, dreams, plans for the future?

MW: I’m excited the release of Babel, a collection of my work scheduled for September of this year designed and co-published by the great Mark Murphy in association with Yves Laroche Gallery. It’s a collection of most of my work up to date, and will include a limited-edition version that I’m looking forward to developing as well.

I’m flying down to San Diego for Comic-Con for the first time this year and Miami Art Basel again in December, both of which should be a great time, and that’s shortly followed by my next solo show at Copro Gallery in February 2010, for which I’m planning some major works. Gary Pressman and Greg Escalante of Copro have really been pulling for me and have offered me some fantastic opportunities, and I plan to make this show monumental. Later in 2010, in October, I have another solo show scheduled at Roq la Rue in Seattle. Kirsten Anderson is great, and I’ve been looking forward to working with her for a long time. There are some other group shows and projects slated for times in between these shows, all exciting stuff.

I’m really grateful to be able to do what I’m doing, so I’d like to close with a genuine thanks to everyone who’s supported me and taken interest in my work.

EP: Thanks for a great interview, Martin!

"Babylon," a joint exhibition between Martin Wittfooth and his good friend Jon Todd, opens on June 17th at Yves Laroche Gallery in Montreal. Martin's marvelous "Saints Preserve Us" was recently made available as a print through Opus Art, and the original will be on view at Copro Gallery in July.

"Emissary"

Sarah Joncas' "Beneath the Seams"

A little over two years ago, I was on a long, frustrating quest driven by my burning conviction that someone out there must be painting the sort of paintings I was looking for, when I came across Sarah Joncas' website. That led me to a group show at Thinkspace... which opened up this whole new world of young artists painting mysterious, evocative and emotional classically-influenced art with a decidedly modern twist.

"Dinner and a Movie"


When Sarah hit the pop surrealism scene a little more than two years ago, she immediately turned heads with the boldness, atmosphere and symbolic complexity of her paintings – despite the fact that she was only 19 at the time. Now 22, Sarah has just graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto. Despite her youth, her work displays a remarkable sophistication, both technically and philosophically.

[My interview with Sarah Joncas has just been featured on the Hi-Fructose website. You can read the rest of it it here.]

Sarah Joncas' debut solo show, "Beneath the Seams," will open on June 12th at Thinkspace. Make sure to come by, as it's going to be an amazing night for art – the fabulous Kelly Vivanco will have her first Los Angeles solo in the Thinkspace project room at the same time. Both Sarah and Kelly will be in attendance and will doubtlessly create gorgeous installations, as they have in the past.