Thursday, July 29, 2010

FORTH Magazine Reviews "Photograms: Uniquely Simple" & "The Daily Dose"

Check out this awesome review of DNJ's newest exhibitions curated by Darryl Curran! Thanks so much Carolyn!

Owl, Poinsettia,Leaf_2007_cyantotype with multi-color gum pigment print_30x15
Darryl Curran, Owl, Poinsettia Leaf, 2007, cyanotype
with multi-color gum pigment print, 30" x 15"


Photograms: Uniquely Simple
by Carolyn Blais

Unfortunately a photogram is not something you can eat. Nor is it like a telegram unless of course you count the fact that a photogram just may “speak” to you and relate a message. Well what exactly is a photogram you may ask? I was recently educated myself in this matter during the opening of the exhibition “Photograms: Uniquely Simple” at the DNJ Gallery this weekend. A photogram is a kind of photograph, except not really because no cameras or lenses are involved in its making. Instead, a photogram is made when an object or objects are placed “on top of a piece of paper or film coated with light sensitive materials” that are then exposed to film or light (DNJ Gallery Press Release). While the title of the exhibit may imply simplicity, photograms can in fact yield complex images that appear to have intricate designs.

The heat wave that rolled into Los Angles this past week did not stop locals from heading to Hollywood to check out all the cool photograms at DNJ on Saturday night. After climbing the very Grecian looking stone stairs to the second floor, I find the gallery to be packed with spectators. With complimentary Pellegrino in hand, I start to make my way through the small but pleasant space. In the first room is the work of the curator of the exhibit, Darryl Curran. Curran’s personal exhibit is called “The Daily Dose” and it includes 365 autobiographic photograms that were created every day over the course of 2007. By the looks of it, 2007 must have been a productive but fun year for the artist as I can clearly make out most of the objects used to make the photograms—a hammer, leaves, a slotted spoon, a wrench, scissors, paper clips, and buttons to name a few. The pretty, pastel colors used also seem to be an indication that 2007 was a good year. For me, I would love to have some of Curran’s photograms on my bedroom wall. The cheery colors and everyday objects seem to create a kind of calming ambience that would be perfect to wake up to every morning.

Moving on to the main gallery, I am met with a variety of photograms from nine other artists. Some of the first that I notice are the works of Elizabeth Bryant. Sort of reminiscent of X-rays, Bryant’s two “Police Target” photograms show the outline of two men in suits or uniforms who may have swallowed a slew of different objects from knives, to birds, to lizards. These pieces are difficult to describe, so you’ll have to go to DNJ to really see for yourself. While I think of Halloween when the local chiropractor would scan kids’ candy through the X-ray machine to make sure some psycho didn’t give out needle infested loot, I think the artist is trying to evoke a different affect—one that has to do with law enforcement and civil dis/obedience.

Lately I’ve thought it would be awesome to have dog. I can’t afford one, nor legally have one in my apartment. But apparently artist Julia Schlosser doesn’t have these issues. Either that or she is toting around items that belong to a dog in order to make a series of photograms. Her images show a tether and a leash, a dog hair, an e-collar, and K9 Advantix—everything one would need to have a Fluffy, or in this case a Tess, a C.J, and a Lucky (apparently the artist has or knows 3 dogs). These photograms are inventive and cool to look at, even if they make me long for that dog I’ve imagined.

The photogram exhibit will be on display until September 4th so be sure to check it out. Each artist gives new life to objects not normally seen in a creative light. The resulting images are not only interesting to look at, but uniquely developed.


Quick Look:
WHAT: “Photograms: Uniquely Simple”
WHERE: DNJ Gallery, 154 ½ North La Brea Ave, LA 90036
WHEN: July 17-September 4
WEBSITE: www.dnjgallery.net

Cynthia Greig News

Congratulations to DNJ Gallery artist, Cynthia Greig, for her inclusion in Seeing is Believing, an exhibition being held at the Concord Art Association. Curated by Dana Salvo, the show features nine artists employing photography as a tool to trace the arc of different realities, memory, and the various meanings associated with a sense of time, place, or identity.

Seeing is Believing runs now through August 12th, 2010. The Concord Art Association is located at 37 Lexington Road, Concord, MA. CAA hours are Tuesday-Saturday 10am - 4:30pm and Sunday Noon - 4pm.

If you would like to see some of Cynthia's work in person, please stop by the gallery some time! :-)

Cynthia_Greig_CupTower
Cynthia Greig, Representation #55 (cup tower),
c-print, 24" x 20"

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Ricahrd Gilles News

A big congratulations to DNJ Gallery artist, Richard Gilles, for his upcoming inclusion in two group shows! If you like what you see, please stop by the gallery to see some of Richard's work in person.

The first show titled, Photo-Environment, will take place in Costa Mesa at the Orange Cost College in the Frank M. Doyle Arts Pavilion, and will run from September 8 - October 20, 2010. Richard will be showing 9 images from his Signs of the Times series during this exhibition. (see below)

Peckman3040s_high_res
Richard Gilles, Peckman 3040s, archival inkjet print, 2009, 21" x 48"


The second show titled, Wonderers, will be held at the University of California Davis in the Richard L. Nelson Gallery, and will run from October 7- December 12, 2010. Richard will be showing 8 images from his Almost Home-Less series during this exhibition. (see below)

Richard Gilles_Addison & Second
Richard Giles, Addison & Second, archival inkjet print, 14" x 36"

Friday, July 23, 2010

Helen K. Garber News

A big congratulations to DNJ Gallery artist, Helen K. Garber, for her recent inclusion in the Oscar Noir Festival happening on August 23, 2010 and the Annenberg Community Beach House's Object of Wonders exhibit going on now through December 2010!

Helen's Urban Noir-LA/NY will be projected at the Academy of Motion Picture Science's Samuel Goldwynn Theatre as part of their Oscar Noir Festival on August 23, 2010. The HD DVD consists of her night urban landscapes, text derived from pulp fiction using the city as character with an original jazz score by John Beasley.

World-Trade-Center
Helen k. Garber, World-Trade-Center

promenade-12.75
Helen K. Garber, Promenade

One of Helen's encaustic boxes on display at the Annenberg Community Beach House titled Baboon with Bone
baboon-box-with-bone2

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Elliott Wilcox Featured on Lenscratch

DNJ Gallery artist, Elliott Wilcox, is currently featured on Aline Smithson's Lenscratch blog. Thanks so much for the shout out Aline! :-)

Real Tennis 08
Elliott Wilcox, Real Tennis 08, 2009, archival inkjet print,
30 x 40 inches

THURSDAY, JULY 22, 2010

Elliott Wilcox

If you look carefully, art is all around us. It's in our museums, but it's also in a window reflection, a pile of trash, or a sports court in England. Elliott Wilcox shares the art of his world in the new series, Courts. The images could stand strong along side any mid-century minimalist painting, and the fact that it is found art makes it even more appealing. The vivid colors, minimal shapes, and on target cropping make for a very strong series.

Elliott is a London based, British photographer who is currently studying at the University of Westminster, MA Photographic Studies. He graduated from the University of Wales, Newport with a BA in Photographic Art in 2008. He has been the recipient of several awards including a Judges Award at the Nikon Discovery Awards and a New York Photo Award in 2009. Elliott recently won a Lucie Award for the Discovery of the Year at the International Photography Awards. His work was part of the recent show ‘PRUNE – Abstracting Reality’ at FOAM Gallery Amsterdam guest curator Kathy Ryan, editor of the New York Times Magazine and was featured in the Magenta Foundation’s publication on the future of photography, focusing on emerging talent, Flash Forward - Emerging Photographers 2009, the New York Photography Festival and in the New York Photo Awards Annual 2009. Elliott is also featured in FOAM magazine’s Talent issue and FOAM Gallery’s 2010 Annual. Needless to say, the art and photography world have decided that they too, see art in his work. Look for two upcoming solo shows, at Fauna Galeria, November 2010 in Sao Paulo, Brazil and the other at dnj Gallery, May 2011 in Los Angeles.


Artist Statement:

This work examines representations of the enclosed spaces of sports courts. In photographing the empty courts, absent of the fast paced action we are so familiar with, these environments reveal themselves in a new light.The camera shows details that the viewer can see closely, revealing many subtleties that usually go unnoticed. The vivid stains, ball marks, blood and scratches force the viewer to focus on these details rather than just the court.

The courts have one single use – a ball game, with all their complicated rules and regulations. These normally sub conscious spaces become alive. Much like a gallery space is missed to the artwork, the space of these courts is missed to the sport. These large format images are slow and deliberate. The non-judgemental image creates an experience to explore, a path to revealing the unnoticed and exposing the unexposed, consequently romanticising the courts.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Opening Reception Photos: "Photograms: Uniquely Simple" and Darryl Curran's "The Daily Dose"

Here are some awesome photos from Saturday's opening. A big thanks to all who showed up in support of Darryl and the artists in the exhibition. :-) Enjoy!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Summer Exhibitions at DNJ Gallery

DNJ Gallery is pleased to announce its upcoming exhibition, “Photograms: Uniquely Simple,” a group show curated by artist Darryl Curran. The exhibition features the work of nine artists who have explored a minimal, straightforward process—the photogram. By definition, “a photogram is a kind of photograph, although made without a camera or lens by placing an object or objects on top of a piece of paper or film coated with light-sensitive materials and then exposing the paper to film or light.” Experimentation with this simple process produces complex visual wonders when manipulated by creative artists.

Adams_Chichen_Itza'_Dream_1996_GSP photogram + negative generated image, 20”x20”
Marsha Red Adams, Chichen Itza' Dream,
1996, GSP photogram + negative generated image, 20”x20”

Guest curator, Darryl Curran, lives and works in Los Angeles. For the past forty years he has sought to expand the definition of ‘photography’ to include experiments of the medium in its many forms, including camera and film, light as subject, camera-less image-making, obsolete photographic printing processes and scanner as camera. Curran’s work is in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art; the International Museum of Photography/George Eastman House; Fogg Museum, Harvard University and others. His work has been shown nationally and internationally

Gallery II presents a solo exhibition of new work by Darryl Curran. “Daily Dose” includes 365 autobiographic gum-pigment photograms created every day in 2007. The disciplined process tracks Curran’s artistic choices (color palette, type of objects-- kitchen, office or garden, mechanical or organic, and multi-color or single, etc.) and creates a document of the objects, juxtapositions, associations, and the fine distinction of light and shadow that preoccupied the artist over the course of one year. The work in the exhibition is a credit to the process and the system.

Owl, Poinsettia,Leaf_2007_cyantotype with multi-color gum pigment print_30x15
Darryl Curran, Owl, Poinsettia,
Leaf,
2007, cyantotype with
multi-color gum pigment print, 30" x 15"

Interior Design Professionals Networking Mixer and Social Event at DNJ Gallery

The next Designer Networking Event will be held at DNJ Gallery Thursday July 29th, 2010 from 7:00pm - 9:30pm.

Please forward this invite to other interior designers, store owners, showroom managers, artists and product designers that you might know. And remember you need to be a member to join our events so if you would like you can bring your $25 membership fee (for the year) to this event.

Please RSVP (only if YOU CAN make it) - to turquoise.la@gmail.com
We look forward to seeing you on THURSDAY July 29th, 2010.

The purpose of our DNG Events is to bring talented individuals who work in the design industry to meet and network their talents and products.

PLEASE make sure you bring your business cards, portfolios and/or images of your work so you can share your products and design work with our members. If you would like to bring a product of your work - we encourage your to do so so we can see your designs. It is important that you bring your materials so we can view your work and products!

Current exhibition that will be on view:
Photograms: Uniquely Simple, Curated by Darryl Curran
Darryl Curran's The Daily Dose

DNJ_Gallery_invite-1

ABOUT DNJ Gallery DNJ Gallery is a fine art organization located in Los Angeles' West Hollywood neighborhood. Every day brings new ideas and ways of looking at the world around us. Art is an outlet for innovation and reflection. DNJ Gallery is dedicated to the exploration of artists and their discoveries. The Gallery introduces contemporary works by emerging and established artists, while displaying a broad range of subject matter and techniques.

Pamela Schoenberg, the owner of DNJ Gallery, has been active in the art world for over 20 years. After receiving her BFA in both History and Photography from Washington University in St. Louis, she then graduated with her MFA in Studio Art/Photography from Mills College in Oakland, California. Schoenberg pursued and exhibited her photography for more than fifteen years before opening DNJ Gallery. After graduate school, she lived in Jerusalem and was commissioned to photograph the immigration and acculturation of the Ethiopian Jews. In 1998, she received the "Artist-In-The-Community" grant from the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department. Schoenberg has also been involved with many Los Angeles institutions including Barnsdall Municipal Art Gallery where she worked for the education department and developed numerous elementary school programs. During this time, she published an essay for Museum Education of Southern California (MESC) at the 1996 annual conference. Then at the Los Angeles Center for Photographic Studies, she assisted in organizing exhibitions, educational workshops and grant writing. She has also worked in museum education and taught workshops at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Skirball Cultural Center and The Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena.

Street and lot parking is available.