Artist Talks with Ray Carafano

dnj Artist Ray Carafano's artist talks with The Help Group and Santa Monica College Photo Department.

Riverrun Exhibition

"Riverrun"

Ray Carafano

“Riverrun" Photographs of the LA River, by Ray Carofano.

"Riverrun" is a suite of photographs, of the Los Angeles River, capturing seldom seen images of the fifty-one mile storm drain.  Forsaken for so long and fenced off from the very communities it once sustained, the river is now primarily a flood control channel and conduit for urban waste.  Taking 'less-picturesque' portions of the river as his subject, Carofano's carefully framed images reveal the not-so-hidden majesty of the concrete, the smooth lines of the river's channel.  Sophisticated geometry, atmospheric light and color, and rightness of scale give these images a painterly quality that requires close observation in order to determine that they are indeed photographs. Conditions that could be considered appalling, on the contrary, appear alluring and serene - each image pays homage to the intersection between nature and the designed environment.

Ray Carofano’s career in photography spans over fifty years, with his education beginning at Quinnipiac College, Southern Connecticut State College and the Paier School of Art. Carofano’s photographs have been shown extensively throughout the United States, with several exhibitions abroad as well.  His work can be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA., Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA., Fototeca de Cuba, National Archives, Havana, Cuba and other private and corporate collections.  He lives and works in San Pedro, CA.  This is his first solo exhibit at dnj Gallery.

Story-Time Installation Room

Currently on view to coincide with the current exhibition:

Prior Pleasures:  photographs by Ellen Cantor.

PAC LA Artist Talk with Ellen Cantor

Saturday, April 8th, the Photographic Art Council of Los Angeles hosted a walkthrough with dnj Gallery artist Ellen Cantor.

The Contemporary Choral Collective of Los Angeles

Last Saturday, March 4th, dnj Gallery hosted The Contemporary Choral Collective of Los Angeles.

C3LA is a new choral music ensemble exclusively performing music written during the last 25 years, about a third of which is by members of the group itself. It’s a collective of composers, conductors, and singers, with all members of the group taking on different directorship roles - there is no one music director.

Opening Reception: Up For Interpretation

Up For Interpretation

Milken Community Photography Students

Milken Community School's Photography Department nurtures and cultivates unique qualities of each student in order to discover their creative abilities. Students are exposed to a new way of artistic thinking through a visual world of expression and interpretation. Students learn visual communication skills in an inspiring environment, under the guidance of teachers and artists. Eight student artists from Milken Community Schools were inspired by Pamela Mayers-Schoenberg’s exhibition When Did it Stop Being Fun? – a closer look at the expectations and burdens of formal education. In their upcoming show at dnj Gallery Up For Interpretation they have interpreted the concept in multiple ways, presenting a prismatic approach to communicating their individual stories: from conveying the difficulty students face balancing schoolwork, extracurricular activities, and impossible expectations to an existential search for beauty within fragmented chaos. At Milken the students explore a wide variety of media while learning self-discipline, critical thinking, and decision making. Art history, culture, and Judaic imagery are woven into the curriculum. The students’ perceptions of the world are challenged and enriched as they explore their identity through the creative process.

Exhibition runs thru March 25, 2017

‘Here Be Dragons’

Carmon Colangelo monotypes at Jonathan Ferrara Gallery

Carmon Colangelo, “Mauve Sensing Green” (left) and “Remote Sensing” (right). Monotype relief prints, 47″ x 35″ each, both 2016.

"The compass rose spins out of control. Rule marks climb over geographic boundaries. The map enfolds the symbols of its making.”

In the exhibition “Here Be Dragons,” now on view at the Jonathan Ferrara Gallery in New Orleans, Carmon Colangelo, dean of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, playfully but pointedly examines the limits of knowledge and the precarious social and political states that define our contemporary moment.

Printed at Flying Horse Editions in Orlando, these large-scale monotypes combine hand-drawing and digital manipulation with a range of materials and techniques designed to highlight the role of chance in shaping our own psycho-geographies. Drafting tools, leftover scraps from laser-cut architectural models and other found materials are recycled and reimagined as part of Colangelo’s personal taxonomy of images. The results are at once seductively tactile and spatially disorienting — and a fitting metaphor for the dangerous waters that, even in a time of increasing global connectivity, must surely lie ahead.

“Here be Dragons” remains on view through Dec. 31. For more information, visit jonathanferraragallery.com.” -Liam Otten

Carmon Colangelo is the Ralph J. Nagel Dean of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts of Washington University.

For more information about the exhibition click here.