Santa Ana-Recently, I attended the much-anticipated opening of Suggestivism at the Grand Central Art Center in downtown Santa Ana. Beautiful ladies in hooded onesies (I did not know they existed either) paraded around the galleries serving chocolates and energy drinks throughout the night. Many of the artists attended and Academy award-nominated actress Amy Adams also made an appearance. Grand Central always knows how to throw a party!
Curated by artist Nathan Spoor, the exhibition features over 50 prominent low-brow artists like Todd Schorr and Robert Williams. The show also includes many new faces of this popular art movement like Bob Dob, Alex Gross, and many more. Located in both galleries, the walls are packed with aesthetically appealing gems of bright, illustrative artworks.
Nathan Spoor, who also conveniently curated his own work into the exhibition (a questionable move often debated in art museum circles,) describes Suggestivism as work which ‘gives the viewer ample opportunity to interpret meaning into their art.’ I would agree since much of the work, though creatively rendered, lacks personal narrative or content. Still, the work does have an immediate fatal attraction. Stylistically, many of the paintings have an interesting street smart, pop-surrealism quality. One stand-out is Heidi Taillefer’s Pelican and the Vampire, a modern, darker re-interpretation of Botticelli’s Birth of Venus. Some of the few sculptural pieces such as Elizabeth McGrath’s The White Deer, and Kris Kuksi’s Napoleonic Exile, made of plastic toyparts in a neo-classical steampunk style, transcended the lack of content in some of the paintings and are phenomenal, dimensional works of art.
With so much astounding work to absorb, viewers could easily spend hours in just one corner of the gallery and not have time to explore the rest. Best of all, the galleries are free to visit! Suggestivism will surely leave every reader of Juxtapoz Magazine and lowbrow art fan salivating.
(Right) Actress Amy Adams attends Suggestivism opening. February 5, 2011. Photo courtesy GCAC and Eric Stoner.
Heidi Taillefer, Pelican and the Vampire, 2010 oil on canvas
Elizabeth McGrath The White Deer 2005 Mixed Media
Kris Kuksi Napoleonic Exile 2010 Mixed Media
Grand Central Art Center Main and Project Galleries
Suggestivism
Curated by Nathan Spoor
February 5-April 17, 2011
2nd Reception Saturday, March 5, 7-10 pm
Closing Reception April 2, 7-10pm
Gallery Hours:
Tuesday-Thursday & Sunday 11-4pm, Friday & Saturday 11-7pm.
125 N Broadway Santa Ana, CA 92701
714.567.7233
-Alyssa Cordova, contributing writer
photos by Alyssa Cordova
