Author: Chris Hoff

Saturday night the Mat Gleason curated exhibition conTEXTual abstraction opens at Peter Blake Gallery. This group show will feature artists that utilize various forms of text in their work and includes Mark Dutcher, Jonmarc Edwards, Gary Lang, Molly Larkey, Adam Mars, William Powhida, Cole Sternberg, and Tim Youd. Gleason, a long time art critic and curator, founded the Coagula Art Journal in 1992 and now runs the dynamic exhibition space Coagula Curatorial in Chinatown.  Gleason is also a long time Angels fan and is no stranger...

16 March, 2015 /

If you happen to be traveling through John Wayne Airport over the next few months please take a look at the show OC Art Blog publisher Chris Hoff curated titled Hidden Treasures: Art from the Permanent Collections of Orange County Colleges and Universities. In this exhibit travelers to and from OC can explore local art from five Orange County colleges and universities in the HIDDEN TREASURES exhibit on display at John Wayne Airport now through August 2015. From the art collections of California State University, Fullerton;...

08 March, 2015 /

After five years of operation Newport Beach's Brett Rubbico Gallery announced that they will be closing this weekend. The letter that Director Brett Rubbico shared is attached. Many in the local art scene know how difficult it can be for a brick and mortar gallery in Orange County where a solid collector base interested in contemporary art has yet to materialize. The gallery and it's support of local artists will be missed. More details follow: ...

13 February, 2015 /

Chiron Review has long been one of America’s most respected literary journals. After a brief hiatus, they have returned with a new 6 x 9, perfect-bound, softcover format, as well an e-book option supporting kindle, iBooks, Nook and most other readers and devices. In 1989 Gerald Locklin came on as poetry editor and Ray Zepeda as the fiction editor. Since then the magazine has showcased consistently raw, vibrant, often controversial writings from the likes of Charles Bukowski, William Safford, Marge Piercy, Edward Field, Albert Huffstickler, Lyn Lifshin, James Broughton,...

17 November, 2014 /

I first discovered Tom Backer's work in the early 80's when he was documenting the burgeoning So Cal punk rock scene. Backer's extensive photographic collection of early punk shows, although unheralded, rivaled the work of better known punk rock documentarian's like Edward Colver. I was a fan. However, as the 80's progressed Backer disappeared from my radar and I wasn't sure what happened to this talented photographer. But as fate would have it, I was fortunate enough to run into Backer's wife Jennifer recently who pointed...

21 April, 2014 /

"We Will Show You Fear in a Handful of Dust" is a participatory sculpture project by Los Angeles-based artist collective Finishing School  in collaboration with artists Nadia Afghani and Matt Fisher that utilized the fabrication of a full size replica of a MQ-1B Predator drone aircraft. Over two hundred people helped FS and collaborators at Occidental College hand-finish the drone with an age-old application method using architectural-grade mud to the surface of the cnc'd substrate. In the dichotomy between the drone's form and its surface,...

06 April, 2014 /

Painter, curator, and educator David Michael Lee has been a stalwart of the Orange County art scene for many years now. Lee's work hangs in several prominent collections including the Phyllis & Ross Escalette Permanent Collection of Art. He serves as Director and curator for the Coastline Art Gallery and has a long history of creating various "happenings" in Orange County, many during his stint as a member of the now legendary Santa Ana Seven. If all that isn't enough, Lee is also one half...

17 March, 2014 /

“Every flame contains fire, any bone from a dead body contains death, in just the same way as a single hair is thought to contain a man’s life force.” - Marcel Mauss, A General Theory of Magic Hello Reader There are three things that I sense about you in this very moment: you have recently come in contact with the work of the artist collective Finishing School, their provocative social sculpture Psychic Barber, or both. Lucky guess? Perhaps. Crystal ball? Sounds useful but, truth told, I have...

01 October, 2013 /

Sarah Walsh's work is about the rejection of apathy and irony that is so prevalent in our current society, and is interested in finding ground to stand on amid the modern/postmodern dichotomy. Walsh names this elusive space the internal center or centers. When spending time with Walsh and her work one immediately experiences the connection to the spaces she creates. Although not familiar, Walsh's handling of paint creates a sense of emotion and place that leaves viewers with a sense of sentimentality. Walsh's new work...

18 September, 2013 /

By Natasha Shah  Orange County has a reputation for being detached from its surroundings, tucked away in an invisible bubble. Whether or not this is a fair characterization, Orange County Museum of Art’s current Triennial pulls back the Orange Curtain by bringing part of the world to us. Surprisingly, the California-Pacific Triennial is the first exhibit in the western hemisphere devoted to contemporary artists from around the Pacific Rim. Under the direction of curator Dan Cameron, the Triennial includes 23 artists from 15 countries, and places...

14 September, 2013 /

[caption id="attachment_4921" align="alignleft" width="150"] Courtney Conlon[/caption] The 50+ photographs in Courtney Conlon's new show at Cal State Fullerton's Pollack Library are at first glance reminiscent of Ryan McGinley's embrace of nature as a site of freedom, or Wolfgang Tillman's intimate documentation of his friends in real-life situations. However, Conlon is not interested in these kinds of comparisons or definitions, this is made clear by Conlon's stark truisms found spread throughout the opposite side of the gallery from where the majority of the works are hung. Conlon instead...

21 August, 2013 /

Tracy C. Teran A recent exhibition at the Expo Arts Center by emerging artists in the South Bay questions our relationship with time and the slippery definition of the immediate present. Curator Hilary Norcliffe established four types of Now’s to organize the diverse works in a variety of media. However, the exhibition’s strength is the ability of the works to operate between these categories. The first category Norcliffe identified includes documentary-type work, evidence or records of a past event. Jocelyn Foye’s five painted, polyurethane resin molds poignantly...

22 October, 2012 /

Tonight I attended my first First Friday in Long beach. What brought me out there was the show Now curated by Hilary Norcliffe at the Expo Arts Center. First Fridays in Long Beach features music, some art, food and lots people watching. Speaking of people watching, here's some pics.. [gallery link="file"]...

05 October, 2012 /

  Nomads have no history, they only have geography. – Gilles Deleuze   French poststructuralist Gilles Deleuze described himself as a philosopher of geography. Deleuze preferred metaphors of territory and with Felix Guattari developed the concept of lines of flight. Lines of flight could be considered shifts in the trajectory of a narrative that escape a force or power. Deleuze & Guattari where interested in diagraming these lines of power and maybe more interested in finding places of mutation where power could bend and lines of flight to...

06 September, 2012 /

 As the new art season is set to begin the OC Art Blog will be doing several Gallery Spotlight's introducing our readers to our many exciting local gallery's and their respective programs. First up is an interview with Brett Rubbico who opened Brett Rubbico Gallery in 2009. Brett Rubbico Gallery will be opening an exhibition of work by David Michael Lee on Saturday September 8th. The opening will run from 7 to 10pm. We hope to see you there. Now the interview: OCAB:  Why don’t we...

01 September, 2012 /

One year ago almost to the day, we published an interview with Finishing School that was conducted by Joanna Grasso during the opening week of the 2011 Venice Biennale. FS was there in Italy working on their film, 54. Now, here we are talking with them about the same project but different Venice Biennial. I recently caught up with Finishing School members Brian Boyer, Ed Giardina, Jason Plapp, and their newest collaborator Devon Tsuno. They are currently collaborating on a three-panel mural for the Hammer Museum’s Venice Beach Biennial, a project within...

07 July, 2012 /

Hello All! I wanted to let you know that local curators Martha Lourdes Rocha & Martin Corigan need your road trip photos for their upcoming exhibition titled Common Tread that will open at the Begovitch Gallery at CSU Fullerton on September 8th. Please help them out and get your favorite road trip photos in an art show. They can be contacted via the Common Tread Facebook Page. Thanks!...

19 June, 2012 /

New York Magazine art critic Jerry Saltz once said that the alchemy of good curating amounts to placing one work of art near another, leaving each intact, and in the process creating a third thing. This third thing and the two original things then trigger cascades of thought and reaction. I was reminded of this idea after viewing the wonderful exhibition Gerit Grimm: Beyond the Figurine now running at the Long Beach Museum of Art through July 8th. In this enjoyable exhibit the Long Beach Museum...

15 June, 2012 /

So we had a little relaunch reception for the OC Art Blog last Saturday night, it was a great time. Thank you to the OC Art Blog writing team, and our friends and the OC art fans that came out to support. Special thanks to Memphis restaurant for hosting, David Michael Lee for heaps of help, and Sarah, Suzanne, and Joy for the great art on the walls. Here's a short video of the event. ...

12 April, 2012 /