Notes on Yancey Strickler, Metalabel, and the Future of Collective Creative Power There's a quiet but growing subculture of artists, organizers, and creative misfits who are experimenting with a strange question: What if artists borrowed the structure and scale of corporations, not the soulless parts, but the coordination, the shared identity, the ability to move culture with intention? Yancey Strickler of Metalabel has been one of the most compelling thinkers in this space. A co-founder of...
British artist Natasha Caruana joins the OC Art Blog to talk about her ongoing exploration of intimacy, secrecy, and the rituals of modern relationships. Known for projects like Married Man and Fairytale for Sale, Caruana’s work blurs the line between truth and performance, private life and public display. In this conversation, she discusses the evolution of her practice, the influence of technology on connection and identity, and the ethics of participation in art. We also dive into her...
By Walpa D'Mark I attended Albert Lopez Jr’s show at Crear Studio on September 4, 2021. It might seem like it’s a little too late to be talking about it, but the exhibition had many layers, and eventually it led me to think about Albert’s creative process. Full disclosure, I know Albert, we both attended Cal State Long Beach in the late 90’s, and I worked for him at OCMA in the 2010’s. Albert’s show at Crear Studio, titled “The Dollar Dance I Never Had!” featured works from different periods...
I recently had the opportunity to visit another exciting new space in Orange County, S/A Exhibitions. S/A Exhibitions is a nonprofit space headed up by curator Maurizzio Hector Pineda. Mr. Pineda background includes receiving his undergraduate degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2000. From 2001-2005 he was the owner and director of SWYS Gallery in Long Beach, CA, and has worked at the Santa Monica Museum of Art and for Regen Project in Beverly Hills. His...
As artists, we strive to find a deeper understanding of art through the experience of making. And as artists we continually search for how we can fit into the conversation of art that has continued for thousands of years. To better understand how we work, and how we can get closer to where we need to be can be a lifelong journey. A journey that has taken artist Jimi Gleason from Orange County to San Francisco, to New York, and back again. He certainly hasn’t been...
By Joel Woodard Jordan Christian just wrapped up his latest solo exhibition at the F+ Gallery in Santa Ana. F+ has been in business for 9 years at the Santiago Street Art Lofts (one of the few remaining art galleries there). Situated just down the street from the Santa Ana train station, the Lofts also sit just blocks away from Logan Creative, where Jordan Christian and F+ owner Micah Kersh first met. At that time Jordan was working out of Logan Creative. These days he’s working out of his...
Have you ever had a moment where you felt connected to an animal? Where you looked deep into its eyes and felt a sort of mutual understanding? Like, you exist with them and not just near them? Have you ever felt an internal pull toward a special crystal or rock formation? Has the color of a fire or a sunset reached into your soul and just stopped you dead in your tracks for a moment? Artist Cody Jimenez has the uncanny ability of catching those moments, among other extraordinary instances and...
Imagine a bright and colorful world where light pippy jazz is always playing, an assortment of soothing scents casually linger in the air, the weather is never not pleasant, and the diverse and eclectic people all around you are upbeat and friendly… This world is at your fingertips, thanks to the immersive art and design of Priscilla Moreno. A SoCal native, Moreno grew up in Los Angeles, but now calls Long Beach home. She is a full-time artist, and has shown her vibrant and fun artwork...
Climbing the walls and growing on the floor like a mold in various colors or stages of propagation, pill bottle caps encased a gallery space, bringing awareness to the spread of addiction to pharmaceuticals and its similarity to the growth of bacteria. I stumbled on this installation in 2012 as a part of the Huntington Beach Art Center’s “Escape from the Landfill” exhibition and was immediately enamored and enthralled by the power of this Long Beach-based installation artist, Olga Lah. Lah’s...
The world has come to a standstill. In the wake of COVID-19, people find themselves spending more time with themselves than they ever have before. It is a prime opportunity for the creation of art. Enter Abigail Albano-Payton, a 21-year-old artist from Laguna Beach via Dallas who has dedicated her quarantine to researching new ways to hone her artistic craft. She has dedicated herself, specifically, to learning how to paint black, indigenous and people of color; a methodology that she feels...
Local painter and art instructor, Eric L. Jones has been a fixture in the Orange County art scene for more than decade. His work blends a new kind of Abstract Expressionism with spirituality, poetic reflection, and Deconstructivism. He has shown his work in galleries in Fullerton, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, and Santa Ana, and actively shares his talents and passions with many different college populations in OC. Maribele, I am with you (after and before), Eric L. Jones, oil on...
On the first day of June, while the entire country was still heartbroken and mourning the cruel torture and murder of George Floyd in the hands of police, Larissa Marantz, a multitalented published book illustrator, cartoonist, gallery artist, educator, and owner of OC Art Studios, was hit by yet another institutional betrayal, this time coming from Laguna College of Art and Design (LCAD), the school she has taught at for years: Artwork by Larissa Marantz “The moment I heard about the LCAD...
While most cling to the familiar, artist Sureya Davis strives for the unknown. Davis is an African American Orange County-based artist who was originally born in Staten Island, New York, but would ultimately move to Southern California to pursue her career in art. “I knew going into this profession as a woman of color, it would not be simple, but my drive to create is stronger than my fear of failure.” Study of Vanna, Sureya Davis, Oil on canvas board. When asked what the driving force...
Perhaps it is serendipity or simply good luck; but more likely, Elizabeth Turk’s presence working in an expansive artistic environment is the result of her irrepressible ambition, sense of adventure and impressive talent. In this time of Covid-19, Turk is busy and locked away creating sculptures and installation works at Logan Creative in Santa Ana. And while numerous artistic spaces are closed, this compound welcomes artists working in many different media. With large, airy studios,...
In the frostbitten daylight of Wexford, Ireland's lush landscapes, Yevgeniya Mikhailik woke to pieces of freshly baked sourdough bread and hot coffee. After she ate her breakfast, she walked over to the old barn that was converted into an art studio and draw for about four hours. During this time in Ireland, her studio work was inspired by the vast evergreen scenery that surrounded the cow-house-turned-studio that was built in 1915. For one week, she basked in the rugged...
Before the COVID-19 pandemic took our community by storm, a phenomenal exhibition featuring the iconic work of a fascinating artist was about to open up to the public in Fullerton. Sitting in silence, waiting for the dust to settle, the compelling environmentally-conscious artwork of Kim Abeles’ Smog Collectors series is expertly hung and patiently waiting its turn to show us what we’ve done to our world. “Kim Abeles: Smog Collectors, 1987-2020” was scheduled to open March 21 at...
Naida Osline’s photographic artwork is a manifestation of her vivid imagination. Her images depict her fascinations with underappreciated beauty, the subtle magic of everyday occurrences, surrealism in reality, and the magic of indigenous California flora and fauna. Osline’s work also delves into “themes of economic and cultural structures, community, identity, gender, aging and transformation, along with the mystical and natural worlds in tension with the human-built environment,” she...
While baby boomers are the first generation raised with television as a major life influence, Jeff Gillette surpasses most of his contemporaries with his fascination for TV images, particularly for animated characters. The Costa Mesa-based artist recalls his earliest major artistic influence to us in an interview, “I grew up in Michigan in the 1960s through ‘80s, often watching The Wonderful World of Disney, and I loved the shows, especially the cartoons.” Yet when Gillette first...
Local artists Alyssa Arney and Liz Flynn are very aware of the superficial nature of Southern California, where beauty is valued over health, and the constant presence of advertising is louder, brighter, and more attractive than honesty. Finding their way, separately, toward fiber arts, was an important journey for each artist, but finding their way toward each other, and creating an open dialogue with their community, other women, and internally, has fueled their artwork and their...
Lindsay Buchman is an interdisciplinary artist working between Philadelphia and Los Angeles. Her practice explores positions of instability and disintegration through works on paper, installation, artist books, and photo-based approaches. Captivated by shared experience, she investigates interpersonal relationships while pivoting between text and image. Buchman is primarily focused on the implication of memory, and the dissonance between language and communication. Recent projects include: the...
The OC Art Blog was created in 2004 as a way to build community and promote the marginalized but dynamic Orange County art scene.
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By Maggie Luy Paper decor fluttered overhead as baby doll dresses and flower crowns filled the crowd. Women-owned vendors lined the walkways as festivalgoers moved through the sunlight, surrounded by bursts of color and music. That vibrant atmosphere captured...
By Mason Fujikawa The Tipping Point is a two-story installation at the Laguna Art Museum by Einar and Jamex de la Torre. The de la Torre brothers, glassblowers by trade, are prolific mixed-media artists who have exhibited internationally for over thirty years. Born in...
By Maggie Luy Take another step and lean in. Ordinary objects reveal deeper stories than they first appear to hold. From delicate threads woven into a portrait to bold images capturing moments of social change, the 42nd Irvine Annual transforms familiar...
By Maggie Luy Where does the game end, and the art begin? A basketball court is usually defined by rules and competition. In “GAME! Basketball and Contemporary Art,” that definition expands as the court becomes a surface for design and intervention. The...
By Chris Hoff There’s a particular kind of vertigo that comes with watching a technology arrive faster than the culture can metabolize it. Photographers felt it in the 1840s. Painters felt it again when Photoshop showed up. Now it’s AI’s turn, and the stakes feel...
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