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...
In Greek mythology, Sisyphus, the existentialist anti-hero, is punished for being so full of himself that, as he valiantly rolls his rock up the mountainside, the Gods have it roll back down just as he nears the top, doomed to do it again and again forever with the same result. In his way, he’s the perfect absurdist saint for artists: Daily work in isolation, never reaching the end of the journey, valiantly continuing, despite the cost of supplies, the inability to make rent, or difficulty...
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,...
Some traditions never die; and, one that has stood the test of time is art itself. Despite the trying times of the COVID-19 quarantine, the California Art Club and Hilbert Museum of California Art at Chapman University are working together to bring the 109th annual “Gold Medal Exhibition” to the public virtually. The California Art Club was founded in 1909 with the intention of bringing together artists in California—a place to share ideas, teach, and hone their craft....
On a bright, sunny day in Fullerton, a man dug a pickaxe into the soft earth of his front garden. His strenuous expressions were hidden behind the cover of a cloth mask. Directly across from his cottage-like home is the manicured lawn on the north end of The Muckenthaler Cultural Center, which has just installed a new contemporary sculpture. The steel sculpture towers at twelve feet high. It is one of the many new highlights at The Muck. The sculpture is called Godot, by contemporary...
With the art world on lockdown, and with many of us desiring, even needing, to feed our art addictions, many visual and performing arts organizations throughout the OC are getting creative with how they remain relevant to the larger OC art scene. Luckily, many art organizations are offering opportunities for the public to still engage and enjoy art digitally, whether it be through live streaming, virtual tours, social media engagement, online art collection browsing, film screenings, videos of...
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...
Who are we really? How do we fit into society? What parts of ourselves do we allow to be seen, and why? These are all questions that Brooke Shaden uses as inspiration for her digital show, “BEGIN AGAIN,” hosted by JoAnne Artman Gallery in Laguna Beach. In the virtual exhibition available online through May 30, 2020, Shaden explores the many layered notions of identity to fuel the work, but rather than conform to the expected notions, Shaden questions what it would be like to celebrate the...
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...
Waves of bright color undulated from the canvases that hung on the walls. Each piece carried an intonation of urban flair. Not one of the pieces resembled one another, but inside of the intimate enclosure that was the saltfineart gallery, they paid homage to the beauty of street art. Saltfineart gallery’s “Street – Art” exhibition was as bright as the turquoise-colored sea that was just a stone's throw away. Artist David Krovblit’s hand-cut collages were the first thing that caught my enamored...
The several dozen figurative and expressionistic paintings by Artemio Sepúlveda currently on view at Laguna Art Museum are so empathetic and deftly done, the casual viewer might think they were created by a widely-known artist. But beyond a small coterie of admirers and collectors—many in and around Laguna Beach—Sepúlveda (alive and well at age 85) is barely known. What’s even more surprising is the story of the artist’s life. The son of a miner...
Any kind of patriarchal poke in the eye is welcome, especially one that upends the tired visual dynamic of submissive women, but is there anything particularly revolutionary about replacing those suppliant female bodies with male figures in the same position? Additionally, if a painter’s intent is to subvert the ‘male gaze,’ why would they still include bound or nude women as the centerpiece of their imagery? Those questions are likely to hang in the air as you walk away from...
In the current exhibition, “Slippage of a Strand,” at Grand Central Art Center in downtown Santa Ana, artist Flavia D’Urso attempts to convey the feelings of a queer woman and how identity and sex can cause feelings of unrest and at times, conflict with others. D’Urso thoughtfully utilizes repetition and replication with her symbolic works of art as she dissects the societal expectations of female and queer identity. There are many expectations in our society for women, including appearances,...
Instruments of Change is a wholly original exhibit that shows dedication to culture and multi-medium mastery, currently showing at the Fullerton Museum Center through February 23, 2020, thanks, in part, to Thinkspace Projects. This inspirational exhibit, organized by Thinkspace features eight Latin American artists — Alvaro Naddeo, Curiot, Fefe Talavera, Fernando Chamarelli, Hilda Palafox, Paola Delfin, Saner, and Zezão in a groundbreaking show. In just 10 days they created installations...
The Brea Art Gallery is a small, distinct gallery that is often overlooked; however, its current exhibition, “Chapter One,” is a reminder that it is a staple of Orange County. An inviting display of imaginative multimedia artworks can be seen from the glass outside. What lies inside is an arena of fantasy and storybook beginnings. The exhibition’s central theme is tying together the importance of imagination and narrative-based art, which shows through its display of works from many different...
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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Rachel Adams at OCCCA/GCAC The first talk in a new curatorial lecture series brought the Chief Curator of the Bemis Center to Santa Ana and she had a lot to say about art, empathy, and saying yes. On Thursday evening, March 12th, a small crowd gathered at the Orange...
By Maggie Luy What do we keep, and what do we let sink? Kristina Rose Baker Installation Shot Daniela García Hamilton approaches it through hand-embroidered cultural objects set afloat in painted water. Suspended between air and a spirit realm below, Kristina Rose...
By Mason Fujikawa | Feb 13, 2026 Interstitial at Gallery Sonder is the first solo exhibition by Los Angeles-based artist Sheng Lor. Lor, a Hmong American, learned to embroider at a young age and began her career as a weaver. She has since shifted to a conceptual...
Metalabel's second annual Anonymous Creative Futures survey just dropped, and it reads like a dispatch from the creative frontlines. Over 300 artists and creative workers across disciplines and geographies were promised anonymity and asked to be brutally honest about...
Orange County is home to Pacific Symphony, Segerstrom Center, South Coast Rep, Laguna Art Museum, the Bowers, a thriving gallery scene in Santa Ana, and hundreds of independent arts organizations serving millions of residents. The creative economy here generates...
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