The OC Art Blog was created in 2004 as a way to build community and promote the marginalized but dynamic Orange County art scene.

By Chris Hoff Nothing is true and everything is possible. – Peter Pomerantsev At this juncture, I don’t think there are many artists now that haven’t heard about a Beeple NFT going for $69 million, or a large series of arguably mediocre illustrations of a bored ape having a price of entry of 52 ether, or $210,000. I imagine this sort of news has many an artist, isolated away in their studios, wondering how they get a piece of the action and what this might mean for...

17 February, 2022 /

Q: I'm an introverted artist and it seems that the art world awards extroversion. Meaning people that are out all the time at openings and artist talks networking are more successful. How can I move from being introverted to extroverted? My career depends on it! Dear Fellow Traveler, Want to know a secret?  I’m terrified of public speaking.  The pounding heart, the drunk-dizzy-sweating-profusely kind of afraid that grips me in a vice and paralyzes me. Eventually, I somehow pull from the deepest places of belief in myself,...

06 February, 2022 /

©Amir Zaki. On Being Here: Built in 1927. Renovated in 1936, 2021. Ultrachrome Archival Photographed. 60” x 48” Framed. by Meg Linton “Photography is so much about cultivating a skill of sustained observation.” – Amir Zaki Recently, a colleague, Edward Cella, recommended I go visit the studio of Amir Zaki, a photographer he has worked with over the years located in Huntington Beach. The studio is hidden in a nondescript business complex amongst wood finishers, commercial printers, and a jet ski repair shop. Zaki met me at the...

25 January, 2022 /

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...

21 January, 2022 /

By Meg Linton On December 9, 2021, with some trepidation about whether to mask or not because of the new Omicron variant, I ventured out with a few friends to The Wayfarer: A House of Social Provisions in Costa Mesa to see one of my favorite young guitar-strumming song-writer poets and NPR/KCRW-described folk-punk phenom Sunny War. Opening for her was the energized Orange County band Delving, who said it was their first time playing together on stage in this iteration, and the solo artist Caitlyn Jemma...

20 December, 2021 /

By Walpa D'Mark Sarah Rafael Garcia has been advocating for the Santa Ana BIPOC community for 13 years. She’s the founder of Barrio Writers (2009), LibroMobile (2016), and Crear Studio (2017).  I had an opportunity to meet her during Crear Studio’s Meet and Greet opening held this summer. The opening was a celebration of the new Crear Studio space and its supporters. It was also an invitation for the rest of us to learn about the history and hard work that made it possible. Sarah Rafael...

17 September, 2021 /

By Liz Goldner Gilbert “Magu” Luján was a visionary artist who helped define and promote Chicano art. The founder of the art collective, “Los Four”—which first exhibited Chicano artwork in 1973 at UC Irvine—wrote in 1969, “I believe there is a Chicano Art form and that it has been around for many years without formalization and recognition…Most Chicanos are aware of our current new breed renaissance which has flowered many investigations, probes and introspection in most areas of our life patterns…As we affirm broad-based awareness of...

06 September, 2021 /

      When I first started taking art seriously and began to learn how to paint, I heretically thought of photography simply as source material for paintings. I tried making figurative paintings based off the work of Herb Ritts, Imogen Cunningham, and others. All those years ago I could not have appreciated the depth and complexity of the relationship between photography and painting that Jacques Garnier has presented in his latest exhibition Hymns to The Silence.            On display at Laguna Art Museum since this past Spring, I’ve walked through it many times....

13 August, 2021 /

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 most recent curatorial post...

14 July, 2021 /

There is a new gallery in town. Kennedy Contemporary is based in Newport Beach and showcases emerging and established artists. Headed by Victoria Kennedy, who has strong roots in Orange County, her new gallery intends to break down traditional barriers by focusing on accessibility and connecting collectors with art that will enrich their lives. The Kennedy team also will support the community at large, by hosting educational events, partnering with nonprofits, and offering consultation services. The OC Art Blog had a chance to inquire more...

05 July, 2021 /

On July 23rd the first ever D.I.Y. Film Fest will be held in Long Beach. This event will be a drive-in theater film fest celebrating independent filmmakers, community, and spiritual creativity. The films submitted will be produced and directed by mentors, students and professionals. The D.I.Y. Film Fest will also feature live music, a creation station, and food and libations. The OC Art Blog had an opportunity to ask Jocelyn Fee of Jane Free Productions a few questions about the up-coming event. We hope to...

24 June, 2021 /

     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 afraid to take it....

24 May, 2021 /

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...

12 April, 2021 /

According to The New York Times, a recent study showed that women artists’ artworks make up only eleven percent of collections held by top museums. The data, released late 2019, surveyed museum collections from 2008 to 2018 and found that the so-called progressive state of the art world had been dormant . Women make up a little under half of the world’s artists but are significantly underrepresented in the workforce itself. Data like this suggests that there is a treasure trove of artwork by women that has not...

22 March, 2021 /

Question--How should artists not freak out when they are barely getting by with money issues and then they get huge bills for unforeseen medical or auto issues? This is very stressful to me. Dear Fellow Traveler, My elementary school art teacher was named Fred Bremmer.  I don’t know how he felt about teaching art to kids, or if in his non-teaching time he sculpted, wrote screen plays, painted with watercolors, or was an actor with supreme range. I don’t know if he worried about paying bills, felt good about his art,...

02 March, 2021 /