Two exhibitions
dal 20/2/2009 al 27/3/2009
Segnalato da
20/2/2009
Two exhibitions
Mark Moore Gallery, Santa Monica
In an era of globalization, as cultural identities and the boundaries between them become less rigid, Nobuhito Nishigawara's ceramic sculptures embody these cultural intersections. In the Project Room: new works by painter Dimitri Kozyrev.
Mark Moore Gallery is pleased to announce the inaugural exhibition of work by
Nobuhito Nishigawara. In an era of globalization, as cultural identities and the
boundaries between them become less rigid, Nishigawara's ceramic sculptures embody
these cultural intersections. Born in Nagoya, Japan but having lived across the
States, from Missouri to California, Nishigawara takes this global phenomenon and
transforms it into a personal investigation of the inner-self. His repeated use of a
stylized donkey figure is reminiscent of the industrialized kawaii aesthetic that
prevails in Japanese culture, yet his use of ceramic renders it a sophisticated
contemporary talisman. When paired with Nishigawara's other characters, that
reference everything from ancient warriors to Renaissance dress to Disney cartoons,
the donkey figure speaks of attempted relationships, of cultural confusion and
dislocation. Nishigawara's sculptures seem to belong to every time and no time, to
every place and
no
place. Rather than presenting concrete observations, they propose open-ended
questions, their very uncertainty both liberating and disconcerting, their aesthetic
belonging to us all and to no one in particular.
"My inspiration comes from the culture I live in. Living in a melting pot of
imported cultures and stimulants, my perception of aesthetic and self has become
uncertain." -Nobuhito Nishigawara
Nobuhito Nishigawara received his BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute (Kansas
City, MO) and his MFA from Arizona State University (Phoenix, AZ). He has exhibited
his work widely throughout the United States in both group and solo exhibitions.
Identities will be his first exhibition at the Mark Moore Gallery. Nishigawara lives
and works in Santa Ana, CA.
..................................
Mark Moore Gallery is pleased to present new works by painter Dimitri Kozyrev in the
Project Room. Kozyrev's abstract and fragmented picture planes depict landscapes
that exist in a Cubist
spatial limbo. By denying the one point perspective traditional of the genre,
Kozyrev collapses the linear narrative of space and time, instead presenting a
shifting spatial dynamic of concrete objects and random shards of color. The viewer
is offered glimpses of tree here, road there, as if perceiving the scene from a
moving vehicle. The resulting canvases deterritorialize our perception as they give
form to the gaps in our attention. Kozyrev's works act to represent memories of
places we may have only visited once, or those we may have simply constructed from
fragments of news stories, photographs or our own imaginations.
"Instead of a picturesque or panoramic spectacle, we are made more aware of vast
expanses of cool, billboard-like colors which "invade" the scene so that it is often
difficult to discern the dividing line between nature and simulacrum, sky and earth,
foreground and background, aerial view and ground-level perspective." -Colin Gardner
Dimitri Kozyrev received his
BFA from Ohio University (Athens, OH) and his MFA from University of California
(Santa Barbara, CA). He has exhibited extensively throughout the United States and
internationally. His work has been reviewed in numerous publications, including the
Los Angeles Times. Lost Edge will be Kozyrev's first solo exhibition at the Mark
Moore Gallery. Kozyrev lives and works in Tucson, AZ.
Image: Nobuhito Nishigawara
opening reception: Feb. 21, 5-7pm
Mark Moore Gallery
2525 Michigan Avenue - Santa Monica
Free admission