calendario eventi  :: 

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25/5/2007

Two exhibitions

Lawrence Asher Gallery, Los Angeles

Tim Anderson – Saints and Sinners + Robert Rossoff – Room Service

Lawrence Asher proudly presents the new works of painter Tim Anderson from Chicago, Illinois and local painter and digital animator Robert Rossoff. Both painters use excellent, seasoned technical skills to present wonderfully detailed, complete compositions that magically convey underlying emotions and histories of their chosen subject matter. Tim Anderson has developed a mastery of exposing the secrets of his subjects through painterly studies of the face as a gateway to the heart and soul. Similarly, Robert Rossoff’s layered interiors use light, objects and space to create rooms that every viewer can either fill with histories or create impending conflict. The vague familiarity or haunting calm effectively affect.

Please join us for the opening reception of these two wonderful artists on Saturday, April 21st, 6 – 10 pm. Lawrence Asher Gallery is located at 5820 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, across the street from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and adjacent to the Craft and Folk Art Museum. Free parking is available on Wilshire Blvd. and behind 5858 Wilshire Boulevard. Enter on Stanley Ave.

The Artists

Tim Anderson

These paintings reflect an ongoing study of human countenance that is spelled out in the face. In every human face, there are clues as to what is going on behind the "mask". Some are obvious to all, while others run deep. I am interested in what lies below. There is a certain kind of benevolence that shows through on the faces of, for example, musicians. The faces of criminals in mugshots are fascinating as well. There is a series of signals seen in the eyes that sometimes betray a malevolence that is palpable. My selection of faces comes from a process of attempting to capture a specific attitude or mood. Theatre and Opera are great reservoirs of many of the base human urges that are manifested in the face. In the Italian form "Commedia dell'Arte", for example, masks were used on all the actors except the "Innamorati", or lovers. In these troupes, improvisational theater was practiced in piazzas in Italy during feast days in the fifteenth century. The situations enacted came from stock conventional situations; adultery, jealousy, old age, love and every other basic human foible. Most all this form came from the Greek Comedies and spread to the Etruscans and then the Romans. I am interested in the consistent representation of all these human traits through history. My desire is to deal with all this drama using oil paint. Saints and sinners...people on the edge...innocents, victims...all of these are the objects of my study. The practice of art gets down to the struggle to understand oneself.

Tim lives and works in Chicago. Born in 1954, he has exhibited continuously since 1978 in Chicago and internationally. Anderson is one of the founders of “The Coldhouse Group” that in 1987 initiated a new and successful exhibition concept using abandoned cold storage warehouses and rail terminals slated for demolition as temporary exhibition halls. These shows led to an international exchange of art and artists. In 1989, he started exhibiting his paintings in Europe and continues to do so in Edinburgh, Moscow, Munich, Regensburg, Krakow, Wolfenbuttel, Italy, and most recently Paris. From these travels, he has researched and referenced his subject matter. Anderson’s fascination with the portrait as subject matter elevates his themes to a direct confrontation with humanity.

Robert Rossoff

It is not what is painted but how it is painted that moves me to create art. I have embraced the concept that control of the paint, in the end, produces content and emotion.

I base my painting on photographs of hotel rooms. Photographs are inherently objective, therefore they can be transmuted into paint without one's own subjective feelings and thoughts getting in the way and slanting the meaning. While working out a palette and a technique of layering colors that approaches the quality of a black and white photograph I have discovered that when I apply this palette to everyday subject matter, it evokes film noir. Also, by overlaying this chromatic mood with an intense study of light and shadow the dramatic content is intensified. As in film noir, and much like our own lives, these paintings simultaneously convey both a sense of the quotidian and of underlying mystery.

Robert Rossoff was born in St. Louis, Missouri and moved with his family to southern California when he was ten years old. Encouraged by his mother, he began painting at the age of 12. In 1977, Rossoff completed a bachelor of arts degree at Cal State University Hayward, taking classes from Mel Ramos, Ray Saunders, Corban Lepell and Clayton Bailey. His first job following graduation was as a draftsman for the well known furniture designer in San Francisco, Fredrick Bruns. Later, in the early 80's he went back to school for a graduate degree attending Hunter College in New York City. Embracing the post pop influences of the time, Rossoff started to show paintings of restaurants at Gracie Mansion Gallery in the East Village. In 1990, Rossoff moved back to Los Angeles. He continued to make and show his paintings while working at night as a cook. Ten years ago Rossoff mastered a new skill, 3D animation, and now makes computer-generated sets for animated feature movies. Painting continuously throughout this period, Rossoff says his art has been enhanced by his movie-making experiences, strengthening his ability to think visually and to locate a space for the viewer within the picture.

Opening Reception: Saturday, May 26th, 6 – 10pm

Lawrence Asher Gallery
5820 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 100, Los Angeles

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