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16/11/2007

Three artists

Lawrence Asher Gallery, Los Angeles

Lawrence Asher Gallery is pleased to present three dynamic newcomers to the Los Angeles art-scape. These artists will startle and then engage you with precisely crafted, unique creations, both painted and sculptured. Barry Baldwin, originally from England, relocates to southern California via San Francisco to present his awe-inspiring female forms. Doro Hofmann, a recent transplant from Germany, introduces slick, precise representational imagery. She examines popular culture through traditional iconography prodding us to look deeper. Finally, Kim Kimbro, presents a living, breathing collection of powerhouse paintings that draw us into the souls of the beautiful creatures she depicts.

Barry Baldwin - Goddess

Doro Hofmann - Lost icons

Kim Kimbro - Animus

The Artists

Barry Baldwin

At long last, and after a long and somewhat intense and eventful career of making sculpture I have become aware of the two main elements that combine and manifest themselves in my daily work. These are Personality and Circumstance. Experiences over the last few years have enabled me to ‘see the light’ and ‘cloud cuckoo land’ now seems such a far distant shore. My personality in relation to my work, has become relentlessly dedicated, bull like, in my quest to make some sense of that which, in truth, is totally unquantifiable. With regards to circumstance, I take full responsibility. My hand is on the rudder of this ship sailing through a sea of uncharted waters with no land in sight. These two elements combine in my daily sculptural work. I do not particularly like it but I know I have volunteered to join the ‘arty farty’ army with daily reveille calls that steal my time. Therefore I know I must strive, totally aware, with great conviction and honesty, to be myself. B.B.

Doro Hofmann - I was always very narrative in my oil paintings, collages, monotypes, drawings or installations. From a very early point in my development as an artist, I decided to reflect a certain aspect of our lives in a constantly developing and changing society. My goal is to leave behind a message that show how we, society, functioned at the moment I created my piece of art. I want people to comprehend and see our world. Things we are used to and thing we buy can actually be controversial, if we take a second look and think about it. I want people to play detective when they look at my work. I want them to first enjoy the appealing surface but then to detect a deeper meaning by adding up the different symbolic images. My paintings reflect what we see everyday, filtered through my intuition.

My political and social comments are often drawn from the glamorous, sparkling advertising world; the daily press, television, fashion and branding go hand in hand with celebrity-news and even stories found in National Geographic or Times magazine. I put these stories into collage like oil paintings, inspired by Hannah Hoech, a dada-ist, who created collages to open up your eyes and mind.

“Lost Icons” is about the loss of the original Icons from Byzantine times which was followed by worship of the Madonna. Today holy figures have been replaced by celebrities to sell products. Essentially they take advantage of our longings and desire to be happy and delighted, to be someone special or at least connected to someone special. The imagery is always very pretty and delightful. D.H.

Kim Kimbro - Animus refers to the masculine aspect of the feminine psyche in Jungian psychology. This collection of paintings is an exploration of the rough-cut and the tender found within me and within all of us. Animal archetypes evoke instant associations and make sense to me as a prism through which I can explore some very primal emotions such as obsession, unconditional love, contempt and faith. The darker emotions are particularly intriguing to me and I like the tension that arises when I use a docile animal such as a cow or sheep to express it. Conversely, there is something very touching to me about using a reviled animal to express love.

The very core of the animal is present in these portraits. They exist in a purgatory of light that alternates between heavenly and eerie. There is nothing else in the picture -- no other earthly references to support a narrative apart from the purest symbolic associations with that animal. Their faces are expressionless - anathema to anthropomorphism - and are therefore a kind of Rorschach test. I want you to see something very gentle in one viewing, then ominous and full of fury in the next. In "1% (in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten)", the life-size cow glows in beatific white-hot light, as far from threatening as it gets. It also happens to be utterly confrontational in its stance -- unblinking, unflinching, unforgiving. In "Prey (I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair)", a predatory animal, oblivious to the viewer, races full-tilt in adrenaline-fueled euphoria. Is there any difference between sex drive and prey drive?

I feel compelled to march in the long procession of animal representation that reaches all the way back to the caves at Lascaux and Altamira. Early man scratched marks on the walls with ground pigment so that others could recognize the animal and conjure its spirit - then it could become the killed rather than the killer. That primitive bargain is the starting point for each painting, where it is decided, metaphorically, who lives and who dies. They are cyphers that stand in for the way we are -- corruptible and faithful, fickle and steadfast. I like to paint with my three dogs around me because they remind me that the most poignant qualities humans have are the ones we share with animals. We are all deeply in tune with hunger and survival on a subconscious level, even if it rarely crosses the mind. I paint from the inside out, starting with the deepest essence of that animal, letting those qualities determine the way paint and composition are handled. The finished product is an expression of empathy that I hope touches everyone on a profoundly personal level. – K.K.

Kim Kimbro was born in Connecticut and attended the Norwich Free Academy where she received a classical education in painting and drawing, graduating with national awards and honors. She was awarded a scholarship to the Parsons School of Design in New York City where she earned a BFA. Ms. Kimbro has worked in design, documentary filmmaking and photography. She currently resides in Los Angeles.

Image: Kim Kimbro, Prey (I crave your mouth, your voice, your hair)

Press
Jeannine Schechter Fresh PR
4134 Del Rey Avenue Marina del Rey, CA 90292 T 310.482.3461 F 310.482.3463 jeannine@freshpr.net

Please join us for the opening reception of these exceptional solo shows on Saturday, November 17th, 2007, 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.

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