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6/7/2007

Three Exhibitions

Track 16 Gallery, Santa Monica

The Secret Life of Cows

This exhibition will feature large-scale prints of images from Wexler's newly published book, The Secret Life of Cows. Wexler fuses photographic reality with fantasy to create a world where cows can be and do just about anything. He has captured these death-defying bovines as secret agents and superheroes in imaginative and absurd situations where cows ineptly attempt to defend their species. The book, which will be available for purchase through the duration of the exhibition, includes a foreword by Monty Python/Spamalot's Eric Idle, who professes to "know a bit about cows in comedy."

Glen Wexler is renowned for creating hundreds of imaginative and elaborate album covers for artist such as Michael Jackson, Van Halen, Black Sabbath, and ZZ Top. Wexler was among the original artists to blend digital imaging technology with the creative process and is credited as a worldwide leader in the field. He has been recognized by prestigious publications such as Communication Arts, ZOOM, French PHOTO, Creativity, and Graphis among others. Tim Wride, Curator of Photography for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and executive director of No Strings Foundation says of Glen: "Wexler's pictorial constancy as a risk taker and his deftness as a problem solver are the characteristics that distinguish his work and make his images both meaningful and memorable." This is Wexler's second solo exhibition in Los Angeles.

Gail Greenfield Randall:Case Histories
Curated by Kristine McKenna

Gail Greenfield Randall began creating small sculptural works in the early 1980s, but by 1985 she'd shifted her focus to painting. For two decades her art-making practice revolved around figurative canvases combining acrylic and ink; however, that mode of working came to an abrupt halt when her grandmother died in March of 2006. "I became acutely aware of my inability to control time," she recalls of her grandmother's passing, "and much to my surprise, I began creating these boxes. They seemed to capture time for me somehow, and they gave me a place to put my sorrow."

Clearly in the tradition of the great 20th Century master of the ephemeral, Joseph Cornell, Randall's memory boxes collect everything from found photographs, weathered souvenirs, old toys and vintage medicine bottles, to butterflies, artificial birds, time pieces, scrap electrical supplies and antique locks and keys. She thinks of the boxes as "protected vignettes," and scavenges materials to create them in thrift stores and flea markets from Ventura to the Mexican border. Limiting herself to items costing under $10, she's mastered the finer points of dumpster diving in her quest for materials, and she's often given things for use in her work by friends. Randall describes her boxes with handles affixed, for easy portability, as secretive and private as compared with wall pieces, which are designed for public viewing. However, all of the work is freighted with feelings of times past and is palpably obsessive. "In fact," Randall observes, "I know that a box is done when I stop obsessing over it."

Curator, critic, and author, Kristine McKenna's work as a journalist began in the late 70s, when she covered the Los Angeles punk scene for various domestic and international publications. During the 80s and 90s she wrote art, film, and music criticism, and profiled directors, musicians, and visual artists for a variety of publications, including New York Rocker, Artforum, Rolling Stone, and the Los Angeles Times. She is presently working on a biography of the artist Wallace Berman. Among the exhibitions she has curated at Track 16 are Lun*na Menoh, 1986-2006, and Forming: The Early Days of Punk.

Paul Joyce: Hollywoodland
Curated by Dennis Hopper

Track 16 Gallery presents Hollywoodland, an exhibition of paintings by Paul Joyce, curated by Dennis Hopper. The exhibition will be on view from July 7 through August 4, 2007, with an opening reception on July 7, from 7 to 10 P.M. Regular gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 11 to 6. In the tradition of novelists James M. Cain, Raymond Chandler, Michael Connelly, and other literary giants who have immortalized the still beauty and mystery of Los Angeles, Paul Joyce's paintings capture a distinct, larger-than-life, perception of the Los Angeles cityscape of yesteryear.

Joyce, who also practices as a film-maker and photographer, paints L.A. landmarks and vistas using bright colors, giving the work a fresh and luminous quality, evoking color techniques such as early Technicolor and Cinemascope. especially in his panoramic pictures. But herein also lies a darkness; of places that have disappeared and remain only in our minds- the collective memories of native Angelenos- or of foreigners, like Joyce and Raymond Chandler (both of whom attended the same English public school: Dulwich College). In both cases a foreigner's eyes help to show us more about our city than we, on a day to day basis, see for ourselves.

As Oscar-winning Production Designer Dean Tavoularis comments, "Not since another Englishman, David Hockney, looked at Los Angeles with eyes blinded with light and color, never to be seen in London, has there been such colorful visions. Joyce's painting, 'The Valley' captures that stillness of the original desert upon which it was built. . . Paul Joyce treats Los Angeles floridly, and renders the painting of a great city pastorally." As well as being an accomplished actor and director, Dennis Hopper has built an international career as both a photographer and painter. His photographs from the 60s survey the star-studded milieu in which Hopper moved and reveal surprising, private sides to very public individuals. His enthusiasm for Joyce's work tempted him to undertake the role of curator for this show, another first for one of LA's favorite sons.

opening 7 luly 2007

Track 16 Gallery
2525 Michigan Avenue - Santa Monica
Free admission

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