Monthly Archives: August 2015

In observance of Labor Day and our upcoming exhibition installation needs, the gallery will be closed to the public September 1-11, 2015. We will be open by appointment only during this time. To schedule an appointment specific for artwork viewings, please email info@markmooregallery.com, or call 310-453-3031.

We look forward to seeing you at the opening reception for Andrew Schoultz and Okay Mountain on Saturday, September 12, 6-8:30pm!

The gallery is pleased to announce the recent acquisition of a major work by Andrew Schoultz, “Melting Candle (Blue)” (2012), by Fidelity Investments for their art collection.

Fidelity Investments, one of the world’s largest providers of financial services also boasts a corporate art collection that numbers more than 8,000 pieces worldwide, and a long history of supporting local artists.

Sourcing inspiration from 15th Century German map making and Indian miniature paintings, Andrew Schoultz’s frenetic imagery depicts an ephemeral history bound to repeat itself. In his mixed-media works, notions of war, spirituality and sociopolitical imperialism are reoccurring themes, which shrewdly parallel an equally repetitive contemporary pursuit of accumulation and power. Intricate line work, painting, metal leaf and collage twist and undulate under Schoultz’s meticulous hand, ranging from intimately sized wall works to staggering murals and installations. While his illustrated world seems one of chaos and frenzy, Schoultz also implies a sense of alluring fantasy and whimsy – a crossroads vaguely familiar to the modern world.

Schoultz (b. 1975, WI) received his BFA from the Academy of Art University, San Francisco (CA). He has had solo exhibitions in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Copenhagen, Philadelphia, Rotterdam, Boston, London, Portland, Detroit and Milan. He has been included in group exhibitions at the Andy Warhol Museum (PA), Torrance Art Museum (CA), Havana Biennial (Cuba), Hyde Park Arts Center (IL), Laguna Art Museum (CA), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (CA), among others. His work can be seen in the public collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (CA), Los Angeles County Museum of Art (CA), Frederick R. Weisman Foundation (CA) and the Progressive Art Collection (OH), in addition to his publicly funded murals in Portland (ME), Jogjakarta (Indonesia) and San Francisco (CA). Schoultz lives and works in San Francisco (CA).

 For more information about the artist or available work, please email info@markmooregallery.com.

Melting Candle (Blue)

Gallery artist Ben Weiner is in a new article by W Magazine featuring artists who work with unconventional materials. Weiner is in good company, alongside Jenny Holzer, Sterling Ruby and others.

Click here to see the article.

For more information about the artist or available work, please email info@markmooregallery.com.

The gallery is pleased to announce the Museum of Art and History‘s recent acquisition of “Traced Gesture (Aqua Caliente)”(2014), by artist David Ryan.

Lancaster Museum of Art and History (MOAH) houses a collection of post-war period and contemporary art in the areas of painting, sculpture, prints, drawings, photography, film, installations and new media. The museum also houses a collection of art pertaining to the Antelope Valley region. This art was created by artists that lived in, worked in or were inspired to create by the region. Rotating art exhibitions focus on contemporary artists, as well as the art housed within the current collection. In addition, the museum has a vast collection of Native American, historic artifacts and geologic specimens pertaining primarily to the Antelope Valley and its surrounding areas. Many of these items will be on permanent display within the museum, while others make up some of the history themed rotating exhibits showcased throughout the year.

David Ryan (b. 1971, Texas) gleans inspiration from the slick colors and lines of cars, electronic gadgets and household appliances to transform mundane, undesirable MDF into luxurious, enticing wall-sculptures. By creating multiple (literal) layers, Ryan explores the way line, shape and shadow interact to produce perceptual conundrums that intrigue his viewer. Thus his conceptually multi-layered pieces speak not only of glossy consumer products but also refer to phenomenology and complex art theories. His work explores the dynamic between craft and production, art and design, man and machine.

Ryan received his BFA from the University of Texas in Austin, TX before making the move to earn his MFA from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (NV) where he studied under Dave Hickey and Libby Lumpkin. His work has been exhibited
at the Laguna Art Museum (CA), Las Vegas Art Museum (NV), Galerie Jean-Luc & Takako Richard (Paris), Seomi & Tuus (Seoul), Davidson Contemporary (NY), and James Kelly Contemporary (NM). David Ryan lives and works in Las Vegas.

For more information about the artist or available work, please email info@markmooregallery.com.

The gallery is pleased to announce that Joshua Dildine‘s painting “Yards Relish” (2015), which is included in the gallery’s current exhibition, was acquired by the Frederick R. Weisman Foundation (CA) for its permanent collection.

THE FREDERICK R. WEISMAN ART FOUNDATION is dedicated to continuing the legacy and vision of Frederick R. Weisman, an extraordinary entrepreneur, philanthropist, and art collector. He held an uncompromising belief in the cultural value of art and understood the importance of both the individual artist and creative process. In carrying out Mr. Weisman’s intentions, the Foundation seeks to preserve, collect, and make publicly accessible his collection of modern and contemporary art as a means to strengthen and contribute to the greater artistic and intellectual life of our time.

More than four hundred works of art are on display at the Foundation. The collection includes works by European Modernists including Cezanne, Picasso, and Kandinsky and Surrealist works by Ernst, Miro, and Magritte. The holdings in postwar art include works by Giacometti, Noguchi, Calder, Rauschenberg, and Johns; Abstract Expressionist paintings by de Kooning, Francis, Still, and Rothko; Color-Field paintings by Frankenthaler, Louis, and Noland; and Pop Art by Warhol, Lichtenstein, Oldenburg, and Rosenquist. Contemporary California works include those by Ruscha and Goode, and Super Realist sculptures by Hanson and de Andrea.

These holdings are part of a larger collection that Mr. Weisman established as the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation in 1982. Currently under the direction of Billie Milam Weisman, the Foundation continues to make the collection available through loans to museums worldwide, docent tours at the Los Angeles estate, exhibitions in public-art venues, and the funding of several art museums, including the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art at Pepperdine University in Malibu, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the San Diego Museum of Art, and the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota, designed by Frank O. Gehry.

Dildine (b. 1984, CA), received his MFA from Claremont Graduate University (CA). He has been featured in group exhibitions in Oakland, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Murfreesboro, as well as the Frederick Weisman Museum of Fine Art (CA). His work is included in the public collection of the Sweeney Art Gallery, University of California Riverside (Riverside, CA). He was also the recipient of the 2010 Claremont Graduate University Award. The artist lives and works in Claremont, CA.

Yards Relish

The gallery is pleased to announce the Tang Museum‘s acquisition of a major work by  Jeffry Mitchell, “Flower Pot With Flower Growing Out of Hole” (2012), for it’s permanent collection.

The Tang Collection of over 7,000 objects represents a wide variety of materials, subject matter, and time periods. From Pre-Columbian pots to works made by current contemporary artists, our collection offers an unlimited variety of opportunities for study, inspiration, and discussion for the Skidmore community and beyond. The collection is used in imaginative ways and varying contexts through classes, exhibitions, and research.

Identifying himself as a “gay folk artist,” Jeffry Mitchell creates work that deals largely with dualities. Using a variety of materials and methods, including ceramics, printmaking, and drawing, Mitchell manages to juxtapose seemingly disparate ideas into beautiful, fragile, and startling works. Using sweet, furry animals and soft, pastel colors, Mitchell transforms kitsch subject matter into a study of complex human experiences, including death, sex, religion, and loss. His work, at times appearing clumsy and hand-wrought, remains approachable and innocent, engaging viewers with his child-like curiosity and ungainly re-creations of recognized subjects. While highly sophisticated in his technique, Mitchell chooses to display vulnerability in his work, allowing both himself and his viewers to negotiate frightening realities by couching them in the comfort of the familiar and a faith in innocence. His work is suffused with a desire to welcome, accept, and even love the disconcerting and flawed aspects of ourselves and others.

For more information about the artist or available work, please email info@markmooregallery.com.

The gallery is pleased to announce the Museum of Art and History‘s recent acquisition of “Imagination is Always the Winner” (2013), by artist Joshua Dildine.

Lancaster Museum of Art and History (MOAH) houses a collection of post-war period and contemporary art in the areas of painting, sculpture, prints, drawings, photography, film, installations and new media. The museum also houses a collection of art pertaining to the Antelope Valley region. This art was created by artists that lived in, worked in or were inspired to create by the region. Rotating art exhibitions focus on contemporary artists, as well as the art housed within the current collection. In addition, the museum has a vast collection of Native American, historic artifacts and geologic specimens pertaining primarily to the Antelope Valley and its surrounding areas. Many of these items will be on permanent display within the museum, while others make up some of the history themed rotating exhibits showcased throughout the year.

Merging found autobiographical photographs with viciously gestural painting, Joshua Dildine confronts the subject of conventional recollection and familial structure. A fixation shared by society at large, the contemplation of past events and relationships ultimately shapes our psychology moving forward – as a flicker of nostalgia, shame, or glee can be activated by a single sensory cue. With a purposeful cognizance, Dildine mines these memories for the underlying traits that forge our shared humanity: the humor found in the compromising, the endearment found in the aggravating, or the conflict found in the absent. His painterly swaths are as visceral as the family photos they conceal, his vivid palette alluding to the glaring absurdity of our incessant self-analysis and contemplation of the past. In his most recent body of work, Dildine embellishes elements or patterns within the original image in order to create a farcical confrontation with the past – a perspective that is both critical and celebratory. Through this carefully disjointed lens, Dildine creates experiences that are at once present and bygone, and whimsically harnesses nature of our being.

Dildine (b. 1984, CA), received his MFA from Claremont Graduate University (CA). He has been featured in group exhibitions in Oakland, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Murfreesboro, as well as the Frederick Weisman Museum of Fine Art (CA). His work is included in the public collection of the Sweeney Art Gallery, University of California Riverside (Riverside, CA). He was also the recipient of the 2010 Claremont Graduate University Award. The artist lives and works in Claremont, CA.

For more information about the artist or available work, please email info@markmooregallery.com.

Imagination is Always the Winner, 2013 / acrylic, spray paint, oil and uv coated ink on canvas / 66 x 60 inches

Gallery artist Kiel Johnson was recently asked to participate in Adobe’s WTFIT challenge. Participants in the challenge receive a box with several items in it and a word representing a concept. They have one week to create something using every item in the box, and adding only glue and paint.

Click here to see how Kiel handled the challenge.

A new interview with gallery artist David Maisel is now up on Photogrvphy.com. In the interview, Maisel discusses his first experiences with aerial photography, his inspirations, and his future plans.

My first experience with aerial photography was in 1983. I was invited by my professor, the photographer Emmet Gowin, to accompany him on an expedition to the volcano Mount St Helens, which had erupted several years earlier. The aerial vantage point permitted views of the transformed earth which would never have been attainable from the ground. What fascinated and astonished and troubled me most was not the aftermath of the volcano, but the clearcutting of the area by the logging industry. That experience set the course for much of my future work of looking at what I call synthetic landscapes, that is, sites that have been transformed by human intervention.

Read the full interview here.

For more information about the artist or available work, please email info@markmooregallery.com.

The Lake Project 13, 2002

Gallery artist Kiel Johnson is part of the group exhibition, Hysterical Friction: Works on Paper from JAUS LA, opening tomorrow at TSA New York. This is the first part of the Trading Aces project organized by ARTRA and Ashley Garrett – TSA New York will be exhibiting at JAUS in the fall.

To learn more about the exhibition click here.

For more information about the artist or available work, please email info@markmooregallery.com.

Kiel Johnson. Generate-Regenerate. 2014. Graphite on paper. 9 x 12 inches