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Dreamcatcher New works and an installation from KuKula Also showing in our project room:Opening Reception: Friday, March 14 th 7-11PM Exhibition Runs: March 14th – April 4th, 2008 (Los Angeles, CA – January 30th, 2008 ) Thinkspace Gallery is proud to present Dreamcatcher. This show marks the first solo exhibit from KuKula at our gallery, following her involvement in last year’s highly regarded Smitten group show. Artist bio: The figures in KuKula's paintings wear their heartaches on their sleeves. They are delicate but resilient dolls buffeted by the crosswinds of the real world. KuKula herself was born in a small town in Israel and later studied illustration and design in Tel Aviv, graduating in 2003. The small town environment of her childhood fostered a fantasy life rooted in her exposure both to popular culture and to her elderly neighbor friends, many of whom were holocaust survivors. Her paintings are thus infused with a tension between playfulness and mourning. KuKula draws her aesthetic inspiration from a variety of sources, including children's illustrations such as Holly Hobby and the Care Bears, pin-up girl art, and German bisque dolls. In 2004 she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she is currently based. Show overview: In the past, whenever I began working on a show, I tried to capture an emotion that was generated by some important experience in my life. I tried to document the feeling, not the event. This time I am attempting to catch emotional currents with no evident experiential origin. Whereas my past paintings represented the nightmare feeling of real life, here I want to depict the emotional utopia one tries to keep sheltered within. The delicate web of the dreamcatcher filters out the bad dreams, while the feathers hanging below allow the good ones to flow freely. In this sense I used an imaginary dreamcatcher to block the fears learned from experience, which allowed me a clearer view of that sheltered core. What I am after is not some psychedelic fantasy, but an innerness that has not been scarred by the unending pushing and shoving of real life. In such a place my girls can be whole and unhurt. Not being an American, native or otherwise, the dreamcatcher to me represents not so much a particular tradition, as a point of departure. Its metaphorical possibilities, as with other objects, are what have inspired me. Artist website: www.kukulaland.com Also opening on Fri, March 14th in our project room: New works from Angelina Wrona & Kelly Haigh Angelina Wrona: Angelina Wrona has been on a path of constant experimentation in her art for years, having recently found satisfaction via the exploration of the peculiar ideas that swim about in her subconscious. Never interested in the world of abstract art, her first exposure to the world of pop surrealism via Juxtapoz Magazine was like opening a door to the art world of her dreams. The inspiration derived from this new found facet of the art world was invigorating. The twisted fairy tales that the subjects of Wrona’s paintings inhabit are brought to life in Merrickville , Ontario where she lives with her husband and two beautiful daughters in their 19 th century home, all of which are endless sources of inspiration. Artist’s website: www.angelinawrona.ca Kelly Haigh Kelly Haigh was born in Winnipeg , Mani toba , a land of intense prairie sun in the summer and bone-biting cold in the winter. These things, along with an irrational fear of grasshoppers, made staying inside to paint the only real option. Kelly received her first set of paints and canvas the summer before she turned six, and has been creating art ever since. To this day, she ventures outside her house only when absolutely necessary, and as a result, her complexion is a decidedly ghostly shade of pale (but her collection of pajamas and lounging clothes is second to none). Kelly now resides in Vancouver , B.C. with her collection of dead Victorian animals and three live dogs. She sings and plays in the band Ashley Park with her longtime beau, Terry. Artist’s website: www.kellyhaigh.com Thinkspace Gallery is located at 4210 Santa Monica Blvd (near Sunset Junction), in the Silver Lake area, Los Angeles , CA 90029 . Gallery hours are Thursday through Sunday, 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. and by appointment. For more information, please call 323.913.3375, visit www.thinkspacegallery.com, or email contact@sourharvest.com. |
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