Opening Reception: Thursday, October 19 from 6-9pm
Thinkspace Projects NYC Pop-Up Location: 345 Broome Street NYC 10013
Multidisciplinary artist Cinta Vidal illustrates new perceptions of city landscapes by detaching and reimagining the architectural formations that function as the backdrops of life. For Vidal, depicting macro and micro levels of inverted apartment buildings and city structures illustrate the various ways the world is experienced by a mass population. Having grown up with an affinity for drawing, Vidal became an apprentice at Taller de’Escenografia Castells Planas, one of the most prestigious scenography ateliers in Spain and across Europe. There, she learned the trades of scenography, painting large-scale scenes and settings for theatre and opera backdrops. Utilizing this experience, Vidal uses acrylic paint on canvas to create what she describes as her “un-gravity constructions.” She paints each artwork with close attention to detail, fully realizing each structure and the unfolding scenes within. Vidal’s combination of saturation, detail, and balance work together to allow the viewer’s gaze to absorb these various and often intersecting viewpoints.
Cinta Vidal’s architecturally-inspired paintings encapsulate the concrete formations that enclose the day-to-day turbulence experienced at the personal and community level. Too often people are focused on individuality instead of commonality, leaving little room to observe the surrounding hustle and bustle of city-life. Vidal challenges viewers to look beyond the self and broaden their perceptions of the physical and divided structures humans frequently occupy. By depicting individuality within an arrangement of occupied spaces, she captures the conflict between the multifaceted nature in which society experiences the world, internal perceptions of reality, and the inflexible architecture people inhabit. Vidal’s unrelenting yet inverted constructions symbolize the “mental structures” of the individual. Thus Vidal’s unconventional portrayal of metropolitan architecture elevates these self-revolving structures, reminding viewers that they are not alone and to pay closer attention to the many pathways of life existing amidst the masses.
Artist Statement: “In COHABIT I go inside houses and approach public spaces, leaving behind the planetary compositional aspect of my previous works. I’m intrigued by the relationship that people establish between themselves and their immediate surroundings and now I’m zooming in to find out what’s going on in there. In contrast to my most recent works, where I played with darkness, I now strongly illuminate the scenes, which take on more vitality.
We live the spaces we cohabit from our unique vision, which may not have anything to do with the vision of the “other”. Multiplying gravity allows me to express that there are many possible perceptions of our environment. The everyday, can contain common places, but also many abysses. And I’m always surprised by the ability that humans have to live uncertainty with calmness and a certain indifference.
In this body of work, all the paintings have in common a frontal view, with a central vanishing point. Thus, I accentuate the confrontation between a parallel and ordered structure with the “disorder” of the various orientations. I also added the mirror effect in some frames. It allows me to turn the figures upside down and increasing the confusion of the viewer in the game upside down. Finally, I wanted to honor painters I admire and respect by placing some of their paintings in my scenes. You will find paintings by Piet Mondrian, Mark Rothko, Gustav Klimt, Claude Monet, Henri Matisse and Bauhaus.” – Cinta Vidal
About Cinta Vidal: Cinta Vidal Agulló (b. 1982) has been drawing since she was a child. She studied at Escola Massana in Barcelona and at 16, she started working as an apprentice in Taller de Escenografia Castells Planas in St. Agnès de Malanyanes where she learned from Josep and Jordi Castells to love scenography and the backdrop trade. She currently lives and works in a studio located above her family’s toy store in Cardedeu, a small town near Barcelona, Spain.
Always pushing her craft forward, Vidal is also an avid muralist with murals in Hong Kong, Atlanta (Georgia), Barcelona (Spain), Vancouver (British Columbia), Kobe (Japan), Valencia (Spain), Calgary (Alberta), Honolulu (Hawaii), Culver City (California) Long Beach (California) and the Napa Valley region of Northern California.
Vidal was also recently commissioned by Facebook to paint their new headquarters in Northern California.
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 7 from 6-10pm
On view October 7 – October 28, 2023 at:
Thinkspace Projects 4207 W. Jefferson Blvd + 4217 W. Jefferson Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90016
Collector Preview will be shared on Monday, October 2.
LANGSTON ALLSTON ‘A Passing Love’ (Gallery I)
In the Main Gallery, Thinkspace Projects is pleased to present ‘A Passing Love,’ the gallery’s sophomore solo exhibition with artist Langston Allston. Allston conveys real stories and experiences with striking colors. He addresses his work with hope, with curiosity, and with the quiet sadness of knowing nothing is ever going to be the same.
Artist Statement: The show is sort of a return to some of the themes and ideas that I was working on in my 2020 show ‘No Peace.’ That body of work featured tight compositions with flames reflected on the relatively serene faces of the figures in my paintings. The summer of 2020 was full of fire and chaos for me, and I couldn’t help but dive into those feelings and visuals in the work I was creating during that time.
This summer has felt like a return to that pervasive feeling of chaos. With fires erupting in the swamps, and smoke clouding the skies across the country, it’s impossible not to wonder what the world will look like when the heat of summer passes and we are left to pick up the pieces yet again.
The title pays tribute to the Langston Hughes poem ‘Passing Love’
Because you are to me a song I just not song you over-long.
Because you are to me a prayer I cannot say you everywhere.
Because you are to me a rose – You will not stay when summer goes.
About Langston Allston: Langston Allston is a painter and muralist based in New Orleans, Louisiana. He splits his time between New Orleans and Chicago, Illinois and finds inspiration for his work in the everyday moments that make each city unique and beautiful. His work has been featured at the Contemporary Art Center, in New Orleans, the Museum of Contemporary African Diaspora Art, in Brooklyn, and is in the permanent collection of the City of New Orleans. Allston has also created public art throughout Chicago for community organizations like the Blocc, and the Mural Movement, and for major brands like the Chicago Bulls.
FAJAR AMALI ‘Among Our Existence’ (Gallery II)
In Gallery II, Fajar Amali’s debut solo show ‘Among Our Existence’ fills the space. The Indonesian artist explores a post-apocalyptic setting, featuring pop figures in the still life painting approach. Seeing how still life painting can bring an impressive depth in various times, Amali views it as a method of recording the momentum of time. Using iconic figures in popular comics as toys in still life style works, Amali explores the worth of things that are often underestimated.
About Fajar Amali:
Fajar Amali was born in Surabya in 1992, Fajar currently lives and works in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He droped out from Hassan II Universite, Casablanca, Morocco, North African. Then he moved and studied in Indonesian Art Institute (Institut Seni Indonesia) Yogyakarta, Indonesia. His work mainly is a painting and Mix Media.
Fajar has graduated from art institute, Institut Seni Indonesia Yogyakarta and continues his career as an artist in Yogyakarta.
He has two tendencies in his work, first he uses the “What if the Multiverse exists?” pattern to see exixting perspectives as new possibilities. And another tendency in his work to use iconic robot figure in each of his work, these figure are deformation of Dwarapala form as a form of his local culture. Dwarapala is a statue of a gate or door guard in the teachings of Shiva and Buddha, in the form of a human or a monster. Usually the dwarapala is placed outside a temple, shrine or other building to protect a sacred place or sacred place inside.
For now he is deeply intrigued by Sci-Fi reality after apocalypse and relates it to our empirical experiences in popular culture. The pop culture style that accompanies his work for now is taken from adapting and appropriate the cyberpunk genre of comics and cartoons.
TRNZ ‘The Weight of Things’ (Gallery III)
In Gallery III, Thinkspace Projects presents their sophomore show with artist TRNZ. A few years ago, TRNZ developed a fascination with using mundane things and figures, arranged to loom over his work, presenting an awkward mystery. The artist from the Philippines uses ‘The Weight of Things’ to navigate the same process with an exceedingly charged relationship between the figures and the objects surrounding them. Taking cues and motifs from his own memories and experiences, he assembles visual imagery in uncanny ways.
About TRNZ: Born in Manila, TRNZ (pronounced ‘Terence’) was introduced to art through dubbed Japanese anime which aired daily on his family’s local television. After receiving a BFA Major in Advertising, he spent his early years as an art director at TBWA/SMP, a global network advertising agency. In 2017, he shifted directions and started dabbling in visual art. His time in advertising taught him to embrace a multimedia approach in his work. Now, he creates a world with alluring narration while keeping characteristics that are unique to him and his style.
JOLENE LAI ‘Secret Garden’ (Gallery IV)
Gallery IV holds Jolene Lai’s ‘Secret Garden’, a collection of oil paintings and drawings that seek to ignite curiosity about the hidden stories we all carry within ourselves. What kind of magical landscape gets unfolded when you gaze out through the window of your soul?
“The unbearable tossing and turning from insomnia in the dead of the night led me to gradually sit up. I got out of bed and walked to the window in the room. The still night was immediately interrupted by flying insects spiraling towards the light from the street lamps outside of my window. From across the street, a flicker of light from another house drew my attention. I could see the silhouette of a woman, a willowy shadow framed with hues of bright tangerine illuminated from behind her. I saw her light up a cigarette and caught a fleeting glimpse of her face in the glow of the flickering flame. She rested her arms on the window sill and began to casually run her fingers through her seemingly tousled hair.
I watched her deliberately take long drags on her cigarette, as if she was sucking in the marrow of life. My mind was transfixed by this enigmatic figure that was becoming more familiar with each inhalation, hers and mine. The smoke drifted up into the night air and I traced it with my eyes and imagined that they were carrying along all of her secrets with it. Secrets that I longed to know.
I stood there for a long time, etching her counters into my mind, until finally she stubbed out her cigarette and turned away from the window. I gazed until her silhouette was a blur and the window turned into another gaping hole that was interwoven with the darkness of the street.
Everything was still again, lest for the insects that were still hurling themselves against the burning bulbs. I laid in bed, glancing at a window that now framed a lonely crescent in the sky. I tried to retrace her shape and for a brief moment seized a quick glimpse of her face in my mind again, before that fragment of her faded away. I knew that I would never forget her, the stranger in the night.”
About Jolene Lai: After studying painting at Lasalle-SIA College of the Arts in Singapore, Jolene studied graphic design at UCLA and spent a year working at movie-poster design house, The Refinery Creative, before returning to focus on fine art.
She works primarily with oil on canvas or mixed media on water color paper. With bold use of color, shape and intricate detail, she creates images with a seductive aesthetic and subject matter that weaves in emotions of whimsy, melancholy, irony and absurdity.
Lai seeks to engage her audience in works that are approachable, newly imagined spaces that the viewer is invited to explore on their own terms.
Lai is inspired by everything from mythologies, Asian culture, and children’s stories, to fashion editorials, cityscapes, and illustration. She is always seeking new “sets” and stages for her characters and their outlandish encounters. Aesthetically, her work combines the beautiful and the grotesque with the quiet and the excessive in fluid and unexpected ways, just as innocence in her imagery tends to be shadowed by the suggestion of something sinister or dark. Her previous work has included strangely faceted, marionette-like figures, faceless characters, doubles, automatons, and stylized doll-like girls. Her imagery remains universally accessible in its psychologically motivated nuance.
TENSER ‘Three Halves’ (The Doghouse Gallery)
In the Dog House, Thinkspace Projects presents the debut exhibition from TENSER. ‘Three Halves,’ curated by Carmen Acosta, is a true depiction of the life he has lived thus far, drawing on studio work, graffiti, and street portraits to highlight a theme he has developed over the last 13 years. TENSER’s work is expansive yet approachable enough to appeal to a wide audience. His classically trained background brings a level of refinement to all aspects of his work including his large-scale portraits on public structures to the elaborate yet temporary graffiti on billboards, rooftops, and alleyways.
About TENSER: Born and raised in Los Angeles, TENSER is an active figure in the Los Angeles street art culture and has been producing work locally and nationally for the last 13 years.
TENSER’s work is expansive yet approachable enough to appeal to a wide audience. His classically trained background brings a level of refinement to all aspects of his work including his large-scale portraits on public structures to the elaborate yet temporary graffiti on billboards, rooftops, and alleyways.
AL MARCANO ‘Spirit Ditch’ (Viewing Room)
Our viewing room holds a special installation from Al Marcano, an American contemporary artist currently working in the Joshua Tree area of Southern California. Marcano is inspired by his love of collectibles, his devotion to all things kitsch, and his love of skateboarding.
Marcano’s vibrant work is best described as modern day folk art. This new body of work features a vast array of small and medium scale pieces brought together to form his ‘Spirit Ditch’ installation.
Thinkspace Projects is proud to present Mark Jeffrey Santos‘ (aka Mr. S) U.S. debut solo exhibition ‘Uncharted Paths’ in our main gallery. His new body of work is based on his personal experiences traveling, creating a body of work that evokes the certain feeling of excitement when you find yourself in a new place. Complete with a dreamlike environment and his wide-eyed characters, Santos is not only technically skilled, but also gifted with the vision to construct imaginary, bordering on surreal, scenes. His characters can often be found on an adventure, accompanied by larger-than-life creatures. Such talent in world-building and character design only comes natural for Santos, who did works in video and film before becoming a visual artist.
Our interview with Mr. S shares his creative influences, which skill he would easily download in his brain if he could, and what he hopes viewers take away/experience while viewing his work.
What does a day in the studio look like for you? How do you structure your days? Do you have any rituals that help you tap into a creative flow?
There’s isn’t any specific routine to my workflow. I like to be spontaneous when it comes to my schedule. I noticed that I come up with great ideas when I’m doing mundane tasks. Still, I make sure that I meet the deadlines.
What is your most favorite and least favorite part of the creative process? Who are some of your creative influences? Why do they inspire you?
Besides the painting itself, my favorite part is solving how to achieve a certain mood in my paintings. I have a lot of influences in terms of painting, but I think Andrew Hem really inspired me to learn how to paint landscapes and understand more about color temperature.
If you could have any skill or topic downloaded into your brain, what would you want to be able to do / be an expert at? What do you hope viewers take away or experience while viewing your work?
Learn a new language. I want to be able communicate better. When I paint, I usually like to look at my subjects to have a feeling of calmness in them. And I hope that’s what the viewers would feel when they look at my paintings.
How do you like to enjoy your time outside of the studio? Do you celebrate the completion of a body of work?
I actually do a lot of things. I try to stay away from painting but still try to be creative in other ways. it’s important to live life and be present in the moment because I’d like to think that my art is a representation of my life experiences.
If you could collaborate with any artists in any sort of medium (i.e. movies, music, painting) who would you collaborate with, and what would you be making?
I would definitely collaborate with an animator. Seeing my characters to life would be awesome. Think of the movie ‘Kubo.’
Who would be on the guest list if you could throw a dinner party for five people, dead or alive? What would be on the menu? What would be the icebreaker question?
No comment. 😅
What was in your musical rotation during the development of this body of work?
My playlist is super random. But usually I listen to korean and japanese musicians like Ovall, Kan Sano, Tsubaki, Sweet william, Nujabes, and yes I listen to Kpop as well.
Thinkspace is excited to present Dan Lydersen‘s ‘Plasticene Dream.’ Taking form as a series of absurdist portraits, sentient still lifes and fanciful visions of inanimate objects come to life, the paintings are filled with strange amalgamations of plastic, clay, and various synthetic and organic materials. They present an odd array of characters whose nature and purpose are ambiguous, open-ended, and enigmatic. Everything is anthropomorphized.
Our interview with Lydersen explores his creative influences, how he spends his time outside of the studio, and his ultimate dream collaborations.
What themes were you exploring in this body of work? Did you have a piece that was particularly challenging?
These are the most conceptually abstract, least literal paintings I’ve ever done so the themes aren’t overt. They’re bubbling a little more under the surface. A lot of the imagery is inspired by my time raising two small children and all of the creative play involved with their toys, clay sculptures, and drawings. So childhood and childlike imagination is a theme. I was also thinking a lot about the idea of a future Plasticene epoch, where synthetic materials become so ubiquitous in the environment that they’re part of the geologic and fossil record. So I started creating the work as a fantastical vision of a future filled with weird organisms made up of various plastics. The challenge with all of the paintings was deciding when they were finished. All of them were made through a process of improvisational drawing and lots of editing – adding imagery, taking imagery out, moving things around, etc. When you work like that you could spend an eternity on a single painting so you have to constantly measure whether continued editing will be beneficial or if the painting has reached the best version of itself.
What does a day in the studio look like for you? How do you structure your days?
In the past couple of years all my studio time is at night, staying up late and sacrificing sleep to make art. The lack of sleep is rough but the middle of the night is actually a great time to make art. Zero distractions.
Do you have any rituals that help you tap into a creative flow?
Music is an endless source of inspiration for me and I’m always listening to music while I paint. Other than that I just treat art-making like work. I sit down and do it whether I’m feeling creative or not. I find the best way to get your creativity going is to just start making something. A small idea or visual experiment can become a creative feedback loop and lead you to exciting new places.
What is your most favorite and least favorite part of the creative process?
My favorite part is the feeling of infinite possibility when starting a new piece. But that infinite possibility can also be frustrating. There are so many things I want to make that I’ll never have time to. And not just paintings but music, sculpture, animation, you name it.
Who are some of your creative influences? Why do they inspire you?
I love the sheer imagination and weirdness of some of the early Netherlandish painters like Bosch and Bruegel. I love the musical story-telling of artists like Tom Waits and Gareth Liddiard, who paint wild and vivid pictures with words and sound. I’ve also been heavily influenced by live theater which I grew up around and have also worked in recently. Theatricality is always an element in my work.
If you could have any skill or topic downloaded into your brain, what would you want to be able to do / be an expert at?
I’d love to be a virtuoso multi-instrumentalist. I dabble in a few instruments but to be a true expert at instruments like piano, violin, accordion, or even bagpipes would be a dream.
What do you hope viewers take away or experience while viewing your work?
I like art that transports me to another plane of reality, even if only for a moment. Art that instills in me a sense of wonder and that doesn’t hold my hand too much so that I can take my own unique experience away from it. That’s what I’m trying to provide to viewers of my work.
How do you like to enjoy your time outside of the studio? Do you celebrate the completion of a body of work?
I like exploring the countryside on my bicycle, traveling overseas, going to music shows and live theater. My favorite thing in recent years is this silly Halloween band that I play in every October. We make our own masks and costumes and stage props and write funny songs that we perform as ghoulish characters from the netherworld. It’s very fun.
If you could collaborate with any artists in any sort of medium (i.e. movies, music, painting) who would you collaborate with, and what would you be making?
When it’s done right I think that theater is the highest form of art. It has the potential to encompass every art-form into one cohesive piece. I’ve been lucky enough to do scenic painting and animation for some great productions and I’d love to do more of that. My ultimate dream is some kind of pseudo-theater experience that puts as much emphasis on visual art and sound/music as it does acting and narrative. Imagine equal parts black box theater, art-installation, Disney dark ride, and punk rock circus. That’s what I wanna do, whatever that is.
Who would be on the guest list if you could throw a dinner party for five people, dead or alive? What would be on the menu? What would be the icebreaker question?
Billy the Kid, Socrates, Sigmund Freud, Ghengis Khan, and Joan of Arc. Just sharing a huge ice cream sundae. I guess I’d just ask them what number I was thinking of.
What was in your musical rotation during the development of this body of work?
Tropical Fuck Storm, The Lonesome Organist, The Damned, TTRRUUCES, The Sloppy Boys, Palm Springs, Calexico, Oingo Boingo, Low, Bob Dylan, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Springtime… and many many more.
Thinkspace is excited to present Clémentine Bal for her debut U.S solo ‘Magic Friends,’ which welcomes viewers into her world of characters who proudly embrace their uniqueness and vibrant colors, filling Gallery II of Thinkspace Projects for her debut U.S. solo exhibition.
This body of work explores slightly strange, quirky, or even truly bizarre characters and a joyful luminous ensemble fueled by gradients and contrasts. Each subject was designed to celebrate their own individuality, even as some of them still struggle to accept themselves as they are. They form a magical entity that can transform at will. With their simple, clean lines, it’s as if they just came out of a drawing, evoking a childlike wonder and even a disconcerting naivety.
“I truly enjoyed bringing these characters to life, aiming for them to be light-hearted, kind, and funny, like friends.”
Our interview with Bal reveals her creative inspirations, what she would choose if she can download any special skill, about her dream collaboration and more!
What themes were you exploring in this body of work? Did you have a piece that was particularly challenging?
I wanted to work on original characters, giving them sometimes strange shapes. I also wanted to make wall sculptures, so that they take a little height. I wanted to give them confidence, to impose their strangeness and take us into their magical world. I wanted to work a lot more with colors for this body of work. I wanted to create a very colorful set, in line with the more playful temperament of these new characters. I had a great need for joy and gaiety. The work on certain sculptures was particularly long and difficult. The large wall pieces with complex shapes in particular required months of work. Days and days of sanding, finishing and handling difficulties. It’s all the more rewarding when the job is done!
What does a day in the studio look like for you? How do you structure your days? Do you have any rituals that help you tap into a creative flow?
I have very conventional working days because they are based on my children’s schedules. I am in my studio from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. I sometimes go back a bit in the evening but I generally take this quiet time to do little drawings. In general, I plan the day before my goals for the day. In the morning I start with what I prefer to do, listening to audio books. In the afternoon, I advance on what is necessary, with music. It is rather well structured and it helps me to be well concentrated.
What is your most favorite and least favorite part of the creative process? Who are some of your creative influences? Why do they inspire you?
I have lots of favorite moments! First of all, I love the beginning, throwing myself into building something. But I also like to realize the details, and to see these forms which become characters. What is most complicated is the end. The final touches, often endless, and the photos, which closes the process. There comes a time when you have to accept that it’s not perfect, and move on to try to do better! The discovery of Mark Ryden’s work was a big crush for me, I loved the distorted naivety of his characters, the link with the world of childhood. I’m a fan of Hayao Miyazaki’s films, these masterpieces with all these extraordinary characters. In literature, Murakami is truly one of my favorite authors, with his fantastic creativity. And then there are these contemporary artists whose work I admire like Otani workshop and Klara Kristalova with their characters of great sensitivity. Nicolas Party, whose work with colors I particularly admire. Ob with all its delicacy. Roby Dwi Antono and his incredible artistic path. David Shrigley and his humor. And of course so many others…
If you could have any skill or topic downloaded into your brain, what would you want to be able to do / be an expert at?
What do you hope viewers take away or experience while viewing your work? So what I would like (maybe it’s more of a magic power than a skill) would be to be able to talk to the animals. I could tell them how much I love them, and how sorry I am for all the harm done to them. But concerning my work, I believe that it would be better to remove things from my brain. With less expectations, control, fear, I could gain spontaneity. I work on that! If my sculptures can give people a sweet, inner smile, then my job is done!
How do you like to enjoy your time outside of the studio? Do you celebrate the completion of a body of work?
When I’m not in my studio, I take care of my children, my animals, my family. And when nobody needs me, I go back to work. It is both physical and cerebral activity. I like feeling tired after a hard day’s work. I don’t celebrate anything at all! Of course, I can be satisfied with the work done, but I immediately think of what’s next. There is continuity and each completed work calls for the next.
If you could collaborate with any artists in any sort of medium (i.e. movies, music, painting) who would you collaborate with, and what would you be making?
I would like to collaborate with a designer, and create everyday objects that would take on eccentric shapes as if they were transformed. It would amuse me a lot! What might also interest me would be to see my characters in stop motion, I find certain film aesthetics magnificent.
Who would be on the guest list if you could throw a dinner party for five people, dead or alive? What would be on the menu? What would be the icebreaker question?
There are obviously plenty of people whose work I admire, but for a dinner, I prefer to invite those with whom we are going to have a good evening. I invite Laure Calamy, brilliant French actress, super funny. The kind of personality opposite of me, I adore. I invite Marion Peck and Mark Ryden, because they are so inspiring! I invite Totoro (I allow myself! ), Because if I had to worship a god, I would choose him. And I would love to give him a hug. And I invite Ricky Gervais, he really does me good. Regarding the menu, well, I hope my guests won’t have too many expectations about it because gastronomy is clearly not one of my passions. It will be vegetarian, and above all we will drink a good little wine because I will be very intimidated by everyone! And I’m really not very good at sociability, so icebreaker questions usually come the other way around!
What was in your musical rotation during the development of this body of work?
I usually listen to a bit of everything, classical, rock, electro, it’s very varied. But the last few months, it’s been very hip-hop. Working on large pieces can be very physical, and music is a great help in maintaining pace and motivation. Thank you Eminem and Dr Dre, you have been a great help to me!
