Western Exhibitions Archives

On the white gallery wall hang two vertical rectangular paintings, one with a mustard background and the other a peach background. Both feature silhouettes of solitary black figures with swirls of vivid colors within their forms.

Unveiling the depths

by Vasia Rigou July 6, 2023July 26, 2023

Before even entering the gallery, “Somewhere between the eyes and the heart” pulls you in. Leasho Johnson’s densely textured paintings vary in scale. The dark color palette and shiny pitch-black silhouettes are interrupted by bright splashes of color: vivid pink, yellow, blue, and tangerine. The Jamaican-born, Chicago-based artist’s subjects are abstract enough for their facial […]

This collage has a stark white background on which images of a city skyline are juxtaposed near pictures of various industrial and urban buildings.

Arts & Culture

Forging new architectures

by Maxwell Rabb May 23, 2023May 11, 2023

Collaging invites us to manipulate our worlds. This surrealistic technique synthesizes the remnants of our reality into an alluring, illusory vision. But to create these new worlds, we must deconstruct the old ones. This is the collage’s paradox. Artist and architect Marshall Brown emphasizes this evocative contradiction in his Western Exhibitions show, “Remasterisér.” The show […]

In the second gallery, there are colorful drawings on the wall, tanging from small to large. On a white plinth sit two colorful vases.

Arts & Culture

All in at Western Exhibition’s “Drawing Biennial”

by Parker Yamasaki February 14, 2023February 21, 2023

Drawing is a foundational art form, which may make it one of the most difficult to exhibit. The line between a schematic and a doodle and a cohesive final product can be, well, sketchy. Some of the pieces in Western Exhibition’s second “Drawing Biennial” are keenly aware of this flexibility and use it to their […]

Exhibition view shows multicolored floral wallpaper on gallery wall, where large-format floral still lives are hung.

Art Feature

Jessica Labatte finds beauty in the detritus of everyday life

by Kerry Cardoza October 27, 2022November 28, 2022

Being a parent requires attentiveness, and when you can muster it, patience. In many ways, parenting small children is not unlike being an artist; both necessitate curiosity, mindfulness, and a certain amount of nimbleness. The works in Jessica Labatte’s solo exhibition at Western Exhibitions, “Knee-deep in the cosmic overwhelm,” form a web of connections between […]

Arts & Culture

Loving, repeating, collaborating, and intimacy

by Coco Picard May 16, 2022May 16, 2022

In a new exhibition, longtime collaborators Dutes Miller and Stan Shellabarger created an immersive multimedia installation that explores intimacy, distance, and the fluctuations between. The above comic captures their reflections on making together and materials in play. Text from the comic is transcribed here to ease readability. Our collaboration developed organically. We were both ceramic […]

A still from Lilli Carré's video "Glazing" (a drawing of a nude woman with brown hair)

Arts & Culture

The body in focus

by S. Nicole Lane April 18, 2022April 18, 2022

While living alone in the woods of northern California at the start of 2020, Lilli Carré started learning chess. Like many folks deep into the pandemic, she took up a new hobby. While trying to draw inspiration for her work, she incorporated her new vehicle for communication when all touch and connection were lost. Carré’s […]