Posted inArts & Culture

Unveiling the depths

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 […]

Posted inArts & Culture

Forging new architectures

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 […]

Posted inArt Feature

Jessica Labatte finds beauty in the detritus of everyday life

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 […]

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Loving, repeating, collaborating, and intimacy

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 […]

Posted inArts & Culture

The body in focus

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 […]