Artists’ Reception, Saturday, November 7, 6 - 8pm

Couturier Gallery presents Los Angeles Currents, a group show of paintings, photography and sculpture by seven Los Angeles based artists: Frick Byers, Alex Couwenberg, George Haas, Danny Heller, Marcie Kaufman, Yoichi Kawamura and Clancy Pearson. The works included in this exhibit represent “current trends” in Los Angeles contemporary art. The opening reception for the artists will be Saturday, November 7th, from 6 – 9 pm. The exhibition will continue through December 30th.

The seven artists in Los Angeles Currents represent a small cross-section of present-day movements in Los Angeles’ booming contemporary art scene. The show, curated by Francesca Galesi, brings together artists who explore the tenuous balance between nature and human aspiration. Each artist, bound by the vibrating currents of time and space, share a soulful private vision of a changing world. Whether faced by Frick Byer’s desolate Salton Sea landscapes, or Alex Couwenberg’s vibrant abstractions, each remind us of hopes and dreams long gone.

George Haas’ photography documents contemporary Los Angeles by the past ideals of a planned cityscape connecting streets and communities. Similarly, Danny Heller’s paintings capture the quiet shifting light across an Eichler, whose architecture marked a new era in the suburban lifestyle, a vision that came to symbolize the promise of a better tomorrow to the burgeoning middle class in post-war America.

Inspired by Bernd & Hilla Becher series of industrial photographs from the 1960’s, Marcie Kaufman’s bold vivid, series of nine, echoes the couple’s initial fascination of design and shape found in the seemingly pragmatic.

On viewing the sculpture by Clancy Pearson we experience a disquieting sensation, due to the almost chaotic accumulation of laser-cut layers, which once peeled away reveal a hidden universe ruled by a cast of characters. With the most high-tech of tools and a clear sense of humor, Pearson creates an allegorical vision of an imaginary world.

Last but not least, Yoichi Kawamura’s photography redirects the viewer to the often missed expansive space above us. As two currents of air mix, with perfect diffusion, Kawamura’s work in kind fills us with the hope of future challenges and opportunities to come. A breathing space.

Frick Byers bought his first camera at age 18 and was immediately drawn to subjects reflecting the remnants of population. Using square-format, color photography, he focuses on themes involving the abandoned remnants of population. The works shown here juxtapose harsh landscapes and the traces of human presence as seen in the ruins at the Salton Sea. Byers is a graduate of Parsons School of Design (1996).

Drawn to the mid century movement of non-objective abstract painting, Alex Couwenberg works on canvas and birch panels. The paintings layer recurring shapes, reminiscent of television sets or soap dishes, interconnected by thin, wire-like lines that provide movement and depth. These pieces also have been said to suggest wedges, pinball flippers or car taillights. Couwenberg has been awarded the prestigious Joan Mitchell Foundation Award for painting and has an extensive record of exhibitions.

The works of George Haas included in this exhibition are drawn from his work on the many different trees found in Los Angeles published in the book, George Haas FORCING NATURE Trees in Los Angeles, Bunker Hill Publishing, 2006. In this series of work, we see Haas’ “City of Trees,” as he calls Los Angeles, not so much defined by its human content, as by its human activity within its matrix of its 150 or so tree varieties. George Haas attended Columbia College and The Art Institute of Chicago where he studied film, photography and sculpture. His photography has been exhibited extensively. In addition to his photography work he is an accomplished writer, both for print and stage, as well as filmmaker.

Painter Danny Heller’s work often focuses on the architecture, signage, and car culture found in Southern California. His recent series of Eichler houses emphasize the strength of architecture in the region that influenced architecture throughout the United States. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Heller attended the University of California at Santa Barbara. While studying under California landscape painter Hank Pitcher, Danny earned a B.A. in art with an emphasis in painting from the College of Creative Studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Marcie Kaufman’s work deals with digital body images, anatomy, topographical maps, and the technology used to produce these images. Drawing from these starting points, she produces paintings that map a network of intertwined relationships between vision and the graphic image. Kaufman is an artist, educator, and consultant. She earned an MFA in Painting and Photography from Claremont Graduate University and a BA in Art History at the University of Southern California.

Introduced to photography at a young age, Yoichi Kawamura has had a lifetime of experience shooting pictures and an equally long time developing his eye. His expansive skyscapes are barely grounded, sometimes a horizon line is hinted at only by the tops of buildings or the standing heads and torsos of beachgoers. He deals with space, not as emptiness, but as something powerful and meaningful. The images show the viewer a space that is often overlooked and taken for granted.

Clancy Pearson’s fanciful sculptures and constructions demonstrate intriguing use of materials such as plastics and papers cut with laser tools to construct wild and fanciful 3-dimensional images. Pearson is a co-founder of the design group MachineHistories which works on developing ways to manufacture, design and construct objects by incorporating contemporary technologies. Pearson’s projects utilize graphics, 3D modeling, architecture, sound production, furniture design, interior design, film and video. Pearson is a graduate of CalArts and holds a master’s degree from The Southern California Institute of Architecture. He has worked as a designer/design chief for the renowned sculptor Jorge Pardo and was a partner in the 1990’s design firm Low Country Guidance.

For further information on any of the exhibiting artists or selected works, please contact the gallery.