LOS ANGELES, CA.- Andrew Shire Gallery presents East inside West, a group exhibition by four Korean and three American artists whose paintings on canvas, wood panels, and paper enhance the cultural connections between eastern and western nations.
The exhibition will consist of acrylic and oil paintings created on canvas, wood panels, and paper. The works will range from the photo-realistic to the cartoon-like, but are, as a general rule, thoughtfully executed with deliberate stylistic intent. The subject of each artist’s effort is normally limited to one idea or insight that has potential for eliciting viewer’s questions, and each artist captures the spirit of his or her subject through clearly spoken visual language.
Kim Eun Ok paints gift packages like the ones a new bride might receive upon the announcement of her wedding. The ornately patterned fabrics used to wrap these gifts typically have ribbons, tassels, or satiny textile sheets that look like inscribed prayer cloths. Backgrounds of the paintings are executed with photographic precision in oil on canvas using an elegant matter-of-fact illustration technique.
Guk Dae Ho investigates everyday items like common multicolored jellybeans or street scenes in Paris. The slightly out-of-focus paintings made by this Korean artist provoke memories of similar work made by American painters who, in the 1960s and 1970s, based their realistic representations on photographs.
Song Hyeong Noh makes unusual paintings of large wild animals like those seen in Africa and small barnyard ones that are sometimes shown on pedestals. A backdrop of dreamy regional sky or landscape with indigenous flora and fauna appropriate to each creature’s region regularly accompanies the toy-like renderings of the animals. The paintings look like advertisements announcing each beast’s homeland wherein the main character is dreaming about something or someone lost.
Lee Heum uses oil on canvas to paint images of candy. The paintings usually have monochromatic backgrounds with multi-toned foreground elements that are close-ups of the type of candy canes or lollipops eaten as snack food during a carnival celebration. Each painting engages the viewer in a party-like atmosphere that inspires an upbeat personal outlook.
Jill Daniels speaks through solitary pieces of traditional furniture to communicate ideas about her past life and future aspirations. Her acrylic (on wood panel) paintings of chairs, ottomans, and lounging sofas hint at the kind of symbolism found in a world where the unexplained is governed by supernatural rules.
Eric Ernest Johnson makes work that is centered in Los Angeles but symbolizes the greater oppression of people around the world. Because he was born and raised in L.A., Johnson can recall the past while projecting his own fears about the city’s (and the world’s) survival into the future.
Jay Stuckey creates childlike drawings and paintings on paper of airplane battles, forts under attack, conquests over giant monsters and even his own dreams. The work almost always shows a scene where some sort of action or sequence of actions is taking place. With spellbinding sophistication and cartoon-like clarity, Stuckey dismantles violence and the heartlessness of war in favor of world harmony.
