"EyeCandy," a Visual Feast featuring 11 Artists Opens March 30th at WWA Gallery

WWA Gallery Presents: EyeCandy

Opening Reception: Saturday, March 30th | 7-10PM
On View: March 30th – April 27, 2013
Regular Gallery Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 11AM-5PM

Featured Artists:
Robert Bowen | Charlie Immer | Aaron Jasinski | Jason John | Ken Keirns | Gabe Larson | Edith Lebeau | Audrey Pongracz | Arabella Proffer | Brandi Read | Gustavo Rimada |

Tempt your visual taste buds with “eyeCandy” which opens Saturday, March 30th at WWA Gallery and highlights fresh artists who employ traditional strategies and contemporary observations to develop unique character-driven work. Whether classically trained or self-taught, each of these 11 notable painters exploit the medium for a variety of results that engage and resonate with viewers. As with a candy store, everyone is sure to find their favorites within this delicious selection of talent.

About the Artists

Robert Bowen is a San Francisco-based artist whose expressive surrealistic style has won him praise among critics and admiration among artists. Rich with allegory and humor, Bowen’s work is inspired by pop culture icons, mechanics, entomology, and natural history. He fuses these elements without restraint to conjure up hybrid creatures that rampage across the canvas.

Charlie Immer’s distinct pastel color palette, stylized technique, and surreal themes intrigue an ever expanding audience. Inspired by horror films, anatomy, cartoons, nature, candy, and video games, his work is both humorous and unsettling. Based in western Maryland, Immer holds a BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design and has exhibited in galleries around the world. On display we see character portraits of the sweetly macabre beings that inhabit Immer’s world.

Aaron Jasinski's work is composed of vivid hues and alluring characters that evoke feelings of familiarity and empathy. His exquisitely detailed paintings often feature pop-culture and nostalgic references peppered with social commentary and whimsy. In “Peppermint” and “Chocolate”, a delicious array of Jasinksi’s creatures and characters intertwine in a decadent narrative with surprising discoveries.

Jason John works in the style of Psychological Realism to explore the complexities of identity in relation to memory and ones social world. John’s extraordinarily detailed figures caught in dramatic environment of uneasiness and spatial fluxes are attempts to accurately reflect deeper psychological realities. Oftentimes, figures are partially concealed, thus taking away any personal relationships the viewer might expect.

Ken Keirns is recognized for oil paintings depicting sensual females or anthropomorphic creatures interlaced with personal experiences, dreams, and double entendre. Though primarily self-taught, Keirns has a background in graphic design and also creates work with sculpture and mixed media.

Gabe Larson discovered his love of art on freeway walls and dirty alley ways of Seattle, WA and began creating art as a graffiti writer. Though he has since traded in the spray can for traditional oils, much of this early influence can still be seen through his use of strong contrasts and non-traditional subjects. An accomplished painter, Larson’s known for contemporary portraits of friends and fellow graffiti artists rendered in authentic detail. In this new series, Larson examines the fine line between sensuality and innocence.

Edith Lebeau paints strong female figures and pairs them with sentimental elements of flora and fauna. Inspired by popular culture, fairytales and various mythologies, Lebau’s females are often portrayed as superheroes, villains, goddesses or nymphs. She renders faces with expressive detail and it’s through haunting gazes that stories emerge.

Audrey Pongracz is a self-taught painter based in Detroit, Michigan. Her depictions of stylized woman in surreal settings hint at melancholy and tragedy. Pongracz is constantly working to refine her craft which is apparent in the confident strokes and textures of her current work. Themed around the sea and its romantic symbolism of freedom, these new pieces explore the balance of uncertainty and stability.

Arabella Proffer utilizes oil to paint narratives that revolve around her fascination with punk rock, Elizabethan era fashion, Goth, religious icons, and the decline of European aristocracy. Her work examines identity through the ideas and representations of counter-culture and tradition. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, she also works as an arts educator and co-founded indie record label Elephant Stone Records. On display are a collection of fictional portraits from her 2011 book The Art of Arabella Proffer: The National Portrait Gallery of Kessa.

Brandi Read takes inspiration from Greek mythology as well as her models to explore the parallels between folklore and contemporary social issues. The influence of Hellenistic Greek sculpture and romanticism in the mythos are distinct in Reed’s divine oil portraits and scenes on linen.

Gustavo Rimada’s work is a direct reflection of his proud Mexican heritage and influences by pin-up, tattoo and Lowrider art and artists. On display is Rimada’s signature multicolored paintings of sultry heroines decorated with rich Day of the Dead and tattoo iconography.

Open to the public, the gallery reception is from 7 -10PM on Saturday, March 30th. The exhibit will run until April 27th, 2013.

Located in the Culver City Art District, WWA Gallery focuses on showing figurative and illustrative fine art by emerging and established artists such as Dan Quintana, Michael Mararian, Julian Callos, Casey Weldon, Vincent Cacciotti, and Dave MacDowell. Guest curators often collaborate with WWA to create innovative and exciting events such as next month’s highly anticipated “Gag Me with a Toon,” curated by Steven Daily and Color Ink Book’s annual group exhibit set to open in summer 2013.

9517 Culver Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232
WWAgallery.com
310.836.4992

This release was published on openPR.