TAG Gallery will unveil a new exhibition today featuring the works of Carole Garland, Brigitte Schobert, and Ellen Starr that will be on display through May 18.
An opening reception will be held next Saturday, April 27 from 5-8 pm at the gallery.
Garland provides an alternative view of Los Angeles in her latest exhibition “Edgelands.” Following her own travels to Europe, Cuba, and Hawaii, Garland was inspired to take a closer look at her own adopted city, focusing on the collision of history, culture and ethnic diversity within Los Angeles’ urban landscape.
“I wanted to visit in paint, after the American Scene Painters, the chaotic urban underbelly that is Los Angeles,” Garland said. “While painting in a traditional style, I wanted to tackle more than the pastoral landscapes.”
Garland’s oil paintings display a city that rests amidst a complex environment of disparate parts. Metro stations, crowded streets and towering palm trees starkly contrast the bold mountains and yellowed haze that linger in the distance. Under this filtered sunlight, the city emerges as a living entity.
For Schobert, her show “Kaleidoscope” explores the use of colors, shape, and texture to create abstract images.
“I want to challenge the viewers and stimulate their own fantasy with my non-representational images, because the human mind is always searching for objects and meanings in a picture,” Schobert said. “My goal is to reach the beholder on an emotional rather than rational level.”
Employing different media, Schobert creates works on paper using an etching press to transfer paint to produce what she describes as “painted prints” alongside acrylic paintings on canvas.
Her abstract works are not the result of a preconceived design, but develop through a process of adding multiple layers of paint and shapes. In this way, each image conveys an individual expression and mood.
Nature is at the forefront of artist Starr’s current exhibition called “Parks and Gardens.”
For Starr, turning to nature functions as a therapeutic momentary escape from urban life, which is further translated in her paintings.
Starr’s artworks unravel the complexity in nature to create an equilibrium of well-composed elements.
Organic compositions express detailed attention to the silhouettes of violet blue shadows, the crisscross of branches, and their textured foliage.
“I like to find logic in disorder, to see beauty in the intricate, to make confusion understandable,” Starr said.
Familiar West Coast landscapes comprise much of her work, from Huntington Gardens and Palisades Park to the Eastern Sierras and the Hawaiian Islands, which all ultimately reflect a shared sense of serenity.
TAG Gallery is located at 2525 Michigan Ave. D3 (Bergamot Station), Santa Monica.
It is open 11 am to 5 pm Tuesday through Saturday, and 12 pm to 4 pm Sunday.
For more information, call 310.829.9556 or visit www.taggallery.net.
