The City of Santa Monica, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Our Town creative placemaking program and the Craig Krull Gallery, announces the opening of Because It Has a Peel, a temporary sculpture installation at Bergamot Station Arts Center by New York-based artist Joy Taylor. The project is on view to the public through September 2016 and is located in the Arts Center adjacent to the east end of the Expo Line Station. This is the fifth in a series of six temporary art installations funded by the City of Santa Monica and the NEA. A reception will be held on Saturday, August 20th, from 6pm to 8pm at the Craig Krull Gallery.
Ms. Taylor states, “Because It Has a Peel is a sculpture built from traditional wooden packing crates, the interiors painted to depict an enormous banana. Shipping is the subtext of bananas— they will never be included in the ‘eat local’ movement, at least in this country. Shipping is also a fact of life for artists, gallerists and collectors. To move, art must be carefully crated. Having often shipped paintings myself, it was a short step to imagining the crate itself as part of a work of art. And what better image to feature than a banana? The work continues a theme in my sculptural work, in which I have often used non-traditional materials to make constructions that convert the everyday into art. The effect is surprising and often humorous, and it forces viewers to take a second look at the uses and aesthetics of mundane objects.”
The NEA grant, which the City received in 2013, supports temporary public art interventions in and around the Bergamot Station Arts Center during the construction and after the opening of the new, multimodal transit hub. Previous activities for the program include Amir H. Fallah’s
Perfect Strangers Art and Performance Festival and Kate Johnson’s Everywhere in Between, an all-encompassing installation of video and light projections with live dance and music. Both
projects were curated by 18th Street Arts Center. Two additional components of the Our Town program are Ed Moses, an ongoing installation by artist John Cerney, and P2S, a projection piece by local artist Alia Malley on view nightly until August 24th.
Joy Taylor is a painter and sculptor who lives in upstate New York. Trained as a collage artist, her approach to public art is inventive and eclectic. She enjoys using unusual materials to encourage viewers to consider their world in new ways. She has received commissions for public art from the MTA Arts for Transit program in New York City, for which she fabricated both
large-scale, steel sculptures and mosaic murals. She is a recipient of the New York State Painting Fellowship and the Pollock Krasner award. Ms. Taylor exhibits with Craig Krull Gallery in Santa Monica, and at Galerie Gris in Hudson, NY among others.
In 1994, Craig Krull became one of the founding galleries at the new Bergamot Station Arts Center. Since then, the gallery has expanded its scope and now represents Southern California painters and sculptors including Peter Alexander, Dennis Hopper, Llyn Foulkes, Astrid Preston, Dan McCleary, and Don Bachardy. Additional works by artist Joy Taylor may be viewed at the gallery upon request.
Image Caption: Because It Has A Peel, Joy Taylor, 2016
ABOUT THE CULTURAL AFFAIRS DIVISION
The Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Division brings the City’s art scene to life for residents and visitors each year by supporting engaging and accessible cultural events for all ages throughout the year. Cultural Affairs nurtures local arts organizations, promotes artist involvement in the community, manages the landmark Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and presents and produces innovative programs citywide at the Annenberg Community Beach House, the historic Miles Playhouse, 1450 Ocean and in the city’s parks, enriching Santa Monica’s reputation as an international cultural destination. For more info visit smgov.net/arts.
