CARISSA MARSH
A&E Editor
PAUL CLARK/Photo Editor
“On Location in Malibu 2006: Paintings by the California Art Club” offers both students new to Malibu as well as those who have lived here all their lives a chance to discover a fresh look at the small beach-front city Pepperdine calls home.
Michael Zakian, Museum Director and curator of the show, said the great thing about the exhibition is that “it is all about Malibu, which everyone can relate to.”
The exhibit features paintings by the California Art Club, established in 1909. The organization follows its founding traditions by painting in the spirit of the California Impressionist style that dominated the state in the early 1900s.
“What I find most interesting about the show is that the style is being revitalized,” Zakian said.
He said the artists tried to capture atmosphere and affects of light on the landscape as the early impressionists did, but that “every artist has their own distinct style.”
This year’s “On Location” is the third incarnation of the exhibit, first held in 1999 and then in 2003, but each show has been substantially different as the makeup of the art club changes each year.
Painting in the plein air style, the artists took their easels outside to record the landscape around them, hence the name “On Location.”
Zakian invited the California Art Club to ask its members who hail from across the state to come paint Malibu for the exhibition. More than 250 paintings were submitted but just 60 were selected for the show, making them “the cream of the crop,” Zakian said.
The exhibit offers different perspectives on Malibu, from coast to the canyons and everything in between. Some artists focused on beach or ocean scenes while other recorded the daily life and activities of Malibuites.
Alexey Steele painted the 6 foot by 4 foot “Flaming Cliff,” which depicts the jagged rocks beneath Point Dume. Jeremy Lipking, regarded as one of the country’s top young realist painters, created “Malibu Sunset” that features a tranquil scene of the Pacific Ocean that seems to glow.
In past “On Location” exhibits, the mountains and ocean were the predominant subjects. But Zakian encouraged the artists to explore Malibu and show the inhabited community. Artist John Cosby did just that in “Hot and Fast,” which gives an evening view of traffic passing the iconic La Salsa restaurant along PCH. And Scott Prior painted the Malibu pier from a new and surprising vantage point in “The Bu.”
Zakian encouraged students to visit the museum.
“Art exhibits in general are entertaining but they’re also educational,” he noted. “You are learning to see something through someone else’s eyes. It allows us to see things and understand thing that we often overlook in everyday life.”
08-28-2006
