NICOLE KLIEST
Staff Writer
Santa Monica’s See Line Gallery is hosting an exhibition that explores the “us versus them” mentality, an increasingly gray area in our society. The exhibit titled “Us Versus Them” is showing until Mar. 15.
Janet Levy, Director of the See Line Gallery, sees the gallery as a platform for artists.
“Art is something you should learn from and it should convey a message,” Levy said. “I’m showing three political exhibitions in a row because political-based work really speaks to me.”
Levy has a photo and marketing degree from Cal State Long Beach and lived in Switzerland for 10 years while organizing and curating shows. She moved back to Los Angeles after that, and opened the See Line Gallery in April of 2006.
The gallery presents the creative works of Asad Faulwell, Ronia Feldman and Ivan Limas. Faulwell’s featured works are vibrant and colorful. His use of modern forms of painting and collage with Islamic design assist in his depiction of various notions of identity.
One of his featured paintings, “Ajax,” is arranged in the form of a religious icon, with beams of color shooting out from the center. President Eisenhower is arranged in the form of a cross and Mossadegh, a former prime minister of Iran, is placed in an Islamic flower pattern. Feldman, another artist featured in the exhibit, showcases a piece from his collection, “Manifestation #4,” which depicts a protest. Feldman took thousands of photographs of protests and was able to replicate this look by montaging and repainting these images with an airbrush.
The third artist, Limas, creates paintings, drawings, video and sculptures, and his piece at the exhibition is titled “Us Versus Them,” and is the inspiration for the exibition.
For “Us Versus Them,” Limas created a large-scale drawing that illustrates two colliding galaxies with opposing images on either side. Things such as a dodo bird, robots, numbers, text, a bear and spiders are all fantastically spread across the drawing, causing your eyes to wander and explore something new each time you look at it.
“I think for me when I thought of us versus them in the world we live in I thought of when you watch the media how a lot of things of the world deal with friction such as my belief and their belief, my stand and their stand and so forth,” Limas said.
Limas grew up in Compton and was involved with gangs. He says this upbringing and environment plays large role in how he approaches art and the way he draws inspiration from his past.
“I try to approach drawing with what I know and my history, and this is the most honest and sincere way I can deal with something that hasn’t caught my attention before,” Limas said.
The See Line Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and by appointment. For more information, contact the gallery via telephone (310) 829-1727 or online at www.seelinegallery.com.
02-07-2008