In Kinkead’s interpretation, co-director Whitney Carter selected a single artist, Christopher Russell. Russell then selected a curator, Darin Klein, who selected another artist, Kate Barclay, who selected a curator, and so on, until seven artists had been chosen. The resulting show doesn’t make much sense, but that’s somewhat the point. The curatorial conceit encourages the viewer to search out connections, but is more interesting for the invisible lines of community it traces.  [READ ON]

Her painting of textures, reflectivity, and pattern are exquisite. I know from this that she is capable of painting a figure in fine style. So she must be de-emphasizing the manner in which her paintings are “entered” in favor of a more global experience of the work. That makes them more abstract than figurative/narrative.

Doug Simay
Simayspace [ READ ON ]

Where Thomas celebrates the erotic largesse of black female bodies with larger than life areas of flat paint, Myers focuses on the “blonde bombshell” as a sexual center. Meyers’ figures are expressively molded and exist in contrast to the highly patterned flat backgrounds and decorative drapery. My crew bumped into quite a few Myers döppelgangers at the Dennis Hopper opening last Saturday at MOCA (Kelly Lynch and Patricia Arquette immediately come to mind). The cult of the blonde bombshell is one universally objectified and almost taboo in the world of fine art for its ditzy associations. However, standing next to a blonde goddess (or a Myers painting) in real life is a trip down memory lane ” as the lightness of the subject’s hair truly recalls the blonde innocence of childhood mixed with the brazen knowledge of sexual power. I mean, who can’t look at Daryl Hannah when she walks into the room? Be it contempt or desire, the woman is fabulous.

Of course, the depiction of the female body as a site for sacred inspiration is as prehistoric as The Venus of Willendorf. The major difference here is that Meyers, a blonde, is presenting herself as both subject and object. Although not actually a depiction of Myer’s, she invites us to look at her sexualized images of models that turn her on. Her images such as Untitled (Striped Cot) and Untitled (Blue Room) show skinny blondies in various states of erotic repose, each one possessing an awareness of their power. These women appear to see themselves as accessories with a capital A, urging the viewer to look for the small details and naughty nuance. Their power to seduce us is somehow still appealing, even in our currently over-saturated, over-sexualized popular culture.

Also stunning are Myers’ screen prints, Come Here Boy and The Perfect Fit, which are redolent of decorative wallpaper patterns. The highly saturated colors bring to mind Indian or Islamic tessellation design. When viewed from a distance, the patterns satisfy as gorgeous color studies. But view them more closely, and one is rewarded with illustrations of couples entangled in tantric embrace (this Jetsetter observed several configurations, including the Lotus Position and doggy-style). Myers’ work fits into that uncomfortable place of propriety that befits a South Carolinian. Her work is covertly decorative ” a bit traditional and proper. But she lithely inserts her own version of sexual deviance to invert the patriarchal power-play of the oldest art form (or profession), depending on the level of prurience within the viewer’s imagination.

This post was contributed by Mary Anna Pomonis [ VISIT SITE ]

In Bound (2009)”currently included in the ballyhooed “Here Not There” exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego”household objectsmorph into cartoonish weapons set against a lime-hued background. Using word play, ambiguous titles such as Attractive Repulsion and Freezing Fuels”Snap! encourage double entendre. Splashy group shows aside, this September will mark Martin’s second solo exhibition at the Luis De Jesus Los Angeles gallery.

At 17 years old, early acceptance to UC San Diego provided Martin with access to top art professors, such as Kim MacConnel, Ernie Silva, and Eleanor Antin. MacConnel (known for infusing high abstraction with kitsch decoration) immediately recognized a sophistication in Martin’s early paintings he considered above the work of graduate students. A decade later, MacConnel continues to respect Martin’s sensibility demonstrated by his 2010 San Diego emerging artist prize nomination for Martin. Applauding her ability to break the rules, he notes that Martin’s “canvas space, while flat, opens up almost three dimensionally and in ways that skew balance, proportionality, and composition.” In turn, Martin appreciates MacConnel’s support for “work that was tongue in cheek and funny to me.”

Martin’s early developed ability to experiment with color, line, and shape result partly from her background in computer illustration for comic book companies. Although a full-time college student, she worked full time applying color for DC Comics. The clean, controlled brush work and highly saturated color found in Martin’s paintings are directly associated with this experience. Martin acknowledges, “technology has affected the way that my hand, eye, and brain work because I spent a lot of time at a computer with my hand making shapes and color. You have to be precise with your hand. It’s not real color”it’s the color on the computer, instant and artificial with clean lines precise down to the pixel.” She observes we often “conform to technology as opposed to technology conforming to us.”

Despite this background, Martin consciously pursed painting in the face of an art environment dominated by new media. “I wanted to be making a painting, because it slows things down and brings back the human element in the making and in the looking. I wanted to be able to one day make a painting that’s interesting and engaging and will compete against whatever is the flashiest loudest thing.” Martin is equally effusive when discussing the physical and perceptual experience of painting. She describes staring at her work from an inch away, “the way the colors interact and are bouncing off each other. That’s all you are taking in for so long and then you look away and everything else“is different and skewed.” Yet, when pressed to discuss specifics behind the scenarios she draws from she balks arguing that it would “kill the experience.” Since Martin first took advantage of UCSD’s renowned cognitive studies program a decade ago, she continues to be interested in “how we respond to stimulus and different interfaces in the world””painting reminds us that the brain is a physical organ and that our bodies are systems with reactions that cannot always be controlled.
”LAUREN BUSCEMI

“Here Not There: San Diego Art Now” runs through September 19 at Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in La Jolla. In September, Heather Gwen Martin will be the subject of a solo show at Luis De Jesus Los Angeles, at Bergamot Station, Santa Monica.

www.luisdejesus.com [VISIT SITE]