The Ben Maltz Gallery exhibition "Superficiality and Superexcrescence" which opened to a great crowd a couple of weeks ago, has received a good review from Los Angeles Times art critic Holly Myers.
After beginning the piece with the observation that shows dealing with "surface" have been going on in LA for a long time, and therefore more shows would be unnecessary, Meyers points out how the Superficiality show does stand out and why it is definitely worth a visit. She said (in referencing the accompanying catalog) "If the result feels at times like a graduate seminar, it is only in the best way: sound in its argument, rich in its examples, with plenty of room left for debate. She made particular note of the work from artists Elliot Hundley, Rebecca Campbell and Joel Morrison.
In addition to the review the article includes a nice installation shot by Otis faculty member Chris Warner.
Superficiality and Superexcrescence remains on view through September 12. Gallery hours and info can be found here.
17 July 2009
Going Below the Surface of Superficiality
08 May 2009
Three Cheers for 3 Solo Projects
3 Solo Projects, currently on view in Otis' Ben Maltz Gallery received a very nice review last week from Leah Ollman on the LA Times Culture Monster blog.
Ollman began her post by saying- "The works that make up “3 Solo Projects” at Ben Maltz Gallery are clever showpieces of aesthetic resourcefulness that exploit the tension between synthetic and natural. Together, they make for a variably engaging show that could be subtitled “The Haunting, the Daunting and the Whimsical.”" You can read the entire post here.
3 Solo Projects remains on view through June 13th. Open hours and other information for the Gallery can be found here. In the meantime, check out the video walk through of the show from the Otis YouTube channel.
10 March 2009
Riff on Recycling Results in Reflection
Carrie Ungerman's solo show at Otis' Ben Maltz Gallery opens on April 18th and she, along with Otis received a nice plug in the March 9 edition of The Daily Breeze.
Each of the three solo projects included in the show will have some relationship to the topic of natural resources. Ungerman's piece will be a sculpture made up of over 30,000 used water bottles and according to the Breeze article she hopes that it will cause "...the viewer to walk through the environment and think look at all those water bottles...what does that mean in my life?"
The artist has been collecting bottles for months in order to construct the piece and she still needs more in order to hit her target of 30,000. At Otis we've been doing our part, saving bottles from major events and asking community members to bring in their own bottles from home. In the Admissions office we've been donating on average about 50 bottles a week.
The exhibition opens in just over five weeks but there is still time to help out. Clean used bottles (with caps still on) can be delivered to the Ben Maltz Gallery. For additional information call 310-665-6909 or email galleryinfo@otis.edu.
Come see the finished sculpture on Saturday April 18 from 4 to 6PM!
09 October 2008
Volumes on Veca
Mark Dean Veca's ('85) solo exhibition Phantasmagoria opens this weekend (10/11/08) in the Ben Maltz Gallery as part of Otis' 90th anniversary Homecoming weekend. I expected that we would receive coverage after the opening but for the last three days the blogosphere has been full of posts about it.
The most notable mention so far has been the extensive Sneek Peek provided by Super Touch, a leading contemporary art and culture blog. You can find that piece here. Since then many more have picked it up and its starting to feel like when the publicity for the Do It Now:Live Green took on a life of it's own.
If you're in town this weekend, come to the opening from 5 to 7 PM. Admission and parking are free. Phantasmagoria will remain up through December 6, 2008.
