Nurture by Linda Vang – student art exhibition at Sac State

It is always fun and interesting to see art student’s works of art, not only because they often experiment with different media but also that you might detect a forthcoming trend! Art major Linda Vang, a student at Sac State, is currently having an exhibition in the Witt Gallery at Sac State, and her works are mostly about exploring and capturing organic forms and connecting the aesthetics with her cultural heritage. Vang also explores the often elusive line between nature and culture in her work.

Linda Vang, "Set 5 Study", oil on panel, 2015. At Witt Gallery. Photo: Frida Berntson, 2016-02-17

Linda Vang, "Set 5 Study", oil on panel, 2015. At Witt Gallery. Photo: Frida Berntson, 2016-02-17

In the artistic world of Linda Vang I think of fantasy, saga and an otherworldly forest land. One of her works, called “Set 5 Study” made in the spring of 2015 draws a lot on organic natural forms and also color schemes that seem influenced by seasons or feelings. The four smaller sized oil paintings were made on a raw wood panel, and keeping the wood natural enhanced the natural vibe and added a new texture to the art which made it more interesting. Vang’s brushstrokes are both heavy, full of texture and delicate; making the organic forms come forward even more.

Linda Vang, "Large Study 1", oil on canvas, 2015. At Witt Gallery. Photo: Frida Berntson, 2016-02-17

The exhibition also showed a number of larger oil paintings, like “Large Study 1”, made in the fall of 2015. This painting made me think of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and fantasy video games; a play with organic forms with rich otherworldly colors. The motif almost looks like a utopian rainforest grove where some kind of scene could take place. The mixed color scheme of this artwork made it more engaging than for example the set studies, which mostly each had a homogeneous color scheme. The homogeneous colors made paintings like the ones in “Set 4 Study” harmonious and calming, especially the one with a mix of pinky mauves, dark purple, gray and a hint of green. The smaller paintings almost felt like if a rococo painting was mixed with fantasy art.

Linda Vang, "Set 4 Study", oil on canvas panel, 2015. At Witt Gallery. Photo: Frida Berntson, 2016-02-17

Linda Vang, detail of "Set 4 Study", oil on canvas panel, 2015. At Witt Gallery. Photo: Frida Berntson, 2016-02-17

The Witt Gallery at Sac State is a small but nice gallery, with white walls and a stone floor. I think it suits student art shows well, or an exhibition with fewer works. A weakness in Vang’s exhibition is that most works are very much alike, and isn’t that engaging. The works are pretty to look at and makes you think, but they don’t make you think as much as art maybe should. But who really decides what art should or shouldn’t be? In conclusion is Linda Vang’s exhibition “Nurture” a very well put together art show with a couple of recent works by the student. Her work makes you wonder about nature and organic forms that surround us all the time, but mostly it makes us enjoy the art of oil painting, the texture and the feeling of the materials which play into the organic vibe.

Me in front of Linda Vang's "Set 4 Study", at Witt Gallery. Photo: Linda Vang, 2016-02-17

Art Hotel - A temporary art space in downtown Sacramento

The entrance to Art Hotel, Sacramento

On 7th and L Streets in downtown Sacramento there is an abandoned hotel and apartment building set to be demolished in the spring of 2016. Before the building meets its fate 30 artists from around the globe decided to take over the building and make it into a very special art experience! The artists transformed the hallways, kitchens, rooms and restrooms of the building and created a multifaceted art exhibition that most of all encourages the viewer to explore.

A long line of people had already formed at around 12.00 on Saturday February 6^th when the exhibition was about to open its second day. Since I’m always curious about representation and participation due to my studies in cultural science I found it interesting and uplifting that even families with young children, younger couples, elder art fanatics and groups of friends were all there for this special event. It reminded me once more of how important art is in our lives and how many people actually love experiencing art!

When my friends and I got into the exhibition we had to walk through a sort of plastic thick drapery that guided us to the second floor, it felt a little bit like being transported to a different reality; Narnia-ish! The second floor and the whole building was packed with murals, sculptures and installations in different mediums and media. Art was everywhere! The artists had planned it out so that each artist had approximately one room to do what they wanted with. The art in the rooms consisted of traditional hangings on the walls, a lot of graffiti art and murals, installations with soundtracks and skateboarding, photographs, video art as well as political art pieces and so much more! One thing that I thought was interesting was that some objects like stoves and fridges were left in the building and became a part of the art and also created a different atmosphere; since there is not normally fridges and stoves in the white cube of the art gallery!

Dave DeCamilla, "Just in Case Case", enamel on wood and toy gun

Kitchen by artist Jose Di Gregorio

I had many favorite rooms of the art space and one of them was the room that artist Nina Jean Lynch had made. Working in mostly ceramics she creates objects that hint to popular culture and kitsch, and she also has an animal and natural theme to her art. Her art was in one of the kitchens, which suited very well. The shelves were packed with small animal bones and on the walls hung animal furs which came across as very unnerving and awkward in the kitchen. On another shelf was ceramic kitschy food tins placed as well as ceramic bananas, and on the fridge were magnets with the texts “beware of pseudoscience” and “little did they know”; making at least me think of the animal rights movement. Ceramic hens were placed out on some hay behind wire in another part of the kitchen, on the wire was a sign; “QUARANTINE bird flu”, making it somewhat naïve and funny but also serious. The two objects that most people took photographs of were two salt and pepper-ish containers in ceramic on the stove, but the text on them read “salt” and “anti-salt”. The whole kitchen was like a clever mix of black humor, political seriousness and utter weirdness, making it a very memorable experience!

Kitchen done by Nina Jean Lynch

After the exhibition you felt very uplifted and inspired, mostly because of the blitz of creativeness that had just washed over you but also the overall spontaneous feeling of the art. Contemporary art really has so much to offer. And the fact that every room was so different kept your imagination up, the exhibit had something for everyone. A truly remarkable experience.

My friend Tone doing a beautiful sketch in one of the interactive rooms.

If you’re in the Sacramento area I highly suggest that you visit the Art Hotel before it shuts down for good on February 13! If you’re curious why not visit their website at http://m5arts.com/ or check out the hashtag #arthotel916 on Instagram where many visitors have posted pictures and videos!

All photos are taken by me.

Pump up the volume! – Lecture with artists Jane Dickson and Joe Lewis

Imagine the South Bronx in New York in the late seventies; a very much desolated place, however, it was there that one of New York’s most influential contemporary art organizations was created. The organization that was also a community arts centre was called Fashion Moda, and artists Joe Lewis and Jane Dickson was a part of it. Joe Lewis was an artist from the area and became co-director of the organization, and Jane Dickson was an artist educated at Harvard who came to New York in the seventies. Fashion Moda was active up to 1993. Currently showing the exhibition “Pump up the volume!” at the Robert Else Gallery at California State University Sacramento, Jane Dickson and Joe Lewis had a lecture there on January 27.

Jane Dickson and Joe Lewis at the lecture at Sac State. Photo by myself.

The exhibition had opened the same day and an excited audience sat down in the rather small university classroom in the art building at Sac State for the artist talk. After some technical difficulties were solved, the lecture began with pictures from the beginnings of Fashion Moda, and artists Jane Dickson and Joe Lewis told us the remarkable story. The very essence of Fashion Moda was a new concept of art, that art is global but also to keep art local in the Bronx. Fashion Moda redefined what was considered art in the post-modernist era, they worked in medium that wasn’t widely accepted (like garbage bags!) and they also worked with young graffiti artists like Crash and Lady Pink. They wanted to pull away from the well established art world of Manhattan, they wanted to be different and show the world just that. They made their new gallery with the true punk form of DIY; they found and created what they needed for the venue.

A lot of the art at Fashion Moda was about the city, how the cityscape affects us and what it means to live in a concrete jungle. Jane Dickson talked a lot about her artwork “City Maze” (see video) at Fashion Moda. Her artwork contained of large “screens” of cardboard that was placed like a maze throughout the gallery, and different graffiti artists had made artworks on the surface and other art was put up there as well; a common thing at Fashion Moda was art on top of art! A very amusing thing that Jane Dickson told us about was that kids from around the area used to “crash” the gallery and run around the maze! Sometimes the kids broke in and at the same time an artist could have an important meeting somewhere else in the building. That was also a very prominent thing about Fashion Moda; it was for everyone and it was meant for bringing people together, and this was the goal that Joe Lewis had for the organization.

In the planning of the exhibition of “City Maze” Jane Dickson told us that she and the other artists learned so much from the younger graffiti artists (Crash was only around 15 years old at the time) and that was ground breaking, they didn’t see them as kids but as fellow artists. When a question was asked about what Fashion Moda meant for Joe Lewis he simply answered that it was his own work, his baby that he treasured very deeply. And it is very much something to be proud of, since Fashion Moda completely changed the art world.

City Maze by Jane Dickson