KIMBERLY BROOKS: Mom’s Friends

March 3rd, 2007

Kimberly Brooks: Mom’s Friends

March 3 – April 7, 2007

Taylor De Cordoba is pleased to present Mom’s Friends, a solo exhibition by Los Angeles-based artist Kimberly Brooks. The exhibition will run from March 3rd thru April 7th, 2007. The gallery will host an opening reception for the artist on Saturday March 3rd from 6pm-9pm.

In her first solo exhibition at Taylor De Cordoba, Kimberly Brooks explores issues of feminine identity, nostalgia, idolization and womanhood. She introduces the women she literally looked up to as a child, “Mom’s Friends.” The show will feature gouache studies and oil paintings depicting the women who helped to form her own identity while growing up in Marin County in the late 1970’s.

In the wake of the Sexual Revolution, the model of a modern woman was taking shape. Brooks paints sexy, confident and stylish women in their element: cooling their feet in the pool, waiting at the train station, contemplating amidst the woods of Big Sur and laughing at parties. She invokes the fashions of the time with her representations of luscious furs, bold patterns, oversize sunglasses and unique flea market finds. In the span of a few years, nearly all of these women in her mom’s circle of friends would find themselves divorced as a result infidelity, boredom and the need to establish their own identities. Brooks uses her own personal memories and photographs to re-create the harmonious and utopian moment just before it all came crashing down. The artist takes cues from traditional portraiture, fashion photography, 1970s Polaroids and today’s ubiquitous candid celebrity snapshots to create her modern style.

Kimberly Brooks’ work has been featured in numerous juried exhibitions organized by curators from the Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of Modern Art and California Institute of the Arts among others. Brooks earned her B.A. from UC Berkeley and trained in fine arts at Otis College of Design and UCLA.

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SASHA BEZZUBOV: Things Fall Apart

January 20th, 2007

Sasha Bezzubov: Things Fall Apart

January 20 – February 17, 2007

Taylor De Cordoba is pleased to present Things Fall Apart, a solo exhibition by Brooklyn-based artist Sasha Bezzubov. The exhibition will run from January 20th thru February 17th, 2007. The gallery will host an opening reception for the artist on Saturday January 20th from 6pm-9pm.

This exhibition will include a selection of nine photographs from Things Fall Apart, a series of landscape photographs made in the aftermath of natural disasters. These mundane places are instantly transformed through the violent power of a climatic or terrestrial force, into dreamscapes of apocalyptic proportions. For a few days the world is glued to the images of the familiar turned upside down and made strange. Staggering numbers of dead and missing are reported. The property damage is calculated, the social and medical catastrophe is predicted, the increase of such disasters is mentioned. Soon the entire episode is forgotten in a sea of willful amnesia.

The aftermath of a natural catastrophe – ruined cities and settlements, wrecked homes and roads, scattered survivors – is how we imagine the end of time.

Things Fall Apart consists of five disasters – India after an earthquake, the Midwest after tornadoes, California after wildfires, Florida after hurricanes and Indonesia and Thailand after the tsunami. Arriving at each event after the fact allows Bezzubov to witness the destruction with a degree of distance. Using the form of landscape photography, a tradition born with industrial expansion, these photographs evidence nature’s force as it reclaims land subdued and ruled by a myopic civilization.

Sasha Bezzubov is the recipient of numerous awards and grants for his photographic works, including two Fulbright Scholarship Awards for his work in Vietnam and India. He earned his MFA from Yale University in 1997. His work is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and has appeared in Esquire Magazine, Newsweek, Details Magazine, The Village Voice and Blind Spot.

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JEANA SOHN: I’m Just Pretending

October 21st, 2006

Jeana Sohn: I’m Just Pretending

October 21 – November 22, 2006

Taylor De Cordoba is pleased to present I’m Just Pretending, a new series of paintings by Los Angeles-based artist Jeana Sohn.  The exhibition will run from October 21 – November 22, 2006.  The gallery will host an opening reception for the artist on Saturday October 21 from 6-9PM.

Drawing upon childhood memories, dreams and her imagination, Jeana Sohn paints a surreal world where anything is possible. Among the scenes she depicts are a sleeping girl holding a string tied to the foot of a flying goose, a partially submerged boy and girl surrounded by giant moths, and a naked girl releasing a flurry of gold, blue and gray diamonds from her fingertips amidst a school of sharks.

Applying gouache and ink to woodblocks, veneer and wooden eggs, Sohn pays careful attention to the medium.  In particular, her works on veneer utilize the imperfections in the wood and the patterns in the grain as a background. The dark wood is a perfect complement to both her subjects and her palette of pale blues, vivid purples and muted grays and browns.

While sometimes layered and detailed, Sohn primarily reduces her images to silhouettes and background. Her two-dimensional approach to drawing allows her to strip away all unnecessary information. Though her style evokes the appearance of children’s book illustrations, something darker underlies the obvious loveliness and simplicity. The viewer is left to decipher these visual puzzles and find their own meaning.

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FROHAWK TWO FEATHERS: last night, after the lights went out, we fell

September 9th, 2006

"Emperor Nancy Heckled by his Peers", 2006 | acrylic on canvas | 48” x 36”

Frohawk Two Feathers: last night, after the lights went out, we fell

September 9 – October 14, 2006

Taylor De Cordoba is pleased to present last night, after the lights went out, we
fell, a new group of paintings and sculptures by Los Angeles based artist, Frohawk Two
Feathers. The exhibition will run from September 9 – October 14, 2006. The gallery will
host a reception for the artist on Saturday September 9 from 6-9PM.

In this body of work, Frohawk demonstrates his skills as a master storyteller with a
modern take on the age-old themes of colonialism, imperialism and conquest. By use of
paint and xerographic transfers on wood he creates a wartime narrative starring an
imagined cast of characters. Set in both the Arctic Tundra and “Frengland,” the unified
region of French and England, his cast is complete with the self-appointed Emperor
“Franchise”; the love interest and Haitian slave, “Josephine”; their son “Nancy,” the troubled
heir to the throne; and the indigenous Eskimos who are under attack. The clash of
civilizations takes on a humorous tone with stylized cartoonish depictions of these
obsessive emperors, ruthless conquistadors and natives determined to defeat the invaders
at all costs. Despite the sardonic and colloquial nature of the imagery and text, Frohawk’s
work fits into a pre-existing and historical dialogue about war.

Taylor De Cordoba is located at 2660 S La Cienega in Los Angeles, CA and is open
from Tuesday – Saturday, 11AM – 6PM. For additional press information please contact
Heather Taylor at 310.559.9156.

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FROHAWK TWO FEATHERS: last night, after the lights went off, we fell

September 9th, 2006

Frohawk Two Feathers: last night, after the lights went out, we fell

September 9 – October 14, 2006

Taylor De Cordoba is pleased to present last night, after the lights went out, we fell, a new group of paintings and a series of printed woodblocks by Los Angeles based artist, Frohawk Two Feathers. The exhibition will run from September 9 – October 7, 2006. The gallery will host a reception for the artist on Saturday September 9 from 6-9PM.

In this body of work, Frohawk demonstrates his skills as a master storyteller with a modern take on the age-old themes of colonialism, imperialism and conquest. By use of paint and xerographic transfers on wood he creates a wartime narrative starring an imagined cast of characters. Set in both the Arctic Tundra and “Frengland,” the unified region of French and England, his cast is complete with the self-appointed Emperor “Franchise”; the love interest and Haitian slave, “Josephine”; their son “Nancy,” the troubled heir to the throne; and the indigenous Eskimos who are under attack. The clash of civilizations takes on a humorous tone with stylized cartoonish depictions of these obsessive emperors, ruthless conquistadors and natives determined to defeat the invaders at all costs. Despite the sardonic and colloquial nature of the imagery and text, Frohawk’s work fits into a pre-existing and historical dialogue about war.

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KYLE FIELD: There Are Two Eyes in Daetime

July 1st, 2006

Kyle Field : There Are Two Eyes in Daetime

July 1 – August 12, 2006

Taylor De Cordoba is pleased to present There Are Two Eyes in Daetime, a new body of work by the musician and traveling artist, Kyle Field.  The exhibition will run from July 1 – August 12, 2006.  The gallery will host a reception for the artist on Saturday July 1 from 6-9PM.

Kyle Field’s world on paper is composed of images both familiar and utterly abstract.  Organic shapes coexist with primal figures in an expanding island of lines. His palette of deep browns, rich ochres, light pinks, sky blues, and emerald greens floats within a graphic network of pen and ink.  Sometimes we’ll see an amalgamation of images; abstract trees, faces, and shapes of nothingness, each emptying into the next. Everything seamlessly connects, implying a harmonious balance amidst imagery that is both elegant yet chaotic.  Field’s narratives lack a beginning, middle or end. They are simultaneously ordinary and utterly fantastical.  Is this a forest or is this Emerald City?  Are we on the beach or within a Candyland board?   It is most likely because Field himself is a wandering poet and highly talented musician (he is at the helm of the group Little Wings) that he is able to create worlds of such beauty that feel so completely of the moment.  There is nothing our eyes would rather feast on than the confections created by Kyle Field.

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RYAN CALLIS: How It Feels To Be Something On

April 15th, 2006

Ryan Callis: HOW IT FEELS TO BE SOMETHING ON

April 15th-May 13th, 2006

Taylor De Cordoba is pleased to present HOW IT FEELS TO BE SOMETHING ON, the latest body of work by Los Angeles based painter, Ryan Callis. HOW IT FEELS TO BE SOMETHING ON marks the inaugural exhibition for Taylor De Cordoba, a contemporary art gallery in Culver City.  The exhibition will run from April 15 – May 13, 2006.  The gallery will host a reception for the artist on Saturday April 15th from 6-9PM.

Ryan Callis is hyper-aware of how it feels to be alive.  This awareness is deeply present in his new group of paintings.  Here he explores themes of isolation, human contact, and communication; specifically the way in which those issues relate to life in Los Angeles and its? neighboring suburbs.  He approaches these hefty concepts and infuses them with a palpable vibrancy.  The result is a group of paintings that is both contemplative and a great deal of fun to look at.

The interconnectedness of psychology and art motivates Callis to create his mixed-media paintings.  His interest in the brain, especially the cognitive development of his five-month old daughter, governs much of his project.  He paints with her in mind, focusing on moral lessons and color palates that will appeal to her.  In our current excess-based world, Callis attempts to slow down and filter thru, contemplating a beautiful and discerning view of our human condition.  His work inspires viewers to do the same.

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