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Hung Viet Nguyen: Sacred Landscapes

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Art in the Arthouse welcomes SACRED LANDSCAPES, an exhibit by artist HUNG VIET NGUYEN, on display at the Monica Film Center from Dec 2016 – Feb 2017.

Curated by Tish Laemmle, Sacred Landscapes showcases a large selection of Nguyen’s majestic paintings, primarily landscapes and captivating abstract works. The work transports you into the mind of the artist who has an enigmatic connection to nature. Painting from memory, Nguyen renders an impressive amount detail in stunning and unexpected compositions that seem to suspend reality. Viewing his work has a spiritual quality that can only be experienced in person.

Hung Viet Nguyen was born in Vietnam in 1957 and studied biology at the Science University in Saigon. After relocating to the U.S. in 1982, Nguyen transitioned careers, finding work as an illustrator, graphic artist and designer.

He developed his artistic skills in an independent fashion, carefully studying a variety of traditional nguyen_cruelly-go-round15_mix_12x16Eastern and Western forms, media and techniques. Nguyen’s complex, labor intensive investigations of oil paint reveal a
mastery of texture. While portions of Nguyen’s work suggest the influence of traditional art forms such as woodblock prints, Oriental scroll paintings, ceramic art, mosaic, and stained glass, his ultimate expression as an artist asserts a more contemporary sensibility.

Having been deeply affected by Nguyen’s work – “it speaks to the soul” – Art in the Arthouse curator Tish Laemmle was inspired to bring Sacred Landscapes to life at the Monica Film Center for the enrichment of the movie-going public.

Nguyen’s paintings have been exhibited at galleries, cultural art centers, and museums, juried by museums including LACMA and the MOCA. Honors include the Juror’s Choice Awards, 2013, and the San Diego Art Institute Biennial International Award Exhibition, 2015.

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Critic’s Reviews of Nguyen:

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Nancy Nimoy: Solo Exhibit at the Royal

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19 Art in the Arthouse is pleased to present the vibrant works of accomplished painter, illustrator and designer, NANCY NIMOY, at the Royal Theater. Curated by our own Tish Laemmle, this exhibit showcases Nimoy’s versatile talent in over 30 stunning pieces.  Expansive in both theme and approach, Nimoy tackles issues of politics, social media, and celebrity.

Nimoy has a way of finding beauty and meaning in the seemingly mundane. Her unique take on the everyday commands attention, while playful use of light and color make her work visually “pop.” The end result being whimsical and engaging paintings of undeniable craftsmanship.

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When Nimoy began her career in New York, a well-known design team famously admonished her for presenting a portfolio that was “all over the map.”  Today, as a sought after painter and illustrator with a long list of private commissions, corporate, publishing, theatre, and film clients, her work is quite literally, all over the map.

In the end, Nimoy’s  flexibility is, in fact, her strength.  Whether exploring icons such as The Rolling Stones, depicting a woman’s dress, or documenting the last anxious days of a diabolical political campaign, her gift for observation and storytelling shines through.  Nimoy’s influences are also many, reflecting her love of Diebenkorn, Picasso, Hockney and the German Expressionist movement, with a deep bow to Maira Kalman.

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Nimoy’s work, including portrait commissions, can be found in collections from Dublin to Brooklyn and scattered throughout her messy studio where she does her best work in her bathrobe.

The Nancy Nimoy Solo Exhibit runs through January.  Make sure to visit the gallery outside of the Royal’s main auditorium (House #1) next time you come for a movie.  Or just stop by – movie tickets are not required to view the art.

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Rosamond Purcell: An Art That Nature Makes – Photo Exhibit + Doc

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It’s the majesty of the weird … the contemplation of the ordinary.
– Director Erroll Morris

An Art in the Arthouse exclusive! We are currently exhibiting the acclaimed work of master photographer ROSAMOND PURCELL.  Recently called “our greatest living 17th Century photographer” by the New York Times, Purcell’s  photos are on display upstairs at the Monica Film Center’s mezzanine lounge.  They can be viewed in conjunction with the documentary film about the artist: AN ART THAT NATURE MAKES.  Don’t miss out on this rare chance to view the film and the art at the same time.  All works are for sale. Proceeds benefit the Laemmle Foundation.

MM7385_060330_00048 - IbisAbout the Exhibit:

As a fledgling photographer, Rosamond Purcell wasn’t quite satisfied with capturing people; she shifted her lens early on to uncover the secret lives of the objects that surround us.

Many of the photographs featured in the recently released documentary by Molly Bernstein,  An Art That Nature Makes, are currently included in an exhibit at the Monica Film Center. Her stunning images draw from Purcell’s interest in natural history collections. Works like “Peter’s Teeth” from the book Finders, Keepers and “Snowy Egret” from Egg & Nest explore the essence of organic material, telling its story through its decay.

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The often morbid nature of Purcell’s subject matter is pair by the striking beauty of her images. This duality with in her work is encapsulating to view in person.

As a pioneer of the lost and forgotten, she breathes new life into objects, immortalizing their history and transcending their place in time.

Purcell has a way of elevating the mundane into the extraordinary. Her unique compositions and tone – echo master still life painters of 1600’s Northern Europe such as Jan Fyt and Pieter Claesz, taking photography to a level of fine art that is rarely experienced.
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The New York Times recently stated that Purcell is “our greatest living 17th century photographer.” After examining her ever-growing oeuvre, one might be tempted to make the case for the 21st century as well.

Take this wonderful opportunity to see the film at the Monica Film Center and view her art in person. They’re not to be missed!

   – Lili Abdel-Ghany, Curator

Art in the Arthouse Presents DAVID BUCKINGHAM: NOBODY LIKES A SMARTASS at the Monica Film Center

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I Don’t Roll On Shabbos | cut and welded found metal

Laemmle’s Art in the Arthouse is delighted to present DAVID BUCKINGHAM: NOBODY LIKES A SMARTASS, a solo exhibit curated by KATE STERN of  the renowned Frostig Collection.

Buckingham is a unique craftsman. Harnessing found metals to produce dynamic assemblages, he breaks the mold of contemporary art practices.

The exhibition takes place Aug. 30 to Nov. 30, 2016 and inhabits both floors of Laemmle’s stunning new venue, the Monica Film Center.

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About the Exhibit:

After a successful career as an advertising writer, David Buckingham launched his artistic journey in his 40s. His unconventional art education began with a “5-minute” welding lesson from artist Ray “Cowboy” Kelly of the Rivington School, a 1980s movement remembered by Buckingham as “a bunch of anarchist welders and poets and performance artists,” in New York’s East Village.

A neo-pop artist, Buckingham roams windblown alleys, abandoned factories, dodgy neighborhoods, gritty industrial areas, and the low deserts of Southern CA in search of the cast off and forgotten – detritus such as tractor parts, old signage, car doors, gas cans, etc. It’s with this found collection of metal that he carves, bends, bolts and welds his assemblages, breathing new life into the discarded forms. All colors are original as discovered; as he is fond of saying, “Buckingham is no painter!”

For his Art in the Arthouse show, NOBODY LIKES A SMARTASS, Buckingham aptly drew from his passion for cinema and dialogue. Quotes from iconic films like The Big Lebowski – “I don’t roll on Shabbos” and Blazing Saddles – “Where the white women at?” along with classic sound effects like “THWIP!” from Spidermen, feel right at home on the walls of the movie theater. Like David, the work is left of center or slightly askew, always playful and often raunchy.

Buckingham has exhibited extensively in the U.S. and abroad, including the California’s Riverside Art Museum and the Lancaster Museum of Art and History. His sculptures have been installed as public artworks in West Hollywood and Newport Beach. His work has been featured in an international advertising campaign for Wrangler Jeans and is purchased and commissioned by private collectors around the world.

– Kate Stern, Curator

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Exhibit Info:

DAVID BUCKINGHAM: NOBODY LIKES A SMARTASS
August 30 – November 30, 2016
Laemmle’s Monica Film Center (info)
1332 2nd Street, S.M. CA 90401

NOTE:
– Exhibit is located on both floors
– No movie ticket required!

CONTACT:

For all inquiries, please contact the curator, Kate Stern at katestern@me.com or 310-828-6969.

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Assassin of Youth | cut & welded found metal

 

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THWIP! | cut and welded found metal

 

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Color Study #88 | cut & welded found metal

Laemmle’s Art in the Arthouse Presents “Archiving Hesse” at the Monica Film Center

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Recently, there’s been a lot of commotion surrounding the seminal artist EVA HESSE, including a recent exhibit at the Whitney, a current show in DTLA at Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, and of course, the opening of the film EVA HESSE at four of our venues. Directed by Marcie Begleiter and produced by Karen Shapiro, the documentary is the first feature-length examination of Hesse’s life and work.

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Barbara Brown, photographer

In addition to all this, our fine arts program, Art in the Arthouse, has jumped into the fray with ARCHIVING HESSE an exhibit at the Monica that includes photography featured in the film.  It showcases the work of photographer and raconteur, BARBARA BROWN, who, from 1962-1965, chronicled Hesse and the other luminaries that made up the Canal St. scene of New York’s Lower Eastside.

Unfortunately, most of Brown’s negatives were destroyed in a bizarre train fire and eternally lost. But we are pleased to present some surviving photos that capture the artist in particularly revealing moments. Interwoven are two images from Hesse’s 1968 solo exhibition at the Fishbach Gallery taken by NORMAN GOLDMAN.

The Archiving Hesse photo exhibit opens this Thurs. night at the Monica Film Center (where the documentary will be showing) and can be enjoyed through June.

About Hesse:

In 1938, at three years old, EVA HESSE was put on the kindertransport to escape Nazi Germany. She arrived in New York to reunite with her family, but seven years later lost her mother to suicide.

Hesse went on to study art and design at Yale University.  As an artist, she had a unique ability to alchemize her personal tragedies into searing and poetic works. Based mainly in New York, Hesse and her husband Tom Doyle briefly relocated their studio to Kettwig Germany where she transitioned from painter to sculptor.

“Stop [thinking] and just do!”  This strong note circa 1965 from her mentor Sol LeWitt opened Hesse up to an artistic stream of sculptures, paintings, drawings, and happenings. She incorporated industrial materials such as cord, wire, yarn, and latex to create magnificent walls sculptures that commanded attention. Hesse soon became a major figure in the post AbEx landscape movement.

Tragically, Hesse died of brain cancer at age 34. She lives on in her works, which are displayed in museums worldwide,

Art in the Arthouse Painter Mary Woronov on KCET: “Artist, Chelsea Girl, and B-Movie Queen”

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The woman behind our Art in the Arthouse exhibition “Mary Woronov: Something About Mary,” on view at the NoHo 7 through December 15, was recently profiled by KCET. It’s by the award-winning arts journalist Victoria Looseleaf, features a generous selection of Woronov’s striking pieces and begins “At almost 71 years old, Mary Woronov is still a beauty whose quick wit, sharp mind and striking countenance belie the decades. Born in Palm Beach’s five-star Breakers Hotel in 1943 — then a converted hospital during World War II, she recalled.

“It was a mistake,” Woronov, her gray eyes matching her stylishly cut gray hair, the latter tinged with mint green, said with a boisterous laugh, adding, “no…it wasn’t.”

Talking in her airy apartment near downtown, one filled with dozens of her oil paintings, hundreds of books and a cache of memorabilia, this erstwhile star of numerous classic Andy Warhol films, including 1966’s “Chelsea Girls,” continued, “I was a preemie, preemie, preemie and they immediately put me in a box. My grandmother looked at me and I had black fur on me — pre-natal hair — and a coccyx cyst. So I had a tail and my grandmother said, ‘That’s not ours. Take that back.'”

Woronov, who went on to appear in some 80 films, including such B-classics as “Death Race 2000” and “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School,” as well as making mainstream TV appearances in “Charlie’s Angeles,” “Knight Rider” and on the soap, “Somerset,” is a walking Wikipedia of several by-gone eras.

As to her rebel nature, well, that’s obviously embedded in her DNA.”

Read the full piece by clicking here.

Mary Woronov

The Beginning of Art in the Arthouse: You’re Invited

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Outside of your home or office walls, how often do you really get the chance to get to know a work of art in person? Gallery openings and museum visits are often “drive by” affairs that typically limit your engagement. And, even assuming you still have an independent brewing house nearby, coffee house art is unpredictable in quality.

Enter Laemmle’s new Art in the Arthouse program. It promises to deliver a unique and alternative art-viewing experience. By reclaiming wall space throughout its theaters for the display of fine art, Laemmle will give its patrons a chance to bond with notable and emerging L.A. based visual artists and their work. Exhibits will last three to four months, affording regular movie-goers ample time to get to know a piece through repeat visits and exposure. Curatorial standards will be high, in keeping with the approach that has distinguished Laemmle as a film exhibitor over the years.

Art in the Arthouse is the brainchild of Laemmle president, Greg Laemmle. “Switching to digital poster frames conserves both paper and wall space,” says Laemmle. “This opened up the opportunity to extend the cultural scope of our theaters to include the visual fine arts.”

Our first two events feature artists Dave Lefner at the Royal and Bea Husman at the NoHo. The Lefner exhibit opening is February 19 — RSVP here — and the Husman exhibit opening is February 26 — RSVP here. Proceeds from the sale of art benefit the Laemmle Charitable Foundation.

Learn more!

Art in the Arthouse: Dave Lefner “Marquee”