Artists explore changing environments at the Irvine Fine Arts Center
Virginia Arce, exhibitions program coordinator at Irvine Fine Arts Center, insists the gallery’s new exhibition, “End as Beginning,” was not made in reaction to the recent presidential election.
“Thematically, the exhibition has kind of an evergreen character to it,” said Arce.
But she understands why it hard for viewers not to compare the themes of the sculptural and installation-based works of Randi Hokett, Zara Kuredjian and Patricia Liverman on view in the Main Gallery to the current cultural climate.
“Randi Hokett, for example, is very interested in volcanoes and very dramatic shifts in space as a metaphor for personal growth,” said Arce. “A dramatic rift into the everyday that forces us to recalibrate and think about how we are and how we make due with this new, very radically changed landscape that we are in.”
Of course, the exhibition, one of two that opened at the Irvine Fine Arts Center on Nov. 16, was in the works long before election night. The Irvine Fine Arts Center emphasizes contemporary artists who are in an emergent place in their careers, and their intuition most certainly plays a role in the themes their work reflects.
“I think artists are always tapping into these kind of things and it is natural for their work,” Arce said.
Some of Hokett’s pieces, like “This Eruption Undoes,” visualize a split with black drywall opening to reveal a kaleidoscope of reds, oranges and yellows, signifying basaltic lava with the magma underneath. Hokett is also well-known for using mineral crystal growth as an element in her art, and a white sparkling mass crystalizes and spreads on an installation of black shards shooting up from the ground like jagged pieces of obsidian.
“This will change as the exhibition continues and it is absorbing moisture in the air,” Arce said of the crystal. “I like this idea that it is bursting through the ground as a metaphor that whether you want to or not there are these shifts in life that force you to adapt.”
Zara Kuredjian, on the other hand, examines perceptions and uses the cosmos as a way to consider our temporality here on earth. As an interdisciplinary artist, Kuredjian taught herself how to make mirrors and casts sculptures in silver and resin. A new work called “Vertical” makes it debut at the exhibition. Made from tinted epoxy and silver, the black bars reveal sparkles of the metal when the light catches the interior of the rods.
“Zara is also interested in the light and space movement,” said Arce. “Seeing this piece and how it is activated throughout the course of the day as the light moves up, you are seeing different views of the material inside, your relationship to it changes.”
Patricia Liverman’s pieces take inspiration from natural formations and geological events. Made from layer upon layer of oil paint peeled from a surface, the works have movement in their fragility and the strategic placement of the pieces by Arce helps them to take flight.
“Something I really wanted to consider in all of the artwork is to think about space. It is nice to be able to allow for some improvisation,” said Arce.
Liverman’s “Cities in Dust” creeps up the wall like a black wing but also spreads onto the floor, for example.
In Gallery 1, an entirely different exhibition is taking place. “For Me and You” highlights multidisciplinary artworks by Ann Phong and Gloria Gem Sánchez who draw attention to ecosystems we live in and what we leave behind for the generations that follow.
Phong’s work is informed by her immigrant experience, having been born in Saigon and leaving Vietnam as a refugee in 1981. She is concerned with the environment but manages to explore it while maintaining a level of optimism. She cracks open futuristic globes to reveal found objects and complicated infrastructure in pieces like “Human Traces of Earth” and “We Open the Earth to Search for Treasure but Find Only Trash.” In another piece, “Clothes in the Sea,” she captures the beauty of the ocean in a painted tapestry of an aquatic scene that upon closer examination contains a baby onesie and a lone baby shoe floating in its waves.
Like Phong, Sánchez is conscious of waste and tries to avoid buying materials just for her art, using instead found objects and upcycled mediums.
“They didn’t know each other; they met each other through this exhibition, but their work has a lot of resonance,” said Arce of the two artists.
“Mahal Ko Kayo,” Tagalog for “I love you,” is made using preserved palm leaves, cowrie shells, bougainvillea flowers, jasmine vines and braided hair that references Sanchez’s heritage while honoring generations passed with reproductions of family photos. Her sculpture “Linisin:Limpia” uses preserved pandan leaves, guava and palm leaves with a Walis Tambo, a traditional style broom found in most Filipino households, which holds meaning as a housekeeping tool used to steward the home but also alludes to a spiritual cleaning.
Arce said she feels a responsibility to provide the Orange County community with a wide range of artwork they can enjoy, and the two shows certainly accomplish that.
“I also want to balance supporting contemporary artists and showing artwork that has either some material or conceptual element that is interesting that sets it apart,” said Arce. “We are creating a space where the local community can see interesting work.”
Both “End as Beginning” and “For Me and You” are on view at the Irvine Fine Arts Center at 14321 Yale Ave. in Irvine through Jan. 25.
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