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Up The Rule of Progress Rob Grad Southern California native, Rob Grad, is known for his introspective, yet bold 3D collages, sculptures, writing, and music. His heavily layered visuals contrast photographic vignettes of natural and urban environments, with drawing, painting, and his words–an aesthetic largely shaped by his two decades living in Venice Beach, CA. Grad’s approach to using Joshua Trees in his work is largely metaphorical. He references a story of Mormons naming the trees, where they felt the branches were reaching to heaven. This work was inspired by a poem Grad wrote about progress, and how it can’t be measured with a line on a graph. He writes, “it’s a flailing, fussy, slobbery glob.” In this image, Grad is posing the question, what actually is “progress?” What is the benefit? And what is the cost? Lines and shapes move in and around the branches, suggesting how close our relationship is with our environment, even at great distances apart. But it is only the tree that touches the ground and has the ability to find water for nourishment in the barren landscape. The idea of nourishment can also be seen as a metaphor here, for nourishing our desires and our thirst for a better life and a better tomorrow. Is that in fact, what we are creating? Can society as a whole actually learn and grow from its missteps? Grad’s work addresses the existential issues of desire and fulfillment in a society inundated by technology, social media, and politics. His new work is increasingly influenced by his early career as a musician when he was signed to RCA records and appeared on MTV not long after graduating high school. He is a product of the “MTV generation,” which found its identity through a shared global experience before the invention of social media. It was a generation that invented itself as it went along. This ethos is a cornerstone of Grad’s studio practice, always pushing himself into new and uncomfortable territory in an effort to extract the extraordinary from the mundane. He has shown in museums, galleries, and art fairs from Basel to Miami, and Los Angeles. Recent exhibitions include the Museum of Art and History in Lancaster, CA, and the Torrance Art Museum in Torrance, CA. He has commissioned work in the San Francisco airport, Hudson Pacific Properties, El Rancho Properties, the Zildjian corporate offices in Boston and Los Angeles, LA’s Griffin Athletic Club, and his work is held in private collections. Rob gave a TEDx Talk in Culver City, CA about authenticity in art and following the internal muse, and participated in a video project for TikTok China. He also writes a blog about his art practice called “Creativesphere,” and speaks to students in schools about the importance of learning to think creatively not only in art but to solve problems in today’s culture and society. January - June 2023 Back to list

Up The New Vanguard III Various Artists Solo exhibitions: Kathy Ager Alex Garant Inga Guzyte Kayla Mahaffey Kevin Peterson Special group show curated by: Thinkspace Projects Special Installation by: Spenser Little The Lancaster Museum of Art and History, in collaboration with Los Angeles’ Thinkspace Projects, is pleased to present The New Vanguard III , a dynamic group exhibition of works by international artists working in the New Contemporary art movement. The highly anticipated follow up to 2018’s successful second iteration of The New Vanguard, on view in tandem with this year’s POW WOW! Antelope Valley will feature special solo projects by artists Kevin Peterson, Kayla Mahaffey, Kathy Ager and Alex Garant. The New Vanguard III , in keeping with the first two installments, will present a diverse and expansive group of curated new works. In addition to the solo exhibitions on view from Mahaffey, Peterson, Ager and Garant, we will also be presenting our ’ Small Victories ’ group show focusing on suicide prevention and mental health. We’ve lost one of our greatest allies and friends and one of our rising stars to this ever growing epidemic in recent years. Sadly this issue is very wide spread in the creative community and we want to help raise awareness and funds. If it helps guide just one person out of the darkness, it was more than worth it to mount this collection of works. This special showcase will include new pieces by ABCNT, Adam Caldwell, Ador, AKACORLEONE, Allison Sommers, Angel Once, Anthony Hurd, Anthony Solano, Atomik, Brad Woodfin, Brian Mashburn, Bryan Valenzuela, Carl Cashman, Charlie Edmiston, Chloe Becky, Cinta Vidal, Clare Toms, Collin van der Sluijs, David Rice, Derek Gores, Dovie Golden, Dragon76, Drew Young, Edith Lebeau, Eduardo F. Angel, Erik Mark Sandberg, Frank Gonzales, Ghost Beard, Goopmassta, Hilda Palafox, Hola Lou, Huntz Liu, Imon Boy, Jaime Molina, Jeff Ejan, Jimmer Willmott, Kaplan Bunce, Kate Wadsworth, Kelly Vivanco, Ken Flewellyn, Kim Sielbeck, KOZ DOS, Lauren Hana Chai, Lauren YS, Linsey Levendall, Mando Marie, Manuel Zamudio, Mari Inukai, Max Sansing, McKenzie Fisk, Meggs, Molly Gruninger, Mwanel Pierre-Louis, Nicola Caredda, Patch Whisky, Ricky Watts, Roos van der Vliet, Saturno, Sergio Garcia, Shar Tuiasoa, Stephanie Buer, Tati Holt, Telmo Miel, TMRWLND, Waylon Horner, and Wiley Wallace. A movement unified as much by its diversity as its similitude, ‘New Contemporary’ has come to denote an important heterogeneity of styles, media, contexts, and activations over the course of its establishment since the 90s. Unified in its fledgling beginnings by a founding countercultural impulse searching for its own nomenclature, the New Contemporary movement’s shifting and inclusive designations have offered alternative narratives over the years to those popularized by the dominant art establishment and its conceptual predilections. Though stylistically disparate, the work belonging to this rapidly expansive movement reveals a desire to reference the popular, social, and subcultural domains of contemporary experience, grounding, rather than rarifying, imagery in the familiar. Looking to the urban landscape and the kaleidoscopic shift of individual identities within it, these artists use the figurative and narrative to anchor their work in the accessible and aesthetically relatable. A fundamentally democratic stance governs the ambitions of this new guard, ever in search of novel ways to expand rather than to contract. Kayla Mahaffey – Adrift Born and raised on Chicago’s South Side, Kayla Mahaffey (also known as KaylaMay) is quickly becoming one of the city’s most sought-after artists with her unique blend of flat, cartoon elements with brilliant photo-realism. Mahaffey’s work gives voice to the unheard stories of contemporary youth and, as explained by the artist, “serves as a guide to bring hope back into our daily lives by cherishing each moment, not in the mindset of an adult, but with the fresh eyes and imagination of a child.” Being born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, only ignited Mahaffey’s love for all things art. The artist elaborates, “seeing the struggle and the support from the community made my work evolve to a concept that is personal to me. I continue to further my technique and creativity in my field in order to paint a beautiful picture of a new world for those around me. Living in our society can be tough and most of the time we have to make the best of it. A wild imagination can take you so far, but at the end of the day we need to realize and observe the world around us. And the world around us is where I find my inspiration to paint. Colorful paintings that contain hints of whimsy and realism that tell a story of inner thoughts and personal issues that sometimes go unheard.” Inga Guzyte - Kindred Spirits Inga Guzyte is a sculptural-portraiture artist who melds her love of sculpture and skate culture into intricate, larger-than-life interpretations of powerful women. Guzyte utilizes recycled skateboards complete with scratches and scrapes conveying a sense of character, adding a “lived in” quality to her works, and portraying the authenticity of her art subjects. Her deconstruction of materials allows her to create the colors and shapes needed to produce a three-dimensional quality to her works. Through the exploration of important historical figures and social movements, Guzyte explores her humanity and encourages female viewers to ponder their thoughts on their own terms. Guzyte’s series of work, Kindred Spirits, pulls from her own experiences as a woman in male dominated fields such as: skateboarding, woodworking, and sculpture and the traumatic experience of being abandoned by her father in her formative years. From powerful female figures like Malala Yousafzai, to influential artists like Patssi Valdez and Alison Saar, Guzyte places the central crux of her works on the female experience. Her materials are discarded and broken, however, the end result is that which embodies graphic power and grace. Despite her use of recycled skateboards, every piece is carefully selected, providing a dimensional and complex quality to her pieces. Guzyte’s work provides a sense of catharsis in her own experiences, as she reflects and re-creates the stories of these influential women, she gains courage and strength. Guzyte was born in Lithuania and emigrated to Germany. Inspired by the skateboard culture of California, Guzyte moved to Santa Barbara, California. In 2011, she had her first exhibition in Santa Barbara and would soon move to New York City, showing her artworks in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Shortly thereafter, she would move to Switzerland to complete an art residency in Vienna, Austria. Guzyte would display her first piece in Switzerland and in 2017, her pieces would regularly be featured in group exhibitions. Guzyte received her Associate of Arts degree at Santa Barbara City College. She currently resides in Santa Barbara, California. Kathy Ager - Fool’s Gold Kathy Ager creates detailed still lifes that feel simultaneously Baroque and acerbically modern. Inspired by the 17th-century Golden Age of Dutch and Spanish painting, her imagery uses historical visual rhetoric to deliver intensely personal and emotively charged themes. A professional graphic designer-turned painter, this is Ager’s first complete body of work to date and includes ten new paintings. Ager begins her process with language – an idea or expression often gleaned from music, a book, or some other source that resonates personally. She then endeavors to resolve the concept visually through objects and composition, assembling a patchwork of references – some collective and shared from pop culture, others steeped in the idiosyncrasies of the personal. Both poetic and revelatory, Ager’s works feel charged with the simultaneous misery and beauty of contemporary appropriation – and express the current world through the formal repositories of the past to create anachronistic moments of resonance and delivery. Ever present amidst moments of undeniably expressed disappointment and disillusionment are redemptive linings, beautifully poignant discoveries, and playful, irreverent mirth. The seductive darkness with which Ager reveals universal human longings is both disarming and consuming. Broken hearts are offered up as organs in a bowl, skeletal memento mori abound, and dating feels about as abject in the modern world as butchery; books are stacked with suggestive spines, and flowers wither while fruit threatens to decay. The abattoir is never far from the transcendent ambitions of classical statuary in Ager’s world, while beauty is embroiled in the vulnerability of intimacy and self-exposure. Alex Garant - Deconstructing Identities Toronto-based, Canadian, Québéquois artist Alex Garant is a painter known for her hyper-realistically rendered Op Art portraits in which the faces and eyes of her subjects seem to skip their registers through image redoubling and superimposition, Garant is in search of the frenetic internal life of the sitter. Not unlike the fugitive flicker of a screen or the spectral layering of multiple film exposures, her portraits reveal an unsettling multiplicity, shifting beneath the subject’s surface. Garant creates faces that challenge the optics of identity and the reductive way in which it is perceived, with a visual gimmick that quite literally dislodges and displaces its coherence to produce skittering psychological images of fracture and ricochet. Garant has long been fascinated by the interaction of patterns and symmetry, and the resulting optics of their graphic repetition and layering. Her portraits begin with a series of superimposed drawings based on her sitters, actual individuals, and muses from her life, and pushes the familiar confines of portraiture to a newly strange and re-sensitized place of sensory confusion. Her subjects and their energy seem to erupt from within, testing the tensile seams of the skin, the body, as always, an insufficient vessel for the incongruous experience within. The artist’s labor-intensive oil paintings are meticulously executed, often incorporating patterning or other graphic elements and motifs to produce reverberating visual effects. Garant’s color palette ranges from the subtlety of realistic flesh tones to hyper-colored gradients, saturated pastels, and translucent gem-like washes of color. Her stylizations of these vertiginous portraits thrive in surreal kitsch to interrupt the apprehension of the subject, activating a process of invested viewing, that is of trying to “see” the person amidst the trappings of hallucinatory visual interference. The compelling and somewhat unsuccessful process of attempting to stabilize the image produces a fundamental feeling of perceptual instability, one that intensifies our stolen communion with an evasive subject. Kevin Peterson – Embers Kevin Peterson, a gifted hyperrealist painter, creates a fictional world in which innocence and collapse are brought into difficult proximity. His arresting images combine portraits of children accompanied by kindly sentient beasts in a state of kindred displacement. Alone, though together, in strangely desolate, richly graffitied urban scenes, these babes and their benevolent conspirators appear interchangeably as beacons of hope and symbols of dispossession. Peterson’s works harness a dystopian social hyperrealism through painstaking attention to every possible fraction and detail of the mundane in their execution – every contour is excised, every surface meticulously rendered. The weird crystal clarity of the hyperreal in the depiction of these desolate underpasses and structural ruins provides a starkly strange backdrop for elements of fairytale, like the fantastic alliances proposed between children and animals, and the magical narratives these allegiances imply. A psychologically poignant, if not ambiguous, feeling of transformation and hope lingers in these impossibly arresting scenes of solitary kids. The resilience they suggest is haunting, while the unsettling verity with which these vulnerable fictions are cast strike something in our shared fear of literal and figurative exposure. Always in search of poetic tension and compelling contrasts, Peterson alloys unlikely parts: beginnings and ends collide, the young appear in worn and weathered worlds, innocence is forced into experience, and the wild infringes upon the ‘civilizing’ city limits. In Wild, Peterson explores themes of protection and marginalization, staging wild animals, ironically, in the humanizing and civilizing charge of caregivers. Though a recurring suggestion in previous works, the role of the animal in a nearly shamanistic role as protector and watcher appears more overtly in the new. Small children are attended by wild bears, watchful raccoons, gentle fawns, mythic looking ravens, owls, and jungle cats, among others, as they hold a living and protective vigil against the crumbling architectures around them; their guardianship staged like a protective bulwark. Peterson’s hyperreal paintings are at times uncomfortably close in the pathos of their offerings; they remind us, too, of something uneasily present in us all, a childhood that haunts the posturing of all of our adulthoods. Ultimately, Peterson’s works offer beautifully jarring reminders of the need for redemptive outcomes in a disappointed time. Spenser Little - Illumination Devices Spenser Little is a self-taught artist who has been bending wire and carving wood for almost 20 years, allowing his creativity to morph into images that range from simple wordplay to complex portraits. He has related his wire work to a mixture of playing chess and illustration, as the problem-solving component of the work is what continues to inspire himself to create larger and more complex pieces. Some works contain moving components and multiple wires, but mostly the pieces are formed from one continuous piece of wire that is bent and molded to Little’s will. He has left the wire sculptures all over the world, in locations that range from the Eiffel Tower to the bottom of caves, their location selected with little discernment, only for the piece to be finally realized at the moment that someone discovers the surprise piece of art. Little has taken part in numerous POW! WOW! mural festivals in the past few years, which has exposed his work to an entire new audience via their network of art sites/blogs and having his work shared all over the world including the likes of the Antelope Valley (Lancaster, California); Long Beach, California; Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Honolulu, Hawaii; Israel; and San Jose, California. Regarding his new body of work, Spenser shares “To me, all art is a form of illumination devices. For this exhibition I have built a new series of mixed-media kinetic lamps. The lamps serve as bright facades for inner, hidden chambers. Looking through their constantly closing and opening doors, viewers are offered a peek at what makes them tick. Like the different layers we develop throughout our lives, we only allow certain people to see our most inner workings, while the majority are only able to see our polished exteriors. The lamp building process begins with the wood carving of the central character’s head. I then weld a round bar frame for the outline of the body. I don’t put much forethought into where the design will go, aesthetic or engineering wise, which allows me to adapt any spontaneous idea during the build. Once I have the legs and body welded out and sized to the wooden head, I begin to problem shoot the kinetic portion of the build. Which is the unnatural part for my purely sculptor’s brain. Once all of the kinetic components are complete, I clean and bake the paper skin on the lamp, allowing them to come to life.” Small Victories A group show focusing on suicide prevention and mental health. This special showcase will includes new pieces by Adam Caldwell, Ador, AKACORLEONE, Allison Sommers, Angel Once, Anthony Hurd, Anthony Solano, Atomik, Brad Woodfin, Brian Mashburn, Bryan Valenzuela, Carl Cashman, Charlie Edmiston, Chloe Becky, Cinta Vidal, Clare Toms, Collin van der Sluijs, David Rice, Derek Gores, Dovie Golden, Dragon76, Drew Young, Edith Lebeau, Eduardo F. Angel, Erik Mark Sandberg, Frank Gonzales, Ghost Beard, Goopmassta, Hilda Palafox, Hola Lou, Huntz Liu, Imon Boy, Jaime Molina, Jeff Ejan, Jimmer Willmott, Kaplan Bunce, Kate Wadsworth, Kelly Vivanco, Ken Flewellyn, Kim Sielbeck, KOZ DOS, Lauren Hana Chai, Lauren YS, Linsey Levendall, Mando Marie, Manuel Zamudio, Mari Inukai, Max Sansing, McKenzie Fisk, Meggs, Molly Gruninger, Mwanel Pierre-Louis, Nicola Caredda, Patch Whisky, Ricky Watts, Roos van der Vliet, Saturno, Sergio Garcia, Shar Tuiasoa, Stephanie Buer, Tati Holt, Telmo Miel, TMRWLND, Waylon Horner, and Wiley Wallace. September 12 – December 27, 2020 Back to list

Up The Robot Show Various Artists Solo exhibitions: Dave Pressler Jeff Soto Cristopher Cichocki Chenhung Chen Alex Kritselis Robert Nelson Karen Hochman Brown Patrick McGillligan The Robot Show is comprised of eight exhibitions exploring the place robots, and other forms of artificial intelligence, have in a contemporary social landscape – from popular culture to nature and spirituality. Featured in the Main Gallery at MOAH is a retrospective of Emmy-nominated artist and animator, Dave Pressler. The Robot Show also showcases the solo exhibitions of Jeff Soto, Patrick McGilligan, Robert Nelson and Karen Hochman Brown, with site specific installations by artists Cristopher Cichocki, Alexander Kritselis, and Chenhung Chen. Dave Pressler’s 20-year retrospective, Idea to Object , is a narrative of his career, which focuses on how he made his ideas a reality. Pressler’s robots are fixtures in popular culture and he is best known for his Emmy-nominated Nickelodeon series, Robot and Monster . “Pressler’s work appeals to audiences of all ages,” says Andi Campognone, Curator at MOAH. “His work is a great example of the combination of strong contemporary concepts and expert craft, and we are so excited to exhibit his work for both the Lancaster and greater Los Angeles communities.” Jeff Soto, in the East Gallery, is a pop-surrealist who also features robots prominently in his bold paintings and murals, which are meant to evoke nostalgia and the natural environment. In the South Gallery, Cristopher Cichocki furthers this connection between the artificial and the natural with his newest body of work, Divisions of Land and Sea , which combines audiovisual performance and black light painting into an immersive environment. Karen Hochman Brown’s digital photographic compositions will be highlighted in the North Gallery joining Robert Nelson’s robot paintings in the Wells Fargo Gallery along with Patrick McGilligan’s work in the Museum’s lobby and atrium. Alexander Kritselis will feature one of his multimedia installations in windows of the Museum’s Hernando and Fran Marroquin Family Classroom. Rounding out this exhibition is Chenhung Chen, a Los Angeles-based artist, who will be installing her technology-based towers in the Vault Gallery. Dave Pressler: Idea to Object Dave Pressler is a Chicago born, Los Angeles based artist and character designer who has used sculpture and illustration to fuse together his passions for fine art and pop entertainment. He is a self-described “blue-collar artist,” meaning he subscribes to the notion that there is no such thing as high or low art because all art requires skill, technique and imagination regardless of medium or intent. This exhibition is a survey of Pressler’s 20 year career, focusing on whimsical portraits of robots and fantasy creatures. Dave Pressler’s Idea to Object exhibition gives the public the opportunity to view the thought process in character designing, and the transformation from idea to object. This installation includes work made over two decades, as well as themes of demystifying the art process, and demonstrated through learning technique and hard work that anyone who wants to can pursue art. Pressler has collaborated with many notable artists including Mark Ryden, Camille Rose Garcia and Ron English. Pressler has worked from the smallest scale to sculpting large scale robots both for exhibition and for fun. He recently created a custom printed robot in partnership with Pretty In Plastic. This robot is hand painted and a limited edition, the Shut Up And Draw! robot will come with a custom pencil and stand 8 inches tall. In addition to sculpting, character development and animation Pressler is a celebrated illustrator and recently released the Scholastic book Back to School with Big Foot. Dave Pressler is an Emmy-nominated television producer, character designer, animator, illustrator, sculptor and painter. Over his career he has designed characters and IPs for a variety of children’s entertainment companies and co-created Nickelodeon’s Robot and Monster and the stop-motion animated series How to Do Everything with Garrick and Marvin for DreamWorksTV. Concurrently, his designer toys and artwork have been sold in galleries all over the world. Dave Pressler currently resides in Los Angeles and is committed to creating at least one robot a day. Jeff Soto: Futuregods In his formative years, Jeff Soto discovered traditional painting and street graffiti at the same time. This simultaneous exploration of both worlds conceived his unique style and continues to inform his work to this day. His distinct color palette, subject matter and technique bridges the gap between pop surrealism and street art, inspired by youthful nostalgia, nature and popular culture. Soto depicts friendly creatures and personifications of earth’s forces that thrive in a dystopian environment plagued by the complexities of modern living. The robot-like creatures wear friendly smiles that may mask their real intentions. They are super complex beings, just as we are; some are good and some are evil, but most are somewhere in between. Soto’s otherworldly creatures roam the surreal landscape and are surrounded by overgrown greenery, deteriorating technology and overall societal decay. Plants and wildlife are taking over technology and in many cases merging together. However, Soto’s use of vibrant colors and organic shapes evoke a sense of hope and effort to revitalize, communicating themes of family, nature, life and death. In addition to painting and commercial illustration, Jeff Soto has been painting murals internationally including New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Miami, London and Paris. Soto shows with Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York City. He is represented by B&A Reps for illustration work. He will be one of the featured POW!WOW! Antelope Valley artists in Lancaster this October. Jeff Soto received an Associate’s degree from Riverside City College, a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and currently resides in Riverside, California. Cristopher Cichocki: Divisions of Land and Sea Cristopher Cichocki encapsulates the cycle of decay and renewal through an examination between humankind, the natural world and industrial production. Expanding upon the historical trajectory of Land Art, Cichocki underlines the increasingly toxic global environment confronting our planet in the new millennium. Situated on the fringe of art and natural science, the artist’s environmental interventions reflect on the timeline spanning from prehistoric oceans to present-day transmutations. For decades, Cichocki’s work has been immersed in the desert of southern California, responding to the dynamic ecology and water issues of the region through interconnected works of painting, sculpture, video, photography, performance, sound, installation and architectural intervention. The contrasting application of fluorescent color in Cichocki’s palette stems from his earlier explorations of street markings used for construction and infrastructural development. In the midst of desert landscapes once submerged underwater, these fluorescent applications become further amplified as suggestions of deep sea bioluminescence when exposed under the ultraviolet radiation of black light. Divisions of Land and Sea merges both as excavations and restorations distilled from elements Cichocki regards as surviving seeds from an ancient ocean. Cichocki received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of Art, CalArts, Valencia, California. His work has been featured in numerous exhibitions around the world in such institutions as the Museum of Image and Sound, São Paulo; Bienalle Urbana, Venice; Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin; Casa França-Brasil, Rio de Janerio; Museum of Moving Image, New York; Portland Museum of Contemporary Art, Portland, Oregon; Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, California; Artere-A, Guadalajara; Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, California; MM Center Cinema, Zagreb, Croatia; and The Paseo Project, Taos, New Mexico. Cichocki works and resides in the Coachella Valley in California. Chenhung Chen: I Ching in America 2.0 In her work, Chenhung Chen is completely involved with line, having first recognized its power in Chinese calligraphy and painting, and later American Abstract Expressionism. Through her line focus, she is able to express feelings of delicacy, power, buoyancy, strength and constant motion. The linear qualities inherent in nature also inform her assemblage process and creative vision. Her work refers to dichotomy: concord and dissonance, stillness and chaos, the beautiful and the grotesque, the subtle and the powerful. From her urban recluse experience, through mixed media works, Chen strives to express her perception of the inner existence: its simplicity and its profundity. Included in her freestanding 3D work are recycled materials, or the detritus of technology, such as copper wire, electrical wire and an array of electronic and computer components. The fact that this material’s original function was to harness electrical power and transform its potential, bending it to the will of man, is fascinating to Chen. In her 2D work, she experiments with materials from graphite to ink, oil to acrylic, paper to canvas, as well as daily use objects with linear qualities. Chen graduated from the Chinese Cultural University and received her Master of Fine Art at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She has traveled the world spending time in India, Malaysia, Australia, Thailand, North Eastern China as well as Beijing and Rome, as a volunteer for the Prem Rawat Foundation working for global peace. Her artwork has been exhibited across the United States and internationally including locations throughout the Los Angeles and San Diego area, New York, Utah and Taiwan. Chenhung Chen was born in Beigang, Taiwan, and currently lives and works in Los Angeles. Alex Kritselis: Predator/Prey Alex Kritselis is a multidisciplinary artist who grew up in Athens, Greece. Over the past 10 years, along with his paintings and sculptures, he has created numerous private and public site-specific installations, video presentations, and mixed media works, often collaborating with his wife, cinematographer Joey Forsyte. Kritselis moved to the US in the mid seventies to be part of the discourse surrounding contemporary issues in the visual arts. His work involves the examination of ancient myths, their relevance to traditional linear storytelling, influence on contemporary mores and present-day discourse on contemporary mythology and its links to the past. Kritselis is greatly influenced by Greece. He integrates classical rendering techniques with digital and other contemporary modalities. His art reflects on the individual and collective memory, as well as the friction of values past, present and future in our pursuit of self-determination and self-knowledge. The art he makes resemble fragmented pieces of memories and personal and collective histories. Traditional narrative and modern communication are woven together and “pixelated” into individual panels of wood, paper and metal. Painted, printed or engraved, they are in and of themselves complete works of art - free-floating thoughts, symbols, and impressions. When assembled, they embody the fragmentation of time and memory in history and mythology. Alex Kritselis received his MFA in Sculpture and Painting from Hornsey College of Art in London, England. With a scholarship from the Greek Academy of Arts and Sciences, he continued with postgraduate studies in sculpture at the Academia Della Beli Arti in Florence, Italy. He has taught at institutions in California and Texas, including Otis College of Art and Design, Pomona College, Claremont Graduate University, Texas University and Pasadena City College where he served as the Dean of the Visual Arts and Media Studies Division from 2002 to 2012. Kritselis serves on the Board of Armory Center for the Arts and has exhibited nationally and internationally in more than 25 solo and 50 invitational exhibits. Robert Nelson: Awakening The influence of Renaissance master painters is immediately apparent in Robert Nelson’s work, seen through his incorporation of faces from the paintings of Raphael or Bronzino, combined with the shape of his paintings which are often reminiscent of Medieval or Renaissance palace windows. Robert Nelson’s work mixes the hyper-realistic and the surreal, likewise, his subjects combine the familiar with the unexpected. Nelson’s work is about juxtaposition, using images that convey meaning on both an immediate and personal level, images that also seem to require the viewer to find a deeper meaning for themselves behind the themes and ideas that the artist explores. Robert Nelson’s work makes for a peculiar but intriguing union as he combines 16th century Italian Renaissance with modern imagery and concepts of our contemporary, technologically inclined world. He is transfixed by technology and also the compression of time. As our world is engulfed by the likes of computers, robots or other forms of evolved intelligence, Nelson takes a more analog approach to the work and does not use computers. All of his pieces are hand drawn using multiple layers of colored pencil and acrylic then sealed, giving the final product a glossy finish. Nelson studied Fine Art/Studio Art in college, and later joined the Navy. After retiring from the Navy, he went back to school and attended Platt College in San Diego where he studied graphic design and multimedia design. He worked as a graphic designer for over fifteen years and for the last eight has been working seriously as a fine artist. His works have been included in exhibitions since 2008 in San Diego and Los Angeles. Among the galleries where he has exhibited are The Los Angeles Art Association / Gallery 825, Los Angeles, Southwest College Art Gallery, Chula Vista, Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa, Lora Schlesinger Gallery, Santa Monica. Karen Hochman Brown: Elementals Karen Hochman Brown’s fascination with tessellations began as a young girl looking through her own handmade kaleidoscopes. Juxtaposing photography, digital processes and print with natural imagery, Hochman Brown continues this ritual exploration by creating her mandala-like images, examining the relationship between technological and natural environments. Hochman Brown turns and spins her brightly illuminated, photographic reflections creating a composition that is unbound by the limitation of the three-way reflection or a flat mirror technique of traditional kaleidoscopes. This process allows her artwork to play in the realm of infinite imagery, as she alters layer after layer to create a single, new composition from multiple, disparate reflections. Combining her digital process with a more traditional mixed-media approach, Hochman Brown furthers her examination of the virtual and physical manifestations of nature. Hochman Brown’s exploration of the natural and artificial are inspired by the distinct, immediate marriage of mathematical precision and aesthetic beauty. As exemplified in Elementals, Hochman Brown utilizes the four classical elements of air (aer), water (aqua), fire (ignus) and earth (terra) and both simple and complex machines as tools to reinterpret and manipulate the naturals world. Aer should feel like breath; Terra is solid yet fertile; Ignus is unstable and volatile; Aqua is powerful and ever-changing. Returning to the act of physically creating artwork composed of charmeuse, silk dupioni, wool, wood, aluminum and acrylic paint, Hochman Brown offers a softer quality to buffer against the technological noise that clutters daily life. Hochman Brown received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Pitzer College in Claremont, California. She continued to study math and post-graduate work at California College of Arts and Crafts, creating a course titled Construction Geometry via Art. She has spent time teaching this curriculum at the Arts Magnet High School in Oakland and The Waldorf School in Altadena, California. She has studied graphic design at the University of California, Los Angeles and Art Center College of Design, Pasadena. Patrick McGilligan: Robot and Friends Iconoclastic, irreverent and yet somehow sympathetic, Patrick McGilligan depicts dreamlike characters rising from the depths of popular culture and his own personal narrative. In fleeting moments of interaction, McGilligan examines tropes of popular culture: flying monkeys, aliens, cyclopes, killer robots and grotesque bodies with helpless facial expressions in concentrated moments of abject despair. McGilligan rejects the notion that this world is one of grace, beauty and simplistic perfection with his portraits, inventing his own garish, surreal pop-mythology. Inspired by his childhood growing up in the late 1970s, McGilligan references classic monster and horror movies of the day including Japanese and American staples such as Godzilla and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. He uses these icons as an entry point, delving into a futuristic realm of science fiction - exploring an alternate reality inhabited by giant robots in a world where humankind is subjugated and machines are worshipped as the new gods. Patrick McGilligan, also known as “The Lethargic Artist”, is a southern California-based artist known for his work on the windows of the Santa Monica VIDIOTS video rental store. McGilligan grew up in Norwalk, California and is a self-taught artist. He has exhibited at Art Share L.A., Coagula Curatorial, MuzeuMM and Keystone Art Space, with shows such as Never Have I Ever , Exquisite Pittoresco , Nude Survey Five , The $99 Painting Show and The PussyCat Challenge . McGilligan has recently published a book called The Lethargic Artist Coloring Book . August 4 - September 27, 2018 Back to list

Up Hysteria Cudra Clover Silk painter and multimedia artist, Cudra Clover, is currently working on her Biomorphic Abstraction collection; the term "biomorphic" refers to symbolic structures or images that evoke naturally occurring forms such as plants, organisms, and body parts. Clover describes her work as creating new worlds on a microcosmic level. Mixing science and art, she researches pandemics, viruses, water, genetics, and plant cells. Clover creates her biologically inspired silk painting using camera technology, microscopes, projectors, biologists, and scientific photo research in her artistic method. Clover's silks paintings are a time-consuming and detailed process that she views as a meditative practice on living things, both real and imagined. Clover, in this process, uses the Japanese fabric dyeing technique, rozome, and elements of the Indonesian method of wax-resist dyeing, batik. She also incorporates aspects of French Serti, a silk painting method in which painters outline their designs with gutta or water-based resistance. In creating biomorphic abstract art, Clover attempts to provoke viewers to reflect on the natural world invisible to the naked eye and the overstimulation of technology in our everyday lives. June 5 – September 5, 2021 Back to list

Up Golden Hour: California Photography from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Various Artists In Golden Hour, over 70 artists and three photography collectives offer an aesthetic approach to understanding the complexities and histories of California. These images, gathered from the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, have come to define the myths, iconographies, and realities of this unique state. Pairing masters of photography with experimental practitioners in a range of lens-based media that includes photo sculpture, vernacular, and video work, the selection blurs the boundaries of the tropes that formed a California identity. With works ranging from the early 1900s to present day, Golden Hour is neither a didactic history of the state nor an inclusive tale of photographic history, but rather artists’ impressions of the state of being in, and being influenced by, California. This exhibition was organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in collaboration with the Lancaster Museum of Art and History; Riverside Art Museum; Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College; and California State University, Northridge, Art Galleries. Local Access is a series of American art exhibitions created through a multi-year, multi-institutional partnership formed by LACMA as part of the Art Bridges + Terra Foundation Initiative. February 7 – May 9, 2021 Back to list

Activist Graphics from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Up What Would You Say? Various Artists Activist Graphics from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Featuring: Emory Douglas • Sheila Levrant de Bretteville • Shepard Fairey & more Since the mid-20th century, California has been a beacon of both inventive design and political activism. Exploring the intersection of these two realms, this exhibition uses case studies from LACMA’s collection to demonstrate how designers and artists championed civil rights, opposed wars and injustice, and pressed for change. Skilled communicators by profession, they distilled complex issues into eye-catching images, often appropriating commercial art techniques—from newspaper broadsheets to screen prints to digital downloads—to distribute powerful imagery despite limited resources. Others led workshops and formed printing collectives, providing movements with new methods for disseminating their messages. Their works express both outrage and optimism, going beyond protest to envision alternative ways of living. Key figures and organizations including Emory Douglas of the Black Panther Party, Sheila Levrant de Bretteville of the Woman’s Building, Self Help Graphics & Art, and street artist Shepard Fairey achieved widespread acclaim and notoriety, galvanizing political movements and empowering marginalized communities. This exhibition was organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in collaboration with the Lancaster Museum of Art and History; Riverside Art Museum; California State University, Northridge, Art Galleries; an Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles Collage. Local Access is a series of American art exhibitions created through a multi-year, multi-institutional partnership formed by LACMA as part of the Art Bridges Initiative. January 22 - April 16, 2022 Back to list

Elyze Clifford Interpretive Center (ECIC) 43201 35th St W, Lancaster, CA 93536 Open Saturday and Sunday | 10 AM - 4 PM Closed Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Holidays **Prime Desert Woodland Preserve Open Daily | Sunrise - Sunset (661) 723-6230 The Elyze Clifford Interpretive Center was first established in 1992 through efforts from the community, Lancaster City Council, and Elizabeth “Elyze” Clifford, an environmentalist that rallied to preserve the unique desert landscape. MOAH redesigned the space and now manages all the outreach and programming for Elyze Clifford Interpretive Center. The Center is nestled within the Prime Desert Woodland Preserve, which spans more than 120 acres with over three miles of trails. This center allows patrons to connect with plants and animals living in the Mojave Desert region. The Elyze Clifford Interpretive Center also provides educational opportunities through its immersive location that includes special nature presentations and tours, free kid’s crafts, and community events. Crafts at ECIC Request a Tour On View at ECIC Lorraine Bubar: Desert Cuts Artist Lorraine Bubar spent six months exploring the preserve, creating colorful hand-cut paper artworks inspired by our local desert wildlife and landscapes. Desert Cuts captures the magic of metamorphosis, movement, and Mojave life through prints of these intricate “paintings with paper.” Learn More > View The Self Guided Tour Read the self-guided tour and enjoy the Elyz e Clifford Interpretive Center, with a tour guide at your finger tips. Learn More > View the Trail Map See PDWP's trails and geography from a bird's eye perspective. Learn More > ECIC + PDWP Exhibitions Prime Desert Woodland Kestrel Nest Box Re ad more about this project with American Kestrel Partnership. Learn More > Visiting one of our museums? Let us help you plan your trip!

The Body is a House for Thoughts < Back Previous Angela Casagrande The Body is a House for Thoughts To Angela Kahoali’i Casagrande, the camera is her third eye. Her lens-based process creates a visual assemblage of reconstruction and remembrance. For Casagrande, photography is a tool that encapsulates a moment in time, forging it into a tactile record of memory. From this, she retells the stories of personal and familial narratives utilizing a variety of photographic methods and mixed media. Materials such as wood, bone, and encaustic wax help to create visual tactility to her work, bringing her photographs from a singular plane into the third dimension. The concept of memory as an element of liminal space, the place a subject is in during a transitional period, is the core of Casagrande’s work. She describes it as a metaphorical ghost; a phantom that is visible yet intangible. It is the specter that lingers through the halls of time. Casagrande acknowledges that memory is a delicate yet pliable substance that is created and passed along. Her work is a continual examination of this process, tracking the remnants of a perpetual history. Next

Martin Bozikovic < Back Untitled-MB By Martin Bozikovic June 16, 2026 I believe my research is getting close to my goal. I’ve realized that the artificial brain that I give my subjects is not large enough in capacity to emulate the brain of a human. I feel as though my technology is far too limited to achieve a grandiose goal like this, one that has no real purpose… but I must continue my research. For the sake of the plants. Perhaps the purpose of this experiment lies more in their own survival than something that should be tested on. But even still, the results are so mind-numbingly disappointing that it becomes more and more difficult to continue this experiment. June 19, 2026 Some of the subjects seem promising. There is a cactus that seems to be dealing with the implants well. Some of the other plants melted on contact with this newfound power. Perhaps their bodies are too underdeveloped for this kind of science. It is difficult to imagine what a conscious plant would act like, given that it cannot emotions in the same way we humans can. I can only hope that they will respond to what is told to them. The cactus seems to notice when it is spoken to, and I had Jerry speak to it from different angles to see if it produced different reactions. Upon analyzing its bodies, the activity in the plant cells was much higher for a short period of time immediately after it was spoken to. This activity was found in areas that were towards the angle from which my colleague spoke to it. I believe this is the start of a breakthrough. June 22, 2026 It seems as though only certain types of plants will be able to physically handle the processes that we are subjecting them to. It seems that flowers and other delicate plants cannot handle these processes, perhaps due to their frail and thin leaves and stems. Thicker plants, such as small trees and, of course, cacti, seem to be able to withstand these conditions better. I will have to heavily modify the plant’s body in order to get a level of consciousness that responds in a meaningful way. Because the process calls for an implant of a massive memory drive, which itself is connected to a computer, I will need to create small stimulus programs to test on the plant. Perhaps I can subject the plant to small amounts of pain and record its reaction. This must be done with caution, however, as the plant is likely already suffering through its current condition, and any more could potentially kill it. June 29th, 2026 The plant is beginning to respond to the stimulus programs. I believe that with further development of these programs and some sort of mobile aid for the plants, they could become as conscious as a human. This will aid their survival rates as they will be able to move and understand when they are in danger, in addition to potentially revealing its defensive tactics when necessary. Previous Next

Constructs < Back Previous Valerie Wilcox Constructs Using a myriad of salvaged and repurposed materials, artist Valerie Wilcox creates compositions that explore the associations and contradictions between abstract shapes, mark-making, and painting. Wood, plaster, paint, textiles, cardboard, and other architectural media are sourced, then assembled into abstracted arrangements. Wilcox’s Constructs series demonstrates this process clearly. From afar, these works appear to be two-dimensional; their colors and shapes meld into a singular plane. Upon closer inspection, the dynamic interactions between materials are unmistakable. Each part becomes a unique and dimensional entity, creating a dialogue between structural elements. To Wilcox, these materials are given a second chance. Highlighting the flaws and imperfections of her source media, her work provides an optimistic outlook on society’s ability to reinvent itself. Her compositions elevate the simple textures and colors of her raw resources. They transcend their base materiality and take on new meaning. Next

back to list Vojislav Radovanovic Vojislav Radovanović is a Serbian visual artist, art director, filmmaker, and independent curator based in Los Angeles, CA. Witnessing turbulent political unrest and war in the Balkan region in his youth, his visual and conceptual artwork advocates for beauty, environmentalism, mental health, and societal transmutation. His artwork often utilizes a conceptual concentration on wild plants, specifically weeds. The resilient, boundary-defying plants become a metaphor for nature’s powerful ingenuity. The symbolism and conceptualism of weeds also apply to multiple human aspects: its endurance, queer identity, the immigrant experience, and colonization. Radovanović has presented his works internationally in numerous group and solo exhibitions. Important cultural institutions where he showed his works are Lancaster Museum of Art and History, Ronald H. Silverman fine Arts Gallery, Angels Gate Cultural Center, Brea Art Gallery (California, USA); Mall Galleries (London, Great Britain); UNESCO Headquarters, The Institut Suédois (Paris, France); Centre of Contemporary Art (Torun, Poland); The Círculo de Bellas Artes de Madrid - CBA (Madrid, Spain); Belgrade City Museum, Museum of Yugoslavia, National Library of Serbia and The White Palace (Belgrade, Serbia). Radovanović currently serves as community engagement artist at MOAH Lancaster as part of "Artists At Work" program supported by Mellon Foundation.

< Back HK Zamani Featured Structure Artist HK Zamani is an Iranian-American multidisciplinary artist and founder of PØST, an alternative exhibition space in Los Angeles. Teetering between the obscure and the objective, his work examines the synthesis of artistic medium, conception, and interaction. Interplay between structural materiality and metaphysical interpretation are prominent in Zamani’s work. He uses this exchange of the indefinite to comment on the current social structures and expectations of society. The physical use of artistic media is put into conversation with the representation of cultural overlap. Body and Immaterial: A Conversation of Sculpture and Painting, A 20 year Survey of Works by HK Zamani comments on the relationship between two prominent art mediums. The exhibition includes works such as Fashion of the Veil (2008), Prague Dome (2004), the Inadvertent Protagonists series, and many more. Works vary in medium. Sculptural and material elements showcase the skeletal and structural aspect of the work. Rigid frameworks such as the metal geodesic support on Prague Dome (2004) are juxtaposed with softer, more gentle textiles that make up the walls of the same work, calling to ideas of duality. Paintings provide preliminary and complimentary concepts that coincide with the sculptural work. Abstracted forms presented in his paintings also mimic the figures that can be seen in works such as Inadvertent Protagonists and Fashion Erasure I-18 (2021), noting the multiplicity of possibility and interpretation discussed in the work. HK Zamani received his Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art from California State University, Dominguez Hills and his Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Claremont Graduate University. He is the recipient of City of Los Angeles Getty Trust and California Community Foundation grants. In 1995, Zamani founded POST, in 2009 it became PØST. His work is included in the collections at Berkeley Museum of Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He currently works and resides in Los Angeles. Previous Next