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Robert Gunderman, Talking, 2020
Robert Gunderman
Since the spring of 2020, Robert Gunderman has produced several bodies of work influenced by his experiences during the pandemic. Talking (2020), is part of his Spreaders (mouths) series -- offered in tribute to the American painter Lee Lozano and in response to seeing faces covered by (now-ubiquitious) masks. Beach Day (2020) is from an ongoing series of Black Paintings, inspired by the fourteen paintings Francisco Goya created near Madrid between 1819-1823. More recent paintings, such as Since and Untitled (Wind Study), 2021, are abstracted landscapes -- each shown here in a vegetal palette of soft greens and reds.
Gunderman, who lives north of Los Angeles, near a national forest and bird sanctuary, "approaches painting as an alchemist might attempt to negotiate the proto-scientific nature of all living systems, i.e. with extraordinary gentleness, curiosity and a painstaking attention to detail — to the living, thriving pulse of the universe. One might be so bold as to say this is a tall order, yet Gunderman rises to the occasion with virtuosity, and always at the heart of his practice, the awareness that we are the stewards, failing though we are, of this sanctified world. " (Eve Wood for Riot Material, September, 2019)
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Portrait of Dan Miller (©Jeff Minton / The New York Times, 2015)
Dan Miller
Dan Miller (USA, b. 1961) is a prominent self-taught artist who is also on the autism spectrum. Miller's paintings and textiles have received two solo exhibitions -- Important Paintings and Textiles (2020) and Click (2016) -- with our gallery. A prominent "outsider" artist, he has developed an intensive body of work that employs language as its fundamental subject and departure-point. His intuitive yet rigorously executed paintings are an amalgamation of his thoughts and autobiographical experiences, often centered on the elusive nature of tangible experience.
A twenty-five year veteran of Oakland’s Creative Growth Art Center, the country’s most renowned non-profit serving artists with disabilities, Dan Miller's paintings were included in the 57th Venice Biennale: Viva Arte Viva, curated by Christine Macel (2017). His work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; the Centre Pompidou, Paris; and the Folk Art Museum, NYC (among others).
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Heather Day (Photo by Ashley Batz)
Heather Day
Heather Day (USA, b. 1989) is a painter and printmaker based in California. Day makes abstract paintings comprised of scraped, smeared, and flooded pools of pigment. Citing the lines and textures of nature, travel, music and the depth of the color blue as her main sources of inspiration, she works primarily with paint and non-traditional materials on canvas.
Heather Day presented Ricochet, a solo show of paintings and works on paper, with our gallery last September, 2020. She created Sing The Mark -- a limited series of monoprints on view in GWLA -- with Marginal Editions in New York City in June, 2021. Her solo exhibition Convergence (curated by Ché Morales) is currently view at Anna Zorina Gallery, NYC, through August 27th. The artist lives and works in the Bay Area.
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Jay Kvapil, Bowl #1520 (Floe series), 2019, Glazed ceramic
Jay Kvapil
Jay Kvapil (USA, b. 1951) is a potter based in Long Beach, CA. Inspired by icebergs as monumental sculpture, Kvapil presents new work from his Floe series, a suite of glazed clay vessels that honor the idea of constantly changing, luminescent, and glacial forms. Kvapil has received solo shows at Diane Rosenstein Gallery; Mindy Solomon, Miami; and Galerie Lefebevre & Fils in Paris; and his ceramics are in the permanent collection of the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento. He obtained his MA (1979) and MFA (1981) from San Jose State University, CA. Kvapil was Professor of Art (Ceramics), Director of the School of Art and Interim Dean of the College of the Arts at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB).
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Vanessa Prager in Studio (Photo by Fredrik Nilsen Studios)
Vanessa Prager
Vanessa Prager (USA, b. 1984) is a self-taught artist born and raised in Los Angeles. She is known for her elaborate impasto technique that creates layered and sculptural surfaces. These figurative works engage the oil paint itself as a participant in the image. Prager explores themes of identity, self-reflection, voyeurism and the human condition in the 21st century. Reflecting on a world remotely observed via screens, her three-dimensional work is a direct reaction to that two-dimensional plane.
Earlier this year, Prager presented Static -- a solo show of paintings at our gallery -- and presented work in a group show and art fairs. During the pandemic, she had created in her art what many struggled to find in their daily lives: commonplace moments of warmth, delight, levity and brightness. Faint outlines of recognizable figures, contrasted with her radiant palette, alluded to the elusive nature of joy, and an optimism for the future.
Gallery 2 Viewing Room
Past viewing_room
