DEAREST ONE
Our furry, feathery, or slimy companions help us get through this time of distancing and isolation. They are easing feelings of loneliness. They keep us focused on the present so we can avoid getting overwhelmed and worried about the unknown. They provide emotional support beyond just companionship, making us laugh, giving us purpose.
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CEILINGS
Once upon a time, humans looked up and discovered things. And then we became accessories to our smartphones and we started looking down.
Farrel Levy, Claire Partin, Lois Keller, Sarah Jennings, and Julie Grist
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IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT
In LA, we’re infamous for allegedly living in our cars. We’ve always been looked down for turning cars into isolating bubbles. During a time when social distancing skills are a matter of survival, we’re now owning up to that stereotype: our cars are our safety bubble.
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OUT THE WINDOW
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A considerable portion of the languid days spent indoor were consumed looking at life taking place out of our windows while pondering in silence about the days when we were able to paint out there at leisure. For this series, we painted our window views from life, featuring a slice of the word on display from our confined vantage point.
Hannya Robinson, Deanna Lau-Ino, Darlene Hodgetts, Julie Grist, Sabrina Alias, Lois Keller, Jackie Vresics, Sarah Broshar, Sarah Jennings, Laura Cerón, Kathy Flynn, Chris Noxon, Claire Partin, and Julio Panisello.
STAND-IN STILL LIFE
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On April 2019, LACMA opened David Hockney’s exhibition “82 Portraits and 1 Still-life”, a show that first opened in London’s Royal Academy. It consisted of a series of portraits of Hockney’s friends created over a 2 1/2 year period, between 2013-2016, in the artist’s L.A. studio.
One of Hockney’s longtime friend was due to be painted for the series in early March 2014, but on the day she was scheduled to sit, she cancelled due to an unexpected family engagement. With everything set to go that day, Hockney decided to paint a fruit still life on a bench instead.
In a time of self-imposed social withdrawal, Hockney’s stand-in still life due to sitter cancellation seems fitting for a contemporary re-enactment. We gathered whatever fruits we had at hand in our homes and set them on a chair, as the subject for our absentee portrait.
Lois Keller, Hannya Robinson, Claire Partin, Julie Grist, Darlene Hodgetts, Susan Budd, Jennifer Cayoleras, Laura Cerón, Sarah Broshar, Julio Panisello.
CROWDED ELEVATORS
-Click the navigation side arrows on the image to view the rest of the paintings in the series-
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If anyone from the near future would have told us this past Valentine's Day that we would be globally practicing "social distancing" to save our lives, in the midst of the entire world grinding to a halt, we would have thought they belonged to the tin foil gang du jour.
And yet, here we are, collectively up in the air with no floor to land in sight, buying toilet paper rolls like beheaded chicken.
We are painting crowded elevators to shoo the fears, to document the absurdity underneath this dantean drama, so the day we become human again, hopefully sooner rather than later, we can use these paintings to retell this sci-fi story.
Sabrina Alias, Mary Worthington, Jackie Vresics, Deanna Lau-Ino, Julie Grist, Laura Cerón, Mia Inderbitzin, Charlotte Tarantola, Mary Worthington, Sarah Broshar, Julio Panisello.
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BOB BAKER DAY 2020
BODY OF WORK
COCKTAIL HOUR