Thanks for the great write up GCM. Check out the Culture Feature in the May/June edition. [divider]

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YELLOW as a paint color has a long history. It was first seen in the cave paintings of Lascaux over 16,000 years ago. Originally derived from the yellow ochre pigment in clay, all kinds of yellows can now be synthetically produced through modern chemistry. The first three words that spring to mind when I hear the word ‘YELLOW’ are light, accent and bold. Light because yellow seems to mimic the color and warmth of the sun. Accent because yellow has the ability to highlight any other color that it’s backed up against, and bold because of it's power to do so. For all those reasons yellow can be tough to use in a painting, but spectacular when used successfully. We’ve put together a selection of our favorite paintings from history that master and celebrate all that is YELLOW. [divider] [caption id="attachment_8204" align="alignleft" width="489"] Yellow Painting, Barnett Newman 1949[/caption] [caption id="attachment_8209" align="alignleft" width="501"] Small Boudoir, Willem DeKooning 1949[/caption]               [caption id="attachment_8205" align="alignleft" width="445"] Veluti in Speculum, Hans Hofmann[/caption] [caption id="attachment_8206" align="alignleft" width="514"] Untitled, Conrad Marca-Relli[/caption] [caption id="attachment_8226" align="alignleft" width="435"] Le Grande Julie, Fernand Léger (1945)[/caption]     [caption id="attachment_8210" align="alignleft" width="510"] Number 22 , Mark Rothko 1949[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_8207" align="alignleft" width="507"] Keith Haring, 'Untitled,' 1982[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_8212" align="alignleft" width="478"] Lucio Fontana, Concetto Spaziale, 1960[/caption] [caption id="attachment_8227" align="alignleft" width="433"] Said, Gerhard Richter 1983[/caption]     [caption id="attachment_8214" align="alignleft" width="389"] Ring Image, Robert Mangold 2010.[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_8211" align="alignleft" width="699"] Untitled 11, MIKE KELLEY 2008-2009[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_8208" align="alignleft" width="372"] Cy Twombly's “Untitled (Camino Real)" 2011[/caption]              

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EXERPT FROM ART LTD MAGAZINE MAY 2014 Carlson Hatton by Carol Cheh May 2014 Flaws In A Victorian Veil 2014 Acrylic and graphite on paper on panel, edged with aluminum 30 1⁄4" x 44" Photo: courtesy of the artist     [divider] It’s easy to get lost in Carlson Hatton’s work. Utilizing a strong backbone of drawing along with elements of painting and printmaking, these complex works on paper blend a multitude of abstract patterns with figurative elements, creating intriguing juxtapositions that seem at once vaguely familiar and utterly fantastic. In one work, a grid-patterned cat sits observing a set of shapes that resemble a mother and child; in front of them, a moaning woman lies prostrate, while behind them, a tree-like pattern disappears into a grassy background. This hypnotic imagery tightly references commonly seen motifs while eluding clear narratives, creating instead a pliable space for the imagination. A native of San Diego with fine arts degrees from Cooper Union in New York and De Ateliers in Amsterdam, Hatton has been living and working in Los Angeles for about a decade. His home, a Silver Lake fixer-upper that he and his wife, an artist and psychotherapist, renovated themselves, reflects the artist’s philosophy that living and working spaces should be seamlessly integrated. A sunny living room and kitchen are at the center of the house, with sliding doors on the side that open onto two studio spaces. Movement among all these spaces is constant and easy. “I find that I take a lot of things directly out of my mailbox that work their way into my studio,” Hatton reflects. “I’ll see something on television, or I’ll notice the way that the mail is stacked up—I find all these accidents that happen in daily life that I want to record right away.” This sense of inspiration taken from everyday life and constant experimentation with materials are palpable throughout the artist’s work, which seem to incorporate a freefall of manifold visual elements. Hatton credits this way of working to a basic collage aesthetic that has informed his work since he was in college. “For a while, I abandoned painting and drawing altogether and focused on collage,” Hatton recounts. “In grad school in the Netherlands, I was given a very large studio and I started making big installations, videos and animations. I’d collect a lot of materials, and they would all filter their way into these projects.” Hatton returned to painting and drawing with more of an editorial mindset, where he mines large amounts of material to create focused individual works. “At this point, I want it to be a collage sensibility, but it has to be resolved on a single plane. If it gets too collage-like, where there are multiple physical layers, I feel like that misses the point, where the work gets filtered through me into a single flat layer. All that information from magazines, photos, wherever—I am filtering it thru my hand, and that enables it to create its own world.” Hatton counts among his influences David Reed and Marlene Dumas, with whom he studied at Cooper Union and De Ateliers, respectively. “Reed makes paintings that are site-specific, somewhat installational. The idea that the paintings belong in a bedroom, I always find kind of fascinating. I liked Dumas’ use of watercolor—the directness of the media and the way that it offers the richness of painting while referencing things that don’t at all have that richness within them.” The dense works of Lari Pittman and Albrecht Dürer are constant sources of inspiration, with books of their work usually present in Hatton’s studio. He is also fascinated by Henry Darger. “I’m intrigued by the flatness and depth that simultaneously occur within his work, and the way he’s creating these bizarre coloring books, essentially, that kind of draw you in because you might recognize something from popular culture, but there’s not a strong enough link to stop it from becoming its own bizarre world.” Hatton’s unique methodology includes washes of watercolor mixed in with layers of masking, stenciling and silkscreening. His technique can be rigorous, and his surprising choice of the fragile medium of paper turns out to be strategic. “It’s true that paper can only take so much, and I like that it has that threshold, that certain point where things won’t work and it’ll get too rippled or too destroyed. Those limitations force me to make decisions and stick with them, rather than layering and layering until things work themselves out, which could be forever, and I find there’s something less brave about that. I like to have some vision as to where it’s headed.” ”Carlson Hatton: Ataxia” was on view at Ruth Bachofner Gallery, in Santa Monica, from March 8 — April 19, 2014. www.ruthbachofnergallery.com “Stupor,” a solo show of works by Carlson Hatton, could be seen at the Santa Monica College Art Gallery, from February 18 — March 29, 2014.

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  [divider] [caption id="attachment_8150" align="alignleft" width="464"] Act II, Oil on canvas 20" x 20" 2013[/caption] Larissa and I met in New York, on the job so to speak. Many lunches and morning coffees were spent together discussing each others work, what shows we'd seen recently and what had caught our eye. I've always admired her gusto. Larissa now lives in Chicago and I have had the pleasure of watching her work develop from afar. I remember her early works, dark and frenzied with murderous marks, as if she was attacking the canvas or paper with her tools. Dismembered bodies and featureless faces were drawn like comic figures, making the work an unsettling combination of horror and humor. Larissa's early color palette included a lot of red and brown, reminding me of blood, both wet and dry. Fresh wounds mixed with those of the past. Incessant scratchings on the surface, the repetition of similar marks over and over again like some inner torment was being played out on the surface. Great artists evolve, their work informs itself and in time, thoughts become more complete and the artwork more accomplished. Larissa is one such artist. Her work is forever evolving, becoming whole - she'll never rest though, I can't imagine that her work will ever be enough for her and that's what makes her great. [caption id="attachment_8153" align="alignright" width="446"] Echo, Oil on canvas 20" x 20" 2014[/caption] From our chats I know of Larissa's love and respect for the art that has come before us. Her understanding of modernism is evident in the sophistication of her work. She has selectively stolen a little bit from here, a little from there and made it her own. I see the references, but I also see something exciting and new. These latest paintings invite you into a fresh space, both physical and psychological. The frenzy, aggression and humor are still there, but they have become weaved amongst a sophisticated sense of space and color. I get displaced when looking at her new work. I'm thrown into a territory where I feel multiple sensations simultaneously. Anger, joy, frustration, peace with glimpses of a familiar reality. Her art mimics life, there are no definite answers, just moments of clarity and confusion, comfort and discomfort. Larissa tells stories through her work without being didactic - a condition that plagues contemporary art. Her work is charged by both process and content, a multi-dimensional drama that plays out in two dimensional space. Perhaps what I love most of all is the spatial evolution of Larissa's work - I have spent many hours just sitting in the MoMA looking, marveling really, at The Piano Lesson by Matisse. I think it is a masterpiece, formally and emotionally. It has the power to invite you into an imagined, somewhat abstract space and hold you there. It is this quality that I see in Larissa's paintings. I'm so excited to see where she goes next, because I know it will somewhere exceptional.     [caption id="attachment_8162" align="aligncenter" width="465"] The Administrator, Oil on canvas 16" x 16" 2013[/caption] [caption id="attachment_8163" align="aligncenter" width="557"] All Dried Up, Oil on canvas 30" x 40" 2014[/caption] [caption id="attachment_8164" align="aligncenter" width="558"] An Offering (For Basic Necessity) Or Lack Of, Oil on canvas 60" x 60" 2013[/caption]      

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Chris Trueman is exhibiting work at Edward Cella Art & Architecture. Check out this great review in ARTLTD: [divider]    

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