Portal Of Opportunities IV

I have always possessed a great affinity to nature, thirst for knowledge, and a deep appreciation of beauty in all of its forms. These innate qualities have found expresssion in many areas. In my paintings, I have seen patterns emerge that express harmony, joy, order, and beauty. My belief in the fundamental unity of all cultures and peoples has led me to create art pieces that relflect the depth of our collective souls, the beauty of our beings, and the ability to expand to fully embrace our lives.

I was born and raised in a small city in the northern region of Iran called Rezahyieh. In 1978 I moved to the United States to attend college and received a business degree from California State University Sacramento. I then traveled extensively for several years encountering various cultures in different countries. I developed a feeling of expansion that included all of humanity. While living in Brazil, I was inspired by the European and Brazilian artists I met, so began creating one of a kind garments and bags that were sold through high end boutiques in Los Angeles. While working with fabric dyes on hemp canvas, I shifted my artistic direction towards painting. Over the years, I have experimented with a wide variety of mediums and cherish the discovery of something new. My work has evolved over time, allowing me to switch forms of expression as I feel inclined. My most recent pieces I call Nouveau Surrealism - ordinary printed photos that have been transformed to reflect unseen realms. Over the past four years, I have shown in the Topanga Artist Studio Tour and have participated in numerous shows in various venues around LA. The most recent show was called Down the Rabbit Hole, representing portals into the mysteries within each of us.

Education

California State University, Los Angeles 1976-1978 M.A., Fine Art

California State University,Fresno 1968-1972 B.A., Fine Art

Awards and Honors

Second Place, cash award, “Without Alarm III: Custody, Captivity, Containment”,

LAPD Experience Museum and Educaton Center, Los Angeles, CA, sponsored by Arroyo Arts Collective, July, 2003

Honorable Mention,“Member’s Exhibit”, Long Beach Arts, Long Beach, CA, May, 2001

Student Art Council Award, California State University, Los Angeles, CA, September, 1977

Kappi Psi Honorary Art Fraternity, Gamma Tau Chapter, California State University, Los Angeles, CA, 1978

Dean’s List for Academic Excellence, California State University, Fresno, CA, 1971

Installations ( in partnership with Victoria Taylor Alvarez)

“Dia de los Muertos”, ”,2nd City Council Gallery, Long Beach, CA, October, 2008

“6th Annual Women’s Festival”,2nd City Council Gallery, Long Beach, CA, March, 2007

“Offerings/Ofrendas”, mixed media installation , The Acorn Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, November, 2005

“Home and/or Homeless, installation piece in patio, 2nd City Art Gallery +Performance Space, Long Beach, CA, October, 2005

“BID” (Business Improvisation District), installation piece at Botanica Madre De Agua, Highland Park, CA, sponsored by Arroyo Arts Collective, May-June, 2004

“Without Alarm III: Custody, Captivity, Containment”, installation piece at LAPD Experience Museum

and Educaton Center, Los Angeles, CA, sponsored by Arroyo Arts Collective, July, 2003

“Trail Markers 2: What Desert?”, on site installation at Lower Arroyo Park, sponsored by New Town, Pasadena, CA, September, 2002

“River Visions”, on site installation along the Los Angeles River, sponsored by the Arroyo Arts Collective, Los Angeles, CA, April, 2000

\"LArt Exhibition\", outdoor installation piece in the piazza, California State University, Los Angeles, October, 1998

\"Downtown Lives! \'98\",enviromental room installation piece,sponsored by DADA, Los Angeles, CA, October, 1998

“Without Alarm II: Public and Private Security”, installation piece in Lincoln Heights Jail, Los Angeles, CA, sponsored by the Arroyo Arts Collective, 1998

Online Exhibitions

“Five Women Artists”, millenniumartgallery.com, Millennuim Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada, October, 2002

“Six Artists”, millenniumartgallery.com, Millennium Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada, July 2001

Solo Exhibitions

“Openings”, solo exhibition, Gallery 825/LAAA, Los Angeles, CA, March, 2002

“Complex Boundaries”, solo exhibition, Studio 343, San Pedro, CA, November 2001

“Project Red Line”, Gallery 25, Fresno, CA, 1980

“Local Girl Makes Good”, solo exhibition, Gallery 25, Fresno, CA, 1976

Gallery Exhibitions

“ Venus, Goddess of Love”, juried group show, LAAA/Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA, March, 2009

“Gem”, special group exhibition/auction, LAAA/Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA, April, 2008

“Penumbra”, group show, LAAA/Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA, February, 2008

“Off the Wall”, group show, PalosVerdes Art Center,PalosVerdes, CA, September, 2007

“Summerstock”, LAAA/Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA, August, 2007

“Member’s Exhibition”, Long Beach Arts, Long Beach, CA, July, 2007

2007 Juried All- Media Exhibition, Palos Verdes Art Center, Palos Verdes, CA, July, 2007

“Puppets on the Wall”, Arroyo Arts Collective, The Acorn Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, June, 2007

“ 6th Annual Women’s Festival”, 2nd City Council Gallery, Long Beach, CA, March, 2007

“Hausguests”, The Brewery, Los Angeles, CA, February, 2007

“Petite Works”, LAAA, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA, December, 2006

“The Bird Show”, Arroyo Arts Collective, The Acorn Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, July, 2006

“Member’s Exhibition”, Long Beach Arts, Long Beach, CA, July, 2006

“Petite Works”, LAAA/Gallery 825 at Bergamont Station, Santa Monica, CA, November, 2005

“Offerings, Ofrendas”, The Arroyo Arts Collective, The Acorn Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, Oct. 2005

“In The Abstract”, juried group show, Gallery 825/LAAA, Los Angeles, CA, February, 2005

‘‘Critique LA”, group show, Roark’s, Los Angeles, CA, January, 2005

“Impressions of LA”, members’s exhibit, SCWCA Brewery gallery, Los Angeles, CA, June, 2005

“In The Abstract”, juried group show, Gallery 825/LAAA, Los Angeles, CA, February, 2005

‘‘Critique LA”, group show, Roark’s, Los Angeles, CA, January, 2005

“Voyages and Explorations”, members’s exhibit, SCWCA Brewery gallery, Los Angeles, CA, June, 2004

“Members Exhibit”, Long Beach Arts, Long Beach , CA, May, 2004

“The 50/50 Show”, juried group show, Gallery 825/LAAA, Los Angeles, CA, May, 2004

“White Planes”, juried group show. Gallery 825/LAAA, Los Angeles, CA, April, 2004

“$200.00 Takes Any Piece” Andrewshire Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, December, 2003

“Petite Works”, Gallery 825 at Bergamont Station, Santa Monica, CA , December, 2003

“It’s A Fine Line”, juried group show, Gallery 825/LAAA, Los Angeles, CA, June, 2003

“Small Works”, members’s exhibit, SCWCA Brewery gallery, Los Angeles, CA, June, 2003

“Members Exhibit”, Long Beach Arts, Long Beach , CA, June, 2003

“The 50/50 Show”, juried group show, Gallery 825/LAAA, Los Angeles, CA, May, 2003

“Found Object Exhibit”, juried group show, Long Beach Arts, Long Beach Arts, Long Beach, CA, May, 2003

“100% Natural”, juried group show, Gallery 825/LAAA, Los Angeles, CA, February, 2003

“Members Exhibit”, Long Beach Arts, Long Beach , CA, November, 2002

“Members Exhibit”, Long Beach Arts, Long Beach , CA, July, 2002

“Earth Alchemy”, juried group show, Avenue 50 Studio, Highland Park, CA, April, 2002

“Color Outside the Lines”, juried group show, Long Beach Arts, Long Beach, CA, February, 2002

“Members Exhibit”, Long Beach Arts, Long Beach , CA, November, 2001

“2001 Juried All Media Exhibition”, Palos Verdes Art Center, Palos Verdes, CA, June 2001

“Lofty Ideas”, group show of SCWCA members, Loft Gallery, San Pedro, CA, June 2001

“A Circle of Altars: Women Celebrate the Feminine Divine”, The Women’s Center, California State University, Northridge, CA, May, 2001

“National Open Juried Show”, Long Beach Arts, Long Beach, CA, January, 2001

“Grotesque Art”, juried group show, Long Beach Arts, Long Beach, CA, October, 2000

“Paint”, juried group show, Gallery 825/LA Art Association, Los Angeles, CA, September,2000

“Abstract Exhibit”, juried group show, Long Beach Arts, Long Beach, CA, July 20,2000

“River Visions”, an exhibition of photographs and documentation of the April, 2000, Los Angeles River artists’ event,The River Center, Los Angeles, CA, June, 2000

Style: Erna Avan is an Armenian artist who moved from Armenia to US in 2010. She is one of the Abstract art representatives who started painting in 2009. Her style is mostly abstractionism and her art expresses departure from reality. Erna mostly works with acrylic and gouache paints. She uses mixed technology. Her style varies from one work to another and is very complex to explain. The dominant part of her work is psychological expressions of abstract portraits. In her work Erna also used some elements from her childhood (Fairy Tale abstract representations). Another part of her work represents the life of another dimension such as her cosmic and space metamorphosis representation. Many of Erna's works have religious foundation because Christianity was a defining part of Armenian history.

Erna Avan was born in 1961 in city Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan. Her father was a Geography teacher and her mother was Director of Scientific Library of Baku. Erna started attending teaching practice at conservatoire when she was 5 years old. Her major was piano. In 1982 Erna completed conservatoire with exceptionally highest grades. She is a very talented musician and composer. In 1983 she had her first and the only son Roman. She lost her husband in 1994 and continued raising Roman alone. As a result of enormous creative energy and a stressful period of her life in September 2009 (48 years old) Erna suddenly started showing her talents in fine art. She was very inspired by famous painter Edvard Munchs art work "Scream" and the next morning she created her first art work (The Beginning). Erna has worked individually starting in 2009 and already had a chance to be introduced to Union of Armenian Painters in 2010. In 2010 due to circumstances she has moved to US. She has about 300 art representations. She had her first exhibition in July 2010 at XPress Art Center Royale Gallery located in Glendale, California. She continued to create new art works. In 2012 unfortunately she was diagnosed with cancer, and went through required procedures and now is hoping to continue to work towards expressing herself and her feelings in art.

In 2004, I was finally able to realize my goal of creating a Composite Art. Due to advances in computer technology, I could create composite images from my mind’s eye by altering pictures found on the Internet, on TV, and in movies. My most recent series of work is based on my interpretation of "Structuralism." I am interested in exploring the underpinnings of reality. World views are based on Linguistic Structuralism. Architecture is also a "structure" that influences culture and society. In my new work I deconstruct architectural forms and reassemble the basic elements into structures. I'm creating imaginary cities using digital imagery and creating wall reliefs.

Born: Detroit, MI

Schools: Wayne State University; University of California

at Long Beach; Arizona State University.

B.A. in Art and Sociology.

Graduate Certificate in Counseling.

I have been working and exhibiting as a fine artist for twenty years. I am also a poet and performance artist.

For fifteen years, I worked as the Director for a mental health program. I emphasized the benefits of art and writing to help clients control symptoms. I developed and facilitated several art and writing workshops for mental health consumers.

Since 2003, I have devoted my full attention to art. I work in collage, assemblage, painting and digital imagery. My work has been featured in several Palm Springs galleries including Evocative Arts, M-Modern, The Vault, and Gallery Mystere. I was represented by the Karen Long Gallery in Long Beach, CA. My newest art combines both assemblage and digital prints. Recently I've also experimented with more traditional abstract painting.

My journey as an artist began over 30 years ago painting colorful semi-abstract Southwest landscapes in oils and watercolor.

Captured by collage and mixed media, the direction of my work has changed dramatically over the years. And, although I still paint, my "paint brush" is now often through the lens of a camera or iPhone. My photo collages allow me to meld together captured images of light and shadows, architectural elements and the mood inducing landscapes of L.A. and DTLA. Day or night, freeway blurs, building facades, distorted landscapes, graffiti, billboards, glitches, store windows, reflections are translated into seductive, colorful virtual reality-scapes.

Susanne Belcher, a native Californian, and award winning mixed media semi-abstract artist, began incorporating photography into her paintings and collages several years ago. Her experimentation with transparency film, scanning images, layering, overlaying and collaging these elements into her creations extended her visual language. Her images, always compelling, whether minimal or complex, retain a consistent emotional narrative component that is unique, sophisticated and often surreal and mysterious. Her innate ability to distill images through layers of reduction and compilation in mixed media provided a natural transition to digital photography.

She has exhibited in Germany and galleries throughout So. California in both solo and group exhibitions since 1991. The recipient of numerous awards, her work is held in private and corporate collections in the U.S. and Europe. She was a founding partner and represented artist of the former Abbot Kinney Art Gallery (Venice, CA), is currently represented by Gloria Delson Contemporary Arts Gallery (DTLA). She is an active member of Women Painters West, Thousand Oaks Art Association, California Art League and currently sits on the Board of Collage Artists of America and The Fine Arts Club of Pasadena. She is also co-author of an art/nature essay book “Looking for 527” about the journeys of a Yellowstone Wolf killed in 2009 during the first Montana wolf hunt (available on Amazon.com)

My new series is much evolved from my previous works. In the past, although I had a feeling of the intangible and of freedom when I worked, my quest was to cull the vivid chaos of color and forms by repeatedly sanding and repainting many layers of paper and paint into a more peaceful, organized surface. It was an expression of the infinite complexities that I found surrounding me, and my desire to tame them.

Rather than being spurred (on) by a categorical statement, I was following an unformed artistic thought through to the end, feeling freedom and energy from spontaneity, the love of form, composition and color and the nostalgia that these energies stimulated. Color, form and composition, and the harmony their combination can elicit, vibrate as a grouping of musical notes might do and touch the nostalgic thinking that first brought such experience into my sights – my musical and artistic family. They were the major creative influence in my life and provided the personal trials of the complex and puzzling world I grew up in.

In my latest series I have taken this need to embrace and contain my memories

a step further. I have develop/nurtured/ my reactions to color and form to

another level. I try to capture what I feel is the essence of my creative experience.

I render my love of form, color and composition down to it’s minimum and

present them in a purer, simpler context – the grid. No less emotionally complex

but perhaps calmer, subtler if a little more intricate and peppered with

a touch of subterfuge…

Helen Berger was born in London, England to Russian émigré parents. It was a family of musicians/painters/singers and she grew up surrounded by these artists, making her sensibilities pretty much pre determined. She has been an artist all her life. After years of family influence and guidance, independent study in Paris, London and Los Angeles, assisting established artists and attending numerous workshops, she considers herself self-taught.

After using many different mediums over the years - wood, paper, clay, found objects, fabric and the camera. – Helen then settled into working with wood, paper and acrylic.

Her previous process was to layer paint, painted and cut paper onto a wood panel, continuing in multiple sanded layers and finishing with a distinct application of paint to emphasize the negative spaces. This work started out as a chaos of color, she challenged herself to recreate a mood of coherence, clarity and harmony on the panel.

Her latest series, although still on wood panel and using vellum, gesso and acrylic, blends the simplicity of repetitive shape with simple color and textural contrasts to create a play between tension and harmony.

Discarded ranch equipment and metal parts are the source of my inspiration for creating sculptures which explore perceptions of the female form and psyche. Serendipitous discoveries are made each time I delve into the metal scrap pile at the ranch where I work. From visit-to-visit there is no guarantee what will be available, the element of chance is part of the process and challenge of forming the narratives of unrelated components.

Furthermore, the chance effects caused by small explosions, fires, and molten splatters, inherent in welding and melting metal that is rusty, greasy, dirty, and often with remnants of paint, are all part of the creative process which defines the sculptures.

A piece of a pole with a bolt that appears to be randomly welded onto it was the inspiration for "Screwed." The body consists of broken blades which follow the curves of a woman's figure. Similarly,"She Has Balls" is comprised of a pole and blades; the narrative is derived from the discovery of the metal balls which I welded onto the blade base.

Rebar is always available in the scrap pile which influenced my preplanning of a tall sculpture. However, when I arrived at the ranch I could only find small pieces and had to rethink the concept which resulted in “Standing In A Forest.” A woman is cut out of a long piece of steel and the resulting curves allow her to stand out instead of simply standing tall.

My artwork has been exhibited internationally in galleries and museums.

Jana Charl was born in Los Angeles and currently resides there. Not married to a single medium, she paints with acrylics and also sculpts metal and polymer clay. Her artwork reflects a fascination with capturing the human form and psyche with minimal, distinguishing curves.

After receiving her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Art at the University of Redlands, California, she was in her first group exhibition at Ars Futura Galerie in Zürich. Since 1993, her artwork has been exhibited internationally in galleries and museums. As a dual US-Swiss citizen, she has also lived in Zürich and enjoys traveling between the two countries.

Highly influenced by artists like Hopper, Warhol, Lichtenstein, and Diebenkorn, I paints multicultural urban Los Angeles with all its contradictions and poetry.

I am trying to blend my classical European artistic background with contemporary conceptual approach. In the LA urban environment I am looking for and finding manifestations of eternal human values, such as love, faith, longing, and the strife for a better life. I try to see real people and their life through the facades of the buildings depicted with much love and connection.

Born in Moscow , Russia /f. USSR/

Moscow's Art School at Kropotkin St.

MA graphic design from Stroganovskaya School of Art and Design, Moscow.

Graphic Design Workshop Artist Union USSR

Group Show at Bienalle/ Chekhoslovakia, Praga

1989- Came to USA, Los Angeles

1990-2009 Decorative painted furniture and murals

2008-1st Solo show TALK TO ME LA1 Modern Art Gallery

2010-2nd Solo show TALK TO ME LA 2 at Modern Art gallery

2012 Group show at Santa Monica Art Studios

2013 Group show "Seen and Unseen"Downtown LA

Phantom Gallery

curator and artist

2013 Group show "Oneness"Phantom Gallery

2015 Group show at Civitella d'Agliano

2015 Group show at Nuremberg ,Germany

2016 Solo show at Lark Gallery Hawthorne

and curator for CALIFORNIA show

I am a professional scientist, but my genetic makeup always pushed me to the artistic world. I preferred company of artists to the company of peers, which even manifested in my choice of spouses. So, being immersed in the artistic world all my life, I finally realized I needed to let my personal artistic juices out. And allow visceral part of me to kick in and get out.

As a scientist, I thought it will be a good idea to find a balance between cognitive and visceral sides. Hence, I decided to use opto-electronic approach to create images never existed before. But building blocks for creating these novel images are everyday very familiar objects. The closest definition for the final images will be ‘digital still-video’. The reason for that is that either the object involved in the creation of image is moving, or the imaging device, or both.

When creating an image, I seek, by transformation, to reveal in objects of everyday life what they can be, or manifest, given they are brought in motion, which is not particularly pertinent to their nature. So, it’s the opposite of what I try to do as a scientist, where molecular motion at nanoscopic level is translated into steady-state observations with opto-electronic devices.

I hope the approach to creating my images results in new and unexpected visual creations enriching viewers with new emotions and thoughts.

My life is a cascade of transitions, transformations, and quite unobvious and unpredictable revelations regarding what I was, am, and/or potentially can be. There are several examples of that throughout my lifespan. The pertinent one is that I started my adult life as a Ph.D. in Biophysics and may retire as an ‘artist’. The start happened in Russia, and retirement will, hopefully, happen in the US.

the language of life.

The type of Art that I do is beyond the spoken words.

When it emerges spontaneously because of the process, I accept it with gratitude.

Jenik

No question but the painting of Jenik Cook - and hardly less the work she realizes in other media (most notably ceramics) -is abstract-expressionist. But it is not necessarily Abstract Expressionist. That is, however much it may evince the DNA of mid-century American "action painting," or even European counterparts such as tachism, l'art informel, or CoBrA, Cook's art only incidentally revives the method, much less the look, of these bumptious, scrappy art movements. Rather, to power her vision, she goes back to the roots of gestural modernism, finding dancing line, elastic contour, and fervid color in surrealism, in fauvism, in expressionism itself. The painting of Pollock and Kline, and of Fautrier and Jorn, gives Cook permission to work unfettered like this, and gives us the context to comprehend fully - even to empathize kinesthetically with - what she does. But she is not emulating, much less imitating, Afro or James Brooks in her graceful, muscular paintings on paper or rehashing Sam Francis or André Lanskoy with the rhythmic clots and scatterings of pigment that collect on her canvases (well, on a wide variety of more-or-less canvas-like support material). Look instead to Miro, Masson, Marc, or Münter, Pechstein or Picasso, Marcks or Matisse, for Cook's sources.

Indeed, look into Cook's own cultural heritage. The line that whips and loops throughout Cook's oeuvre, whether hurling forms across canvas expanses or tracing them on the sides of pots, whether describing slashing trails of pure pigment or the sinuous contours of human bodies, is no more a painted line than it is a written one. It is made less with the whole body - although one can sense a change of stance, a hip motion, in so many of these dancing whiplashes - than with the whole arm. These gestures issue from the wrist and the shoulder. They are in fact as much inscribed as painted. Their energy is not just telegraphic; it is calligraphic. If the vivacity of the image bespeaks Cook's Armenian blood, the rhapsodic curvaceousness of her line betrays her Iranian childhood. As comfortable speaking and writing Farsi as she is Armenian, Cook marries her disparate cultural sources -which of course now include the western European and American influences of her adult life - into an aesthetically cohesive mix with a surprisingly broad formal reach.

Perhaps the breadth of that reach, given the variety of sources, isn't actually so surprising. But it is always a bit startling to witness - that is, to be allowed to witness - an artist master such a conceptual and expressive range. Most artists have this range in them, but so many suppress it. For her part, however, Cook refuses to suppress her stylistic multivalency. Not only does she not limit her vision, but she uses that vision very consciously to drive her artmaking in as many ways as it needs to go. She may edit, but she does not self-censure. Her style, ultimately as coherent and personal as a signature, emerges from and among her plethora of approaches, approaches which themselves spring from her persistence, her prolific output, her knowledge of art, and her irrepressible verve. Jenik Cook's art springs forth -in several directions at once.

Peter Frank Los Angeles January 2010

Self expression and awareness, inspired by others, by ideas; by the effects of light, color, and texture, is satisfied within me by the creation of paintings. I have always been attracted to patterns of color more then the detail of objects, explaining my attraction to abstraction.

While painting, I often find myself taking my eyes out of focus in order to simplify the work. Paint is applied in a thick and forceful manner in order to convey energy and movement. I choose light and temperature of color as a tool to create a specific fee.ling. Acrylic, metallic, permanent marker, and oil paint are combined as a means to achieve contrast.

By painting impressions and abstractions, I believe the viewer becomes involved in a process to understand the work, to contribute to the work, making a connection between my art and the viewer.

2013 Sulkin/Secant Gallery, Bergamot Station, group show. Curated by lark. 2012 Harveys Gallery, L.A., 3 person show. Curated by Mr. Tony Clark. 2012 Love Birds Gallery, solo show. Curated by Star and Martha Higgins. 2010 - 2011 Disneyland, Anaheim, created an exterior mural.

2008 - 2009 Four Seasons Hotel, Westlake, created murals. 2006 - 2007 Lincoln Library, Illinois, created paintings and murals. 2005 Caesars Palace Hotel/Casino, Vegas, created murals. 2004 Venetian Hotel/Casino, Vegas, created murals. 2003 Disneyland Gran Californian Hotel, Anaheim, created paintings. 2001 - 2002 Disneyland, Japan, created paintings and murals. 2000 Ritz Carlton Hotel, Atlanta, created murals.

Private Collections

Mr. Rod Stewart Ms. Janet Jackson Mr. James Earl Jones Ms. Beverly Harris American Red Cross

Review

Paintings by Nigel Cooper appeared to be seen through the dark prism like Le Sidenier with illuminated figures and buildings in the distance. The technique of painting was very original in that the pigments appeared to be drawn with some force across the surface of the canvas.

Mr. William A. Emboden, PhD, FL.S. Art-to-Art palette Journal, 2013

Education

Attended California Art Institute

Los Angeles-based artist Sandra Cooper is renowned for her distinctive abstract expressionist style. Her paintings and drawings are unique in their ability to stimulate viewers visually and emotionally with both passion and contradiction. Her striking images encourage viewers to use their own mind’s eye to interpret the movement of paint across canvas. Cooper wants to evoke an emotional response to her art, rather than merely object recognition. “If I wanted to recreate exactly what I saw, I would use my camera. My style celebrates the randomness of abstract expressionism.” “Why paint the entire scene when it’s the negative space that fills my imagination with the creative possibilities of ‘What if’” Cooper says.

Cooper’s “Heart Felt Series,” painted under her “nom de art”

R. Vega, is reflective of the powerful abstract nudes for which she is known.

Cooper’s style and technique are reflected in the media she uses. Whether it is watercolors, mono prints, mono types, charcoal line drawings, acrylics or collage, her work is recognized as a consistent signature of talent.

Cooper?

Exhibitions/Tours/Representations

1) Februrary 20th from 3:00-4:00PM (PST) BlogTalkRadio. The ORACLE Speaks, hosted by Denise L. Cook, with special guest Artist Sandra Cooper. UK Songwriter Artie Q\'s single \"Not a Lot of Love\", which was inspired by Cooper\'s \"Out of Control\", will be played.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/denise-lyles-cook

Call In: (805) 285-9772

2) In 2011 Daily Art Calendar, All For Love, www.ArtWanted.com/SandraCooper

3) The Whole 9 Gallery - Culver City, California - The Peace Project

http://www.thewhole9.com/thepeaceproject-merchandise.php

4) In 2010 Artist Sandra Cooper was featured on BlueHighways TV in conjunction with Lark Gallery Online. The show was viewed in over 220 countries.

http://country-cooperative.com/index.php/artists/category/mixed_media .

5) In 2010 Sandra Cooper artwork Out of Control was chosen by internationally renowned UK songwriter and singer Artie Q for LarkGallery Online E-exhibition Colors of Life - Music

6) In 2010 The Whole 9, juried competition, The Peace Project, Culver City, CA

In 2010 The Pop/Lock Gallery, Global Art Exhibition , Los Angeles, CA

Animoto

http://animoto.co/play/kcodPxjQSc56io2yu6LQOA

2009 Woman\'s Club of Hollywood, guest artist, 12th Annual Rose Variety Arts Show, Hollywood, CA

2009 Woman?s Club of Hollywood, featured cover artist for Denise Cook, The ORACLE, Speaks just because, Hollywood, CA

2009 The Hive Gallery, Art & Action, Los Angeles, CA

2009 LarkGalleryOnline.com, featured artist, Sandra Cooper, Santa Monica, CA

2009 Fantasy 2000, Sherman Oaks, CA

2009 Clouds, ?Heart Felt Series? painted under R. Vega, Santa Monica, CA

2008 Malibu Art Assn, Memories and Appreciation, Juried Exhibition, Malibu, CA

2008 Malibu Art Assn, Colors, Colors, Colors, Emeritus College, Juried Exhibition, Santa Monica CA

2008 Beverly Hills Country Club, Rose Breast Cancer Foundation, Visions of Hope, Beverly Hills, CA

2008 No Ho Gallery, Visions, North Hollywood, CA

2008 Haziaz Gallery, Art48, Sun Valley, CA

2008 Finegood Art Council of the Valley Alliance Jewish Federation, Studio Tour, Los Angeles,CA

2008 Malibu Art Association Juried Exhibition, The Challenge of Colors, Pacific

Palisades, CA

2008 APA Art Association Members Only Exhibition, The Washington Convention Center, Washington DC

2008 Art Treasures of Los Angeles, the Hidden Gems Art Collection, curator: Pasqual Bettio,Westmoreland Art Lofts, Los Angeles, CA

2008 Clouds, ?Heart Felt Series? painted under R. Vega, Santa Monica, CA

BIBI DAVIDSON - ARTIST STATEMENT WWW.BIBIDAVIDSON.COM

One is born to a certain talent and passion, which either is in his/her genes, past life or the influence of their environment. At a very early age I observed my surroundings around me and put them on paper,

At a certain point I started to paint my stories, like a diary,

In my stories I often appear as a girl, as a bunny, as a cat or even a flower, this is how I connect with my planet.

Bibi Davidson’s Bio

www.bibidavidson.com

bibiearth@aol.com

Bibi was born in Israel where she discovered her ability to draw and paint at a very early age, through the years she attended private teachings, and went to an art institute.

When her second daughter was born, bibi moved to Los Angeles where she worked as a film editor for 10 years.

At a certain time bibi decided that painting was her calling, she quit everything and started to paint her stories. Since then, she kept painting her subject, the girl who represented herself and tell the story of her life and her dreams.

Mirza Davitaia’ large format abstract paintings belong to two worlds; his eastern European childhood and the Western European part of his Education. Davitaia has been painting for as long as he can remember. Back when he was a boy, Davitaia Sr., also a painter, ensconced his son in the Elementary School of Art, in Tbilisi, Georgia. Davitia junior came of age when his country was controlled by the Soviet Union. The artist took the best of his Georgian origin to West Europe where he studied painting at the Academy of Nuremberg. Art school in West Germany opened the young painter to the extravagance of creative possibilities in those with a Western mentality. He returned home and took his place in the Georgian fight for independence from Russia. It was a fight for both political and artistic freedom. His decision to come to Los Angeles to paint comes as the ultimate denouement to that quest for artistic freedom. The sweetness of line, color and texture and the plastically of his painting mirrors Davitaia’s inner exploration for non-linear independence. Shown exclusively in Europe until now, this is the painter’s first solo show in the USA.

Filmography

2014 Jacky in Women's Kingdom, executive producer, France, Republic of Georgia

2011 5 Days of War, producer, USA, Republic of Georgia

2009 Misha Versus Moscow: The Battle for Georgia's Future, documentary, executive producer, USA, Republic of Georgia

1995 The Adventures of Max and Molly, TV-Series, layout artist, Germany

1994-1995 Tobias and His Lion, animation artist, Germany

Exhibitions

2014 Group show, "Bloom" GDCA Gallery. Los Angeles, USA.

2013 Hamburg Art Fair by Gallery Brunno Massa Paris, France.

2013 Art study visit, Rome and Civitella D’Agliano, Italy.

2007 Group show, Gallery V.Jiut, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia.

2007 Annual group show of the Georgian Artist Union, National Gallery of Georgia, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia.

2006 Annual group show of the Georgian Artist Union, National Gallery of Georgia, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia.

2005 Annual Group show of the Georgian Artist Union, National Gallery of Georgia, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia.

2004 Group show “New Generation” National Gallery of Georgia, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia.

2003 Annual group show, Artist Association of Erlangen, Germany

2002 Participation “Erlangen-Vladimir”, Artist Association of Erlangen, Germany

2001 Participation “Vladimir-Erlangen”, Vladimir, Russia

2001 Solo Show, Kulturdach, Nuremberg, Germany.

2000 Goup show Artistikum Gallery, Nuremberg, Germany

1995 Solo Show, Zeltner Schloss Gallery

Unshin's current preferred mediums are the pen and pencil, and current genre portraiture. Her work is a ballad of fantasy and drama with a tragic disposition. Unshin's art is extremely intricate, and she hopes that with every passing glance, the viewer can discern a new detail unknown to them before.

Unshin is a Los-Angeles-based artist, born and raised in Mongolia, where she attained a BA in Fashion Design and Decorative Art from the College of Arts and Culture. Unshin also owned a fashion house from 1995-98, where she released a series of consecutive avant-garde lines, on top of teaching fashion design and modeling. Although perpetually involved in artistic endeavors, Unshin is a newcomer to the American art scene, having held her first exhibition less than a year prior.

Teodor M. Dumitrescu is a Romanian born artist and illustrator. He received a Bachelors in Fine Art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2002 where his thesis work focused on fantastical images of old and new world nostalgia. His studies included extensive scientific illustration and natural history illustration work. He has exhibited internationally and his work is evolving to include more elements relative to the preservation of both memory and the natural world. Today he lives and works in Riverside, California.

BFA 2002, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Solo Exhibitions:

2012 Fire Season, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL

2010 Wanderlust, New Work by Teodor Dumitrescu, Division 9 Gallery, Riverside, CA

2008 Memorabilia, New Paintings by Teodor Dumitrescu, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL

2006 Il Male Del Ritorno, Zelle Arte Contemporanea, Palermo, Italy

2004 Bella Noir, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL

Selected Group Exhibitions:

2014

Surreal Salon Six, curated by Greg Escalante, Baton Rouge Gallery - Center for Contemporary Arts, Baton Rouge, LA

2013

Expo Chicago, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL

Transcending Traditions, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA

2012

Watercolors, curated by Kristin Sancken, Phillips de Pury & Company, New York, NY

Partners in Crime, curated by Bekka Utermohlen, Hibbleton Gallery, Fullerton, CA

2011

Cinematic Bodies, curated by Jamie Adams, Zolla Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL

Art Chicago 2011, Zolla Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL

2006

Works on Paper, White Walls Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Art Chicago in the Park 2006, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL

2005

Art Chicago 2005, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL

It's All Relative, Space 237, Toledo, Ohio

2004

Summer Love, Vision 9, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL

Art Chicago 2004, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL.

2003

Brilliant, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery Inc., Chicago, IL

Art Chicago 2003, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery Inc., Chicago, IL

“EliZe” da Jose – Artist Statement

I understand art as a way of emotionally experiencing reality and a universal language of

communication.

Without conscious e?ort and thought, I try to fill my paintings with expressions strong

enough to let the spectator feel the energy put in the depth of the canvas, transforming the

perception of picture into his own art act.

Most recently, I find myself inspired to focus on developing and exploring the connection

between iconography and abstraction in light of Cosmism philosophy. The inspiration of

this uniquely blended style came about as briefly explained in the following.

I believe that abstract painting was and still is an artist’s attempt at capturing and

expressing Plato's world of ideas which is invisible to the earthly eyes. Then, at the

beginning of the 20th century came the avant-gardism of Filonov and Malevich which was a

rebellion against physicality, materialism and petty-bourgeois consumption.

Iconography takes its roots from the symbiosis of antique vivid imagery and spiritual

practices of Ancient Egypt. From ancient times to the present day, man has never stopped

asking himself questions about who he is and what his true role in this world is.

My newfound unique style of blending iconography and abstract painting is somehow an

endeavour to continue humanity’s perennial e?ort and desire to capture and express the

depth of the invisible world via visible materials, to have a glimpse of the heavenly realm via

earthly instruments, akin to Plato and Malevich’s line of thinking.

In my work, I try to find an image of the elusive other shore - where every soul aspires to go -

and trying to find artful means to communicate what is di?icult to express in words.

ELIZAVETA DAJOSE (Artist Name: Elize)

Elize daJose is a professional artist, sculptor, iconographer and illustrator.

Her artworks primarily consist of a unique blend of abstract art and icon painting, experimenting with various materials, although her favorite media remain acrylic painting and ceramics.

Born in Moscow, Russia, her life as an artist started at a very young age. One day on a snowy street in her hometown, she bought Kazimir Malevich’s book from a peddler which turned her consciousness upside down and defined her entire life path.

From 1996 to 2000, she religiously undertook painting, sculpture, and graphics in various workshops of Moscow artists.

Since 2001, she has been working in the creative workshops of the Babushkinsky Sculpture Combine and in 2002, she became a member of the Moscow Union of Artists, sculpture section.

From 2002 to 2010, she actively participated in group exhibitions at the Central House of Artists, Gallery on Kuznetsky Most, Darwin Museum, and Timiryazev Museum.

In 2010, she participated in the Annual Art Juried Competition in Los Angeles, CA, and became a laureate.

In 2011, she took part in the collective exhibition "Woman Day Art Exhibits" at the Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles, CA, and in 2012 she had a solo exhibition "Three Artists" at Liz Loft Gallery, LA, CA.

In 2016, Elize moved to California and actively participated in collective exhibitions, including the "Summer Exhibit" at Bergamot Station Art Center in Santa Monica (2016), "Brain Art Event" at Lark Gallery/The Chiari Project in West Hollywood (2017), and "The Art of Transformation" at Brick & Mortar Loiter Galleries in Long Beach (2023), among many others.

In 2025, Elize was awarded the Silver Medal at the New York International Art Juried Competition, "The Light from the Other Shore."

In 2026, an essay featuring Elize's creativity and spiritual development was published in the book "Revelations of the Artist - Deep Calls to Deep", curated by ArtServe International.

Elize is an active member of the Los Angeles Art Association and Riverside Community Arts Association. She is currently represented by Lark Gallery in West Hollywood and Literary Engineers, LLC in Benicia, CA.

Words From The Artist: William Emboden

Eight layers of paint, Eight failures; but the day will come when this canvas lives and speaks. The necessity of recognizing failure causes many hopeful artists to relinquish their brushes and canvases; often too soon, yet in many instances the failure piece is allowed to represent an artist when he knows that it has no life of its own.

A finished canvas must speak and communicate. Cleverness is failure, and it is much of the failure of the contemporary art world. Don’t seek that which is new or novel for it will not last the moment beyond its creation. Follow that which instinct which is both cerebral and visceral. There should be times in your life when you feel that you must release emotions and thought as paint on canvas. Allow each work to speak that secret language that belonged to you and now lives a life of its own on canvas.

Art is always waiting to be born, and the artist must be prepared for the event. A notebook filled with ideas is a good beginning, but only a beginning. What is it that you need to say in pigments? It should be a part of your life finding itself on canvas.

Art is the poetry that needs no translation or words. It should perplex and leave one with questions or it is too facile. The art must be separable from verbal expression. The need for explanation means that the work is already moribund.

Art may be born of anger, fear or a variety of emotions such as love and sorrow. Yet behind all of these there must be an intellectual basis. The desire to create something that exists

William Emboden began his advanced studies at Purdue University where he was a pupil of the Italian artist Rudy Pozatti. His paintings won first place in his first juried show. At Indiana University he continued his art studies, including stage designs, with Cesare Mario Cristini. Under his guidance Emboden was recognized as Outstanding Artist at the annual Faculty & Student Exhibition. After finishing his MA he went onto UCLA and studied with Kate T. Steinitz (a colleague of Kurt Schwitters) and Carlo Pedretti. At this time he exhibited a number of his collages and was a founding member of the Fluxus movement. After receiving his PhD from UCLA, and having taught Leonardo Studies, Emboden completed his book LEONARDO da VINCI on PLANTS and GARDENS (Diascorides Press) and it was followed by THE VISUAL ART OF JEAN COCTEAU (Abrams Publishing) which was published in five different countries. This was followed by JEAN COCTEAU AND THE ILLUSTRATED BOOK (Santa Susana Press). He has over two hundred and fifty publications to his credit including his book on Alexandra Nechita: DOVE IN HAND and his book JAMES FRANCIS GILL (San Angelo Press) recounting the careers of two foremost 20th Century American artists.

Emboden’s artistry is a celebration of THE WORD. His strongest influences have been Kurt Schwitters, 19th and 20th Century French poets, Middle Eastern calligraphy and Japanese haiku. He is a poet himself and each of his paintings is a manifestation of his poetry. He has had many exhibitions – international and local. His most recent play AN EVENING WITH COCTEAU AND COLETTE

In 1997 I began the body of work called “Visual Coding of the Archetypes on the Basis of the Bible and the Biblical Mythology”.

I use symbolic primitivism to present biblical images in a unique and unprecedented manner, similar to the ancient Chinese tradition of telling stories in the form of pictures rather than words.

My exposure to Carl Jung's theory of archetypes, brought forth a series of drawings that reconsidered the raw imagery of icon painting in the context of unconscious reflexive narrative, the kind Jung proposed, that lies at the very back of our brains and motivates us invisibly. I am drawn to cultural archetypes, symbols and motifs that recur in all forms of mythic and fabulistic discourse and in some way bind all of the arts - literature, theater, fine art, dance and music. I have sought to make overt the presence of these archetypes in my own art, not propagandizing for or illustrating Jung’s theories but simply manifesting them in the process of telling tales and setting scenes.

Eugene Vishnevsky (GenVish) was born in 1960 in the city of Kiev, Ukraine. In 1990 he immigrated to Israel, and then to Canada. Eugene has lived in Los Angeles, California since 1993. According to the artist, his style, black and white symbolic primitivism, appeared in 1985. While growing as an artist, GenVish was greatly impressed and influenced by art of Heieronymous Bosch, Pavel Phylonov, Marc Chagall.

Merging of Acrylic Painting, drawings and photography through a digital process of photomontage. Collecting past art work, which I have done, destroying it and reassembling it so that all becomes a cybernetic, virtual reality. My roots are in the dirt of California. My first memories were of California. The sky was blue the sun was yellow. The grass was green. On the grass sat empty, pink stucco bungalows. It was before anyone moved to California. It was vacuous, silent and waiting. It was the emptiness inside which my life would happen.

Three years at USC Shool of Architecture and Fine Arts.

Graduated Magna cum Laude from UCLA in Philosophy.

Showings at Gorky\\\'s Downtown LA, Richard Evans Gallery in Glendale, Recently at Beyond Baroque in Venice, CA.

I find my inspiration in the world around me and in my loved one. I do not usually follow the same style in all of my artworks and while some of my paintings just depict the beauty of the real world around me, the others are more about telling different imaginary stories and revealing unusual characters and situations. My diptychs and triptychs are more like visual stories where the presentations from different perspectives depict common and not so common situations and circumstances. Such an artistic trick allows me not just to tell a certain story, but it also turns a 2D image into something similar to 3D object thus greatly expanding viewers visual experience and further stimulating their imagination.

Olga was born in the Russian city of Zlatoust to the parents of German descent. She developed a passion for drawing and painting over her early childhood years. In Russia she graduated from the College of Industrial Design where she received her BA degree as a commercial designer . Later, the family moved to Germany where she became an art teacher for the art-therapy program designed for the kids with mental disabilities and other special needs.

Since moving to California in 2011 she began her career as a fine artist working in a variety of different styles and genres and have also participated in a number of local exhibitions. Her artworks have been sold to art collectors in US and around the world.

Being an artist is pouring one’s soul onto the canvas, carving it into a stone or molding it into clay. It is being able to free the mind to create beauty, to create mysteries and, to create long-lasting emotion and passion for the viewer.

My paintings are created through combining acrylic, fabric dyes and oil on canvas. Using layers of one or all mediums, I create texture and depth within the space. This results in fluidity and translucency on the surface, complemented by organic lines to create movement and form.

I am inspired by nature, where I am pulled into experiencing every curve, movement, texture, and fragrance by being present in any given moment. I paint intuitively, capturing the essence of light and positive energy of my experiences. In the process, I explore unlimited options that present themselves and a variety of elements from nature become prominent in my work. I do not paint the actual objects but my experience of the space and the undercurrent and core of what seems to be visible.

I create from the heart. Through my art I intent to touch the hearts and souls of my viewers, to bring them joy, lift their spirit and transcend the moment to one beyond this world.

Aazam Irilian was born in Iran and has resided in Southern California since 1977. Her extensive experience in a broad range of mediums is led by her passion for painting and sculpture. Aazam received her Bachelor of Arts and Masters of Art Education from California State University, Northridge. She has been a working artist and art educator for over 20 years—sharing her passion with students of all ages. Aazam has shown in galleries throughout the Southern California as well as Oregon and her works are in various private collections around the world. She is a member of Southern California Women’s Caucus for Art, Women Painters West, LAAA and Fusionart International.

Narine Isajanyan was born in Armenian and began drawing and painting at the age of five. During her childhood she visited many museums and galleries in Armenian and St. Petersburg, as well as receiving training in music and dance. In college she continued her training in art and received a Bachelors degree in 1987 from the College of Architecture in Yerevan. She moved to Moscow to study at the Moscow Architectural Institute but found Soviet regulations with architecture too restrictive and sought more freedom to express her ideas through her art. She returned to Armenian and studied art with Manvel Bagdasaryan and Samvel Bagdasaryan and later received a Masters degree in Fine Arts from the Yerevan University of Art and Theater. She first started exhibiting her art in 1990 in Armenia and has participated in numerous shows in Moscow, Beruit, Abu Dhabi, Croatia and Belgium. She came to the United States in 1998 when she was invited to participate in an art exhibition and since then has exhibited her paintings at many galleries in the Los Angeles area.

Inspired by the impressionist painter Monet, Narine's work is expressionist, minimalist and conceptual by turns. Whether on canvas, paper, board, wood or actually made of metal, her pieces become abstract landscapes that are as fluid within as they are consistent and organic as a whole.

About her art, Narine says, "When I paint, I feel like I am flying and dancing; I hear music in my mind. Through my art I want to express the freedom I feel in my soul."

With my art I want to educate and narrow the gap between the contemporary artist and the public by allowing the public to participate in the creative process. Making the art work a perfect educational tool that demystifies the abstract. Manipulating the pieces lets people play, refresh, and escape from stress which invites meditation.

The interactive art challenges the observer to balance and rearrange the "sculptures". One has to try it several times to find the perfect balance and harmony.

Julianna ViVienVioletta Balogh born in Hungary, she escaped from the communist country at the age 21. She spent two months in the Italian refugee camp and six months in Paris, before seeking refuge in the United States. In 1988 she received her Bachelor of Arts from University of California (UCLA).

In 1991 she received her Adult Education Teaching Credential. Since then she taught art classes in different adult schools to a variety of ethnic groups and ages in the Los Angeles area.

In 2000 she received her M.F.A from Claremont Graduate University. She exhibited since 1982 and she was the owner of the Sarga Szem Fine Art Studio in Upland,California.

In my work I aim to express the luminous quality of light through the contrast of light and darkness attempting to articulate the deep emotional content of the chosen subject. My hope as an artist is that the viewer will experience the depth, feel the emotion and find a unique personal meaning in my paintings.

I am a Russian artist, born in the heart of what is now the Russian Federation, in a small town founded by Ivan the Terrible, famous for it’s ancient majestic monasteries, as well as art schools and the artists that studied there.Then at an early age moving to Vilnius, Lithuania and growing up in an artistic family I have acquired a longing and a passion for art from early childhood.The unique experience of a close-knit intellectual community of Soviet life has had a strong influence on the dramatic quality of my work.

I’ve lived in several places around the world eventually settling in Los Angeles. I am primarily self- taught, but have been strongly influenced by the Classical Russian School represented by such greats as Ilya Repin, Valentin Serov, Leon Bakst, as well as other past and contemporary names – John Singer Sargent, Anders Zorn, Jeffrey R.Watts and Alex Kanevsky.

I had a solo exhibit on June 24, 2012 at the Tiny Stage Gallery and have participated in several group shows at the BOA Gallery on Melrose, Barnsdall and Blick Pop-up Galleries. My most recent participation took second place prize at the Barnsdall Small Works competition.

Artist Marina Kazakova (nee Lunkova), was born in Tver, July 14, 1983 in a simple Soviet family (his father worked as an electrician, his mother a seamstress.) Since childhood interest in drawing and in contrast to his older brother, who went by the scientific path, went to Tver Art Lyceum printing, finishing it with honors in 2001. Between 2007 and 2012 she lived and worked in Moscow. Since 2013 and currently lives and works in Los Angeles, USA. Great influence on the work of Marina has her husband and collaborator on crafts Mikhail Kazakov. The most famous of their collaborations, "The Evolution of Wedding," "Avtoistoriya", "Under blue sails", "The evolution of man," "Solar System," "Michael Jackson. Life", etc.

The truest means of expressing the real is to accept the process of discovery. To experience the process, rather than perfecting a formula, will come closer to making a drawing or painting believable.

The horse race has been a reoccurring theme in my work. It represents strength, energy, and motion as well as the bond between man and horse. Ancient symbolic meaning is another aspect that is present. The communication between horse and jockey reveals that aspect in a very long two minute space of time.

1976-A.A. Degree, Lane Community College, Eugene, Ore.

1977- Juried- Centrum Master Painting Workshop, Instructor, Nathan Olivera, Port Townsend, WA.

1979 Painting, University of Oregon

1978- Fellowship, Centrum Master Painting Workshop, Instructor, Elaine DeKooning, Port Townsend, WA.

1979- Juried, Centrum Critique, Jack Tworkov, Port Townsend, WA.

1978- Drawing Workshop, Tom Blodgett, Eugene, Or.

1975-1978 Through the courtesy of the professors and the Department Chairman, I monitored studio classes daily. If there were no classes I would be in the art library.

1975-1985 Participated in open drawing and painting sessions four days a week.

1985-1996 Hiatus. Life, kids, divorce. Life in progress.

Exhibitions: Juried

1985- Pacific. N.W. Figure Drawing Competition 1984, Alfred Leslie, Visual Arts Center, Anchorage, AK.

1985- Fifth Annual Juried Art Show, The Art Gallery, Umpqua Community College, Roseburg, Ore. Selected participant.

1984- Figure Study Show, Alvin Gallery, Hong Kong.

1984- Three Person Show, University of Oregon Art Museum, Eugene, Oregon.

1983- Oregon Biennial, Portland Art Museum, Portland, Ore.

Most recent:

2004- Marghitta Feldman Gallery, One Man Show, Early Drawings, Portland, OR.

2008,'09, '10-Annual Visual Arts Showcase, Beaverton, Ore.

2010- Oasis Gallery, Juried Exhibition, 1st place award.

2010- Real People 2010, Juried exhibition, Woodstock, IL.

2011- Nude Nite, Tampa, FL.

2011- Nude Nite, Orlando, FL.

2014- Emerald Spring Exhibition 2014, Emerald Art Center, Springfield, OR., May 2014.

2014- Au Natural International Juried Exhibition, Clatsop Community College Art Center Gallery, Astoria, OR., January - March, 2014, juror, Charles Froelick, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR.

2013- Los Angeles Art Association’s 2013 Open Show, Gallery 825, Hollywood, CA. Dec.-Jan, 2014, Curator, Jenny Gheith, Assistant Curator, San Fransico Museum of Modern Art.

2013- California Open Exhibition, August, TAG Gallery, Bergamot Station Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA, August, 2013, Honorable Mention Award.

2013- Real People 2013, Old Court House Art Center, August- September, Woodstock, IL.

2013- All Media Juried Show, July-September, Chase Gallery, Spokane, WA.

2013- Real People, August through September, Old Courthouse Arts Center, Woodstock, IL.

2013- Story of the Creative, July through September, See | Exhibition Space, New York City, NY.

2012- Annual Visual Arts Showcase, Beaverton, OR.

2012- Real People, Woodstock, IL.

When asked why she creates art Ko says, “my mission is to make people smile.” Those close to Ko know she’s a gifted, inspired artist who sees things that others often miss. “I people watch a lot,” says Ko, who describes her work, such as the mother and child, as giving. “I do it because it makes me feel good; I like creating it, and I like sharing it. But most of all, I like to make people smile.” All of Ko’s work has an Asian influence, and when she is creating, the pieces speak to her. “I want to create a dialogue that, hopefully, the buyer will connect with,” she says. Ko, who finds solace in her at-home studio, has several pieces in the works, including one called Kami, which means “divine aura” in Japanese, and another named Kanji, meaning “humble.” For Ko, there is no ultimate goal or finish line when it comes to her art; she’s simply committed to producing pieces that make people smile while putting a little piece of her everlasting out into the world.

Unlike some, Ko didn’t study fine art in college. She didn't venture abroad as student to explore the works of Michelangelo or Vincent Van Gogh. That simply wasn’t an option for Ko; A self-made, successful businesswoman who left home at 15 to explore and create her world.

Ko became a successful businesswoman and an artist simultaneously. She spent the last three decades building an empire of image and wealth, turning a small, independent regional magazine into an iconic statement of the Orange County, California lifestyle. She went to work at Orange Coast magazine in '76, and purchased the magazine in '95. She grew it into a successful business, and ultimately sold it at the top of the market.

Her creativity is boundless. Artistically, '96 was a pivotal year for Ko. As she traveled through Bali and Singapore, Ko was captivated by the architecture and artistry that she saw. It compelled her to explore her own talent as an artist through more travel and training with the masters.

Ko is already experiencing phenomenal success as an artist. She’s currently working on a series of sculptures, which is already attracting buzz in the art world. All of her work carries Asian influences—some subtle, some obvious. For Ko, they evoke a sense of calm, well being and peacefulness. When Ko is seeking inspiration, she often gazes outside her studio onto a serene Japanese garden. The emotions evoked by this contemplation—particularly serenity—are the things that motivate Ko in her work.

My works generally are the result of a continuous refinement of established techniques and experimentation painted on canvas or paper with mixed media materials. Mostly subjects are based on abstracted impressions and memories of different architectural sites I have visited throughout the world. Ancient, and far away places and their unique moods created by light and changing color evoke intense responses and compel me to create my work. In order to capture every mood to my personal satisfaction,

the surfaces have to be superimposed and juxtaposed, creating major and minor accents with some kind of harmony.

I feel that the completion of my paintings is a journey unto itself, of color and feelings. At times I insert snapshots and add

J. Natasha Kostan lives and works in Los Angeles and has been painting in multimedia for the past 30 years. She has studied Fashion and Interior Design in England and Fine Arts and Art History in the United States, and received her BFA from Immaculate Heart College. Her work includes oils, acrylics, mixed media and collage on canvas and on paper.

She studied printmaking extensively under Maurizio Barattucci, a well-known and highly respected artist and instructor. The printmaking process has been an inspiration for developing intriguing primary surfaces and the metamorphosis of Natasha's works on paper. Natasha states: "Ancient, and far away places and their unique moods created by light and changing color evoke intense responses and compel me to create my work. In order to capture every mood to my personal satisfaction, the surfaces have to be superimposed and juxtaposed, creating major and minor accents with some kind of harmony."

Her eclectic style is a manifestation of her multi-hued vision of the world. Her work expresses her experience of living in and traveling through several cultures. "Her palette reflects warmth, balance and strength," said the late Barbara Hagar, California artist, teacher and mentor with whom Natasha studied for many years. Numerous corporations as well as private collectors throughout the United States and England own her paintings. She has exhibited solo and in groups in the United States and Armenia.

Post modern, multimedia art and design

Luka Krstich is Los Angeles based artist, born in Serbia , Yugoslav.

He worked as set designer for Hollywood movies, free lance graphic designer and furniture maker.

Luka's fine art was shown in USA and Korea many times. His paintings were sold at big action house Bonham & Butterfield.

Deep knowledge of art gives artist freedom to create elegance, perfection and great composition in all media.

My art is imagination of created things which do not exist in everyday life. The purpose of my life - is creation of the fantasies. I was always attracted to science fiction books and movies. I put my images of my fantasy’s creatures in paintings and sculptures.

Faina Kumpan was moved from Odessa, Ukraine as a political refugee. She graduated from the Theatrical Art College in Odessa. In her not very exciting childhood, she was dreaming of other worlds. She was obsessed with science fiction.

Her emigration to New York opens the new opportunities. She worked as a designer and changed a lot of different professions. After moving to LA she returned to her love for art and Science Fiction. She attended numerous classes at UCLA Extension and many private workshops. She exhibited in many important galleries in LA and NY. She creates a fantasy world that is a once surreal and abstract, whimsical and vibrant. Whether creating painting or sculptures, her subjects are mystical creatures from another world, like fantastic figures stepping out of the pages of the futuristic fairy tale. She was participating in many group exhibitions.

She was awarded as a creative artist by City of LA for working together to celebrate Los Angeles as Creative Capital of the world. Her works are in many private collections.

I relate to the canvas by composing landscapes of irrealities. Rooted in emotional ties, and transposed by interchanging the concepts of design, I attempt to create a meaningful composition for the eye. The purpose being that the project becomes a story, and the story is told in an abstract, yet emotional manner. Each story of the irreal is given a sense of realism by my use of abstraction.

I use abstraction to create an image. The character of the project, urban but organic, becomes a playground for representation, suggesting its theme. The placement of each element changes the entirety of the project. From my experience, character, obvious or underlying, embodies the vision, circumstance, or situation within. I express this dialogue of character with images, not words.

I superimpose images that the eye can distill, complete, reinvent, and/or canonize by using the image to explain what is seen as a kind of narrative.

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but having new eyes.” –Marcel Proust

Meaning is found through imagery and/or other conceptual devices adding to the work. The environment of the image is telling. It helps define what is in front of you.

With each project, my ideas grow. Conceptually, there are many intertwining ways in which these images can be connected. My work is an exploration of such a journey, a journey that is ongoing and reinvents itself through constant change.

My work has an amorphous form and function; encompasses an evocative use of light, shape, and form; and, each composition is different depending on the project and the message. I visually identify with a space and its components through the relationship of the project to its entirety. My projects embrace the mundane, the intellectual experience, and the passions of my life.

Born in South Africa, Teresa Lakier currently lives/ works in Los Angeles. Teresa is best known for her Geometric Abstractions, and her Digital Art. She received a Bachelor of Arts for Art at California State University at Northridge and studied at the California Institute of Art, Westlake.

During her career as an artist, Teresa has exhibited at Bergamot Station in galleries: Secant/Sulkin and Beyond the Lines Gallery. She has also exhibited at Gallery 825, Hale Arts, LACDA, Lark Gallery, MOLAAA, TAG Gallery and Wallspace LA. Teresa has received awards in shows/publications, including Circle Quarterly Art Review Magazine, LA Municipal Art Gallery, MD Art Gallery, Mujeres al Pincel y la Lente, Phantom Galleries, West Hollywood Pop-up Gallery, and VIVA Gallery. Teresa has been represented/affiliated with Hale Arts, LAAA.org, and Wallspace LA. Online she is/ has been represented/affiliated with Artist.com, Bslog.com, Fineartamerica.com, and Saatchi.com.

Teresa is currently working on three bodies of work: Geometric Abstractions, Digital Prints and Portraiture.

Through her work, she reinvents herself using images, the correlation of line, shape, form, and perspective. She challenges the viewer enough to affect them, confuses them enough for them to ask the question, and then, again, challenges them enough to respond to what they see in front of them.

In the past, she has collaborated with three artists: Karen Kinney, Liz Duer, and Odenis Vitorelli.

My art, whether abstract, figurative, or combinations of both, explores dimensional vibrations through the use of line, color, symbolism, and form. Geometry, particle physics, holonomic brain theory, mythology, and Jung's theories of synchronicity and the collective unconscious all inform my work.

Perceiving the concepts contained in the above theories, I strive to reveal the deeper dimensions and innate spirituality that exist in the here and now of every moment.

I am a mixed-media artist whose works include traditional media (watercolor, pastel, pen and ink, oil, acrylic), digital or new media, and combinations of both. Upcoming plans are to work with LED panels (backlit) and animation.

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“Employing an arsenal of digital tools, Melissa Lambert mines a hallucinatory territory embedded with personal codes and signals that lend her dizzying, pixelated surfaces unusual depth.”

-Michael Ned Holte

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Melissa Ann Lambert is definitely in the inner worlds mode of Matta, Onslow-Ford, and Pallen. The blurring of inner and outer, micro and macro, she has that. Count me amongst her fans.

- William Sheehy, Latin American Masters

Bergamot Station

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Influences include the latest fantastical discoveries of particle physics, synchronicity, superstring, holonomic brain and biotic theory, and Taoism. Authors as diverse as Gary Zukov, Brian Greene, Daniel Goleman, Carlos Castenada, Aldous Huxley, Joseph Campbell, William Blake, and Carl Jung have influenced my perception and vision.

I paint what touches me most. Something in my life or in the world around me that moves me deeply. It may be joy or it may be sadness and worry.

Just painting what I feel brings me closer in touch with who I am and what I feel, it helps me process what I might not otherwise understand or be able to digest or let go of.

My artwork always had to do with feelings, my feeling about the world, people, and my relationship with them. I always have put it on paper since I can remember.

Like the feelings between mother and child, that are our most complete bond, or portraits of an emotional mood, that seem to come just out of me when I feel a certain way and sit down with a brush and canvas, to capture the emotion.

Regine Legler Bio

Regine Legler was born in Berlin, Germany during the last days of World War II.

Her first exposure to art was a dark, brown door her mother allowed the family to draw on with chalk, which Regine did frequently. Everything was a canvas, including her schoolbooks, which lead Regine to her first commission; being asked by her fellow classmates to help them with their homework assignment to draw Napoleon.

Regine’s formal education in fine art started at age 17 when she enrolled at the Staedelschule in Frankfurt/Main Germany. There she began a two-year study of figure drawing, portraiture, landscape and still life under Walter Hergenhahn, a student of the renowned Max Beckmann. Later, she underwent three years of intensive study in oil painting, acrylic and watercolor at the Freie Academie in Mannheim, Germany.

In her early years, Regine drew and painted scenes of dreams and emotional situations in a style called Fantastic Realism. Then, in 1994, her interest shifted to wildlife and American Indian scenes. Today, Regine’s style has evolved from Fantastic Realism to a more realistic and personalized technique to create a very bold look and tone to convey strong emotions.

Regine holds juried membership at Women Painters West, Southern California Women Caucus of the Arts, Venice Art Forum, and has taught college-level classes at Santa Monica College and the Fashion institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles.

My artwork focuses on spiritual, technological and environmental issues. In my art, I deconstruct the American dream, government missteps, the overwhelming presence of the digital age and our effect on the ecosystem that are part of the fabric of our controversial history. Having engaged subjects as diverse as atomic testing, human experimentation and the ever expanding presence of technology, my work reproduces familiar visual signs, arranging them into densely conceptual pieces.

Often times themes are combined into a collage of technology juxtaposed with old world imagery, that may be often embellished with hi-tech details. The juxtaposition of past and future, establishes a dream-like surreal quality and suggests an other worldly realm out of time & space. My personal dream language provides clues to content and visual interpretation.

While I primarily work in the computer for my dream paintings and with found objects for my sculptures, I also incorporate my drawings and photography layering each idea to evoke a new mythology. Although there may not always be visual similarities between the different projects, they are linked by recurring social concerns. The subject matter of each piece determines the colors, textures and the objects used to create it.

Each series often consists of multiple works, grouped around specific themes and meanings. I consistently research varied topics creating new areas of interest from which arises the next body of work.

Born in St. Louis, Vincent Mattina began his love affair with art at a very early age. When he was first able to hold a pencil he knew he loved drawing. Throughout his early years and onto high school his love of art captured his soul. His passion and resolve to educate himself in visual arts led him to Columbus College of Art and Design. There he graduated with a BFA in Fine art & Illustration. In 1990 he moved out of the Midwest and into the Los Angeles area. He gained recognition in the commercial art world by working at companies in the Fashion, Marketing & Advertising industries. Also free-lancing with many companies such as Hanna-Barbera, Disney, Warner Brothers and Activision.

Feeling the need to express himself as well as having a visual story to tell, Vincent decided to follow his first love and branch out into the fine art world. In his first show he was highlighted in a group show at the City of Brea art gallery titled “For Love or Money”. This show was the crossroads between his commercial & fine art career and the first environment to feature his “Entomechanical” series that intertwines nature and machines inspired by photo realism, digital collage and technology.

Since then he also has ventured into the Steam-Punk movement. Vincent was invited to show several of his “Professor Flux Repurposed Ray-Guns” at the Muzeo museum in Anaheim and the San Diego Automotive Museum.

In 2012 his art work “Victorinsect Box 3“ was voted 1st place in the digital category juried art show. Also in 2012 his piece “All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace (Adam)” received best of show at the Art for All People Gallery show entitled “Phoenix Rising”.

His richly detailed works transports you to an alternate reality in which science, nature and spirituality evolve. Vincent has shown in galleries throughout the southern California and his works grace the homes of various collectors.

When I touched clay for the first time, I knew that sculpture was the best way for me to tell my story. When I sculpt, I experience feelings

and images that dwell in my subconscious mind. These are revealed to me as I form the clay and fashion the ideas into actual objects. Sculpting is my relationship with life on all levels and its very sacred

to me. It allows me to look inside myself and then out to the world around me. I get great pleasure from following and trusting my intuition and process.

My formative years in Russia provided the context for much of my artistic expression. Drawing upon early cultural and educational experiences, vision and feelings connect and emerge from the clay.

I was born in Kiev Ukraine, where I spent the first thirty years of my life. Thus, Russian culture, in the forms of music, poetry, visual art, and meditation, were an important part of my life there. I was trained as a speech pathologist and worked in that field for eight years.

I moved to the United State to escape religious persecution in the Soviet Union. I arrived without family or friends, knowledge of English, or monetary support. I was a single mother with a 4-year

old son. It took me twenty years to build a new life and to bring my family to this country. As a consequence, I am largely a self-taught artist.

I was not able to articulate my artistic feelings for a very long time.

But, when I felt clay for the first time, I knew I found my medium.

Sergei Milokumov - master who created the picturesque luxury of the modern world . His unique works, as icons, radiate warmth and inner light . Paintings Milokumova , woven of sunny emotions and philosophical knowledge , captured audience in a New and Old World , Russia and the United Arab Emirates (by invitation of the Governments ). In his works, one can find answers to the most profound questions, and the whole Universe fits on a small canvas. The reason - the ability of talent to penetrate into the essence of things and pass it through a simple matter ...

Art of Milokumov has it’s own dynamics of color, it lives under own laws of time - nature comes alive. You can actually see how grapes ripens in front of your eyes.

Honored Artist of Ukraine,

Associate Professor of Humanities at the University of the Crimea,

Member of the Union of Designers of Ukraine,

Member of the National Union of Artists,

Member of the League of Architects Yalta,

Sergei Milokumov born in 1961. in Cherkassy (Ukraine). He graduated from the Art Academy of Kharkov (cum laude). Was an intern at the Higher School of Art & Design HIF (Halle / s) (Germany).

In May 2002 Sergey Milokumov received from the President of Ukraine title of the Honored Artist of Ukraine.

Rules of art are made to be bent to fit the vision of what I want to say. Each of my paintings is a statement and impression of my feelings about the subject. Most of my paintings are landscapes that express my love of the outdoors and nature. I love colors and express my visions in bright cheerful colors.

I am a retired teacher of art from Burbank Unified School District and Beverly Hills Adult School, and am still teaching adults art in the valley. Painting with watermedia has been my focus and I am combining paints with collage. Many of my paintings have won prizes including Best of Show and First Place. I am now involved with the Topanga Canyon Gallery and currently showing my paintings in three different galleries.

I love that art has no boundaries and that anything is possible.

About the Artist:

A self-taught, accomplished artist, Lily is influenced by the Fusionart style of painting, derived from mysticism, a Near-Eastern meets West spirituality, and a foundation in European painting technology. Lily’s one-of-a-kind finished works takes viewers on a spiritual, dream-like journey with techniques developed by using rags, brush and “hands on” the canvas painting. Lily is also an accomplished designer of several product lines of functional art. Lily paints from a soul level inspired by the essence of what she sees in others and nature.

My Photography Collection are images that I took on my trips to Europe, California, Florida and the Hamptons. Some of these images were feature in my book Dream Gallery II. And my Inspiration Collection was exhibited in the Hamptons. I love to take photograph of the most beautiful places. As you can see in my facebook page.

Ivi Navarrete is the owner and chief designer of Epiphany Designs, Inc, An internet jewelry business. Founding this business followed a ten-year career in finance working for Fortune 500 Companies.

Navarrette's Epiphany International has exhibited her collections in New York, the Hamptons and Hollywood since 2006. She was featured in April 2012 by the East Hampton Star, the Hamptons Art Hub, and The Independent for her exhibition at the Art Groove Exhibition at Ashawagh Hall.

An accomplished poet, Navarrette has been published in London, Spain and the USA. Her poem “Lord Help me Triumphant in Life” was selected as one of the best poems in 2004 by the International Society of Poets in the US. This poem was distributed around the world as part of a CD in a Unique Collection of The Best Poems of 2004.

Also, Ivi is the author & producer of Dream Gallery Books; a series of 4 unique books that took Ivi a year to complete. Finally, the last book was released in April 2013.

Involved personally with many society figures she has been invited and has participated in several high end events in New York, the Hamptons and the West Coast. She was featured in January 2010 by the Diversified News in Los Angeles, and in April by the Examiner.com, an online paper in Los Angeles.

Also, Ivi started a Production company in 2013, and she had completed five films. And two films are in Pre-Production in 2016.

I produce images that display the contrast between subjects that are stationary and subjects that are in motion. I use two techniques to capture these images, the first technique ( macro lens ) requires both the subject and the camera to remain stationary while capturing the image, the second technique ( wide-angle lens ) also requires the subject to remain stationary but I force the camera to move while capturing the second image, this gives the illusion that the subject was moving in a refined sinuous manor. Then in the editing stage, I overlap the two images, adjust the opacity and placement of the top image. The result is a final image that embodies both compostional gravity and compositional placement. All images in this series are outwardly abstract but they retain enough information that the viewer can still identify the subject mater.

I will continue to uncover the theory that states that everything in the universe is in constant motion by means of photography. I want to create images that represent the structure of motion and I want to exhibit my photos. This particular theme is a life long process and I want to highlight the progression, adaptation over b time. The passion that I have for photography, has allowed me to invent a entirely new lens system for cameras, from still frame to video cameras. I am currently 40 days away from obtianing my first utility patent from the USPTO. Ironically I have no background in new product technology, yet I have taught myself how to develop new ideas out of necessity. I will photograph and invent n

(1989-1992) Tampa Prepatory School/ High School. 9-11th grade

(1992-1993) American International High School of Zurich. 12th grade, graduated

(1993-1994) New England College, Henniker, NH

(1994-1995) Kunst Gewerbschule, Zurich, studied, drawing painting, design.

(1995-1996) Wimbeldon School of Design, England, Foundation Course, Btec diploma

(1996) Zurich, painting, drawing, & freelance photography

(1997-1999) Oregon College of Arts & Crafts (OCAC) Furniture Design

(2000-2012) Freelance photographer, Zurich Switzerland

(2013-to present, Los Angeles, photography and inventor of new product technologies in the camera sector, receiving first utility patent from uspto on the 15th of april 2014, for a new camera lens technology that I developed, since I moved to los angeles.

Exhibitions

(1998) Showed my work at the (OCAC) Gallery, located on Campus

(1999)Young American Institute of Architects show in downtown Portland, Oregon. My two furniture design teachers, Richard Ford & Andy Buck said that my work would definitely get selected, which it did, was the only furniture design student to be selected from (OCAC).

(1999) As a result of my work being showed at the Y.A.I.A , my teachers were approached by SunBank here in California and requested my work to be shown at a privat exhibition that lasted for 2 months.

(2003) showed my photography at a wine bar in Zurich. They would select artist for a show every 3 months and display the work for 3. Months. Vinothek was the name, but they were bought out by another company in 2005.

(2004) Art walk equivalent in Kusnac

I am an artist and filmmaker living and working in LA.

I currently work with the full range of photographic processes, both

digital & chemical, as well as with paint and pastel, often alternating

between media--each influences, informs, and provides some

relief from the other. I consider my paintings to be

physical representations of everyday visual impressions, whereas the

digital images—presented as large-scale c-prints--are visual

representations of everyday physical impressions.

After working digitally for nearly 2 decades, using a flatbed scanner

as a large format digital camera, I returned to paint as a way of

once again having my ʻhandʼ in my art.

While growing up in New York City fostered much of my fascination

with the urban setting and its components, the ever-changing colors,

geographies, patterns, shapes and shadows encountered during my

daily life generally serve as the impetus for the work.

Education

BA Studio Art - Photography, Stanford University. Stanford, CA 1989

Professional Affiliations:

Los Angeles Art Association – Artist member.

Group Shows:

May 2010 Branches & Leaves - SMAS Hangar Gallery, Santa Monica, CA;

Feb 2011 Back to Basics: New Paintings - SMAS Hangar Gallery, Santa Monica, CA;

May 2011 - SMAS Hangar Gallery, Santa Monica, CA;

June 2011 - The Happening Gallery, Venice, CA;

Oct 2011 Baked - SMAS Hangar Gallery, Santa Monica, CA;

Sept 2012 The Style's the Limit - SMAS Hangar Gallery, Santa Monica, CA;

March 2013 - SMAS Hangar Gallery, Santa Monica, CA;

March 2014 - Hale Arts Space, Santa Monica, CA.

Other Recognition:

Winner "Open Theme" Competition - artquench.com online gallery, Nov 2013;

Featured Artist - artsyshark.com online art e-zine, Nov 2013.

When I was 8, a friend asked me what my favorite hobby was. Without hesitation I said,

"Dreaming." I could never get enough of the technicolor movies that inhabited my

subconscious mind. Since then, I have had dreams in which I fly, die, and see colors that

don't exist outside my mind's eye. Of course this makes me ask myself, "What is my

reality?" Is it what I see with my eyes, or is it what I dream about with my mind's eye?

My photographs attempt to codify my dreams, to integrate and blur the lines between

waking and dreaming, life and death. At times I recreate a specific dream; other times I

imagine an entirely new dreamscape based upon what I see in the physical world, often

combined with ideas I bring forward. I am not concerned with depicting reality as we see

it, but instead enjoy altering reality just enough to open a window into the viewer's

imagination.

My creative process involves using both the camera and post-processing tools to paint in

light, color, texture and movement to reveal my photographic "alpha state." I print with

archival pigments and papers.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2014

Griffin Museum 20th Juried Exhibition

Boston, MA

Aline Smithson, Juror

Analogue Portrait Project (2nd Place)

Aesthesia Studios, Los Angeles, CA

Lucie Foundation Jurors

The New Baroque, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA

Martha Otero, Juror

Wondrous Indeed, Center for Fine Art Photography,

Ft. Collins, CO

Phil Toledano, Juror

Faces (Hon. Mention)

Darkroom Gallery, Essex Junction, VT

Elizabeth Avedon, Juror

International Photography Awards

One World: People (Hon. Mention)

Texas Photographic Society (TPS) 23:

The International Competition

Year-long traveling exhibit in Texas

Susan kae Grant, Juror

The Open Portfolio, Terra Bella Media

(Hon. Mention)

Your Daily Photograph

Duncan Miller Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

2013

Photo+Craft 2, Lightbox Photographic, Astoria, OR

Blue Mitchell, Juror

Family, Detroit Center for Contemporary Photography

Kyohei Abe, Juror

B*tch Fest, Upstairs At The Market Gallery, Los

Angeles, CA

Terri Lloyd, Juror

Unseen, WUHO Gallery

Hollywood, CA

Sixteen Photographers, Julia Dean Photography Gallery

Los Angeles, CA

Images From a Glass Eye, Tehama County Visitors Center

Red Bluff, CA

Lynne Eodice, Juror

Art Directors Guild Photography Show, Gallery 800

North Hollywood, CA

2013 Center Forward, (Hon. Mention) Center for Fine Art Photography

Ft. Collins, CO

Hamidah Glasgow, Juror

Was born in 1952

Igor Redkin is a Ukrainian born artist and designer.

Igor?s works have been exhibited in Kiev University Museum of Art and Architecture,

Ra Gallery, French Cultural Center, Art Gallery of KPMG.

Sophisticated art installations and experiments with lightning are adapted in many contemporary residential and commercial interiors.

Being inspired and working in Berlin, Valencia and Kiev, he creates a metamorphosis of charismatic images and organic urban textures. His vision surfs over between painting, graphics, sculpture to form wonderful new expressions.

His paintings and art objects are in private and public collections in Great Britain, Spain, France, Italy, Russia and Germany.

Get Inspired!

My art pieces are reflective, contemplative snapshots of human experiences and natural elements.

I love the use of rudimentary tools: graphite, charcoal, oil sticks, colored pencils. The connection of hand-to-tool-to-paper is extraordinary. Equally, I love the fluidity of acrylics and pastels. My most recent works are dominated by utilizing wood as a recipient of these mediums. Wood as an organic surface has unique, innate absorption tendencies that require a cooperative effort with: the wood, the mediums and me. Often when working with these varied mediums on wood, I will incorporate pressing techniques and casual brush strokes to achieve blendings that result in a harmonious visual experience.

I create artwork with passion and with purpose. The human experience embossed upon the canvas of nature requires nothing less.

2011

* July - September

Los Angeles Municpal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, Ca.

* October

Bradford Stewart Gallery, Los Angeles, Ca

2012

* Februray

RAW Artist Show Case, Los Angeles, Ca.

* May

Juried Art Show, 56th Annual National Orange Festival, San Bernardino, Ca

* June

E.N.U.F. Art Show, SAC Studio, Los Angeles, Ca

* September - October

Portals Juried Exhibit, AY Gallery, Malibu, Ca

* October

JCW Institute, Los Angeles, Ca

* December

Pancakes and Booze, Los Angeles, Ca

2013

* January

27th Annual BAA Juried Show, Ventura, Ca

* February 2-28

Solo Art Show, Dysonna Art Gallery, Los Angeles, Ca

* January 14 - March 16h

'Winter to Spring' Juried Group Show, Ventura, Ca

* February -

Neon Venus Theatre, Los Angeles, Ca

* March 5 - April 28

International Women's Month Juried Show, West Hollywood City Hall, West Hollywood , Ca

* February - April

R & B Divas- L.A., TV One Network Cable Series

* April 20 - May 20

Galeria Obscura, Juried Group Show, Los Angeles, Ca

* October 30 - November 30

SoPas Gallery, Juried Group Show, Los Angeles, Ca

* December 14 - January 10

Gallery 825, L.A. Art Assoc. Juried Group Show, Los Angeles, Ca

2014

* November - February

Art is Healing Juried Group Show, USC IGM Gallery, Los Angeles, Ca

* February - April

Find Your Roots Juried Group Show, West Hollywood City Bldg., W. Hollywood, Ca

As a child of 6, I slipped, fell into a deep pool and almost drowned. Fortunately, another child, pulled me out.

Years later as a teen, I was body boarding at the beach. The tide took me far away. A giant wave knocked me off my board and the current pulled me under.

After what felt like an eternity of struggle within the waves, I prayed for saving. If granted I promised to live my life to the fullest. My prayer was heard and I was washed back onto shore.

In my heart, living life to the fullest means seeing the world and creating art. Fulfilling my promise, I’ve been pursuing photography and travel. I have travelled to over 23 countries. I travel to a foreign country at least once a year, but usually 2 or 3, because I love experiencing cultures. Cultures and experiences have influenced my art.

It would be an honor to be chosen as an artist for the Portal IV exhibition through Lark Gallery.

My name is Ryan Sangalang and I am a photographer and digital artist.

I specialize in surreal photomontages with a focus on portraiture and nature. Non-human elements in my photomontages, such as the animals, structures and environment, are collected from my travels in other countries. I’m in love with light. I print on metal because of the depth of light.

I was born in Los Angeles. I went to school locally. I started learning photography on my own and through the help of other photographers. I’m a believer in direct experience and experimentation.

I love all types of art such as unusual atmospheric music, cultural stories and fictional literature. Its a range of experiences that contribute to my work.

My work is a visual dialogue between the discarded and the resilient. I find beauty in "fragments"—crushed metal, torn envelopes, weathered stamps, and forgotten notes—transforming these remnants of urban life into harmonious compositions.

In the series submitted for "Bridging Through Colors," I use mixed-media assemblage as a metaphor for healing. Just as a crumpled piece of paper or a discarded object can be integrated into a new, balanced whole, our fragmented experiences and diverse backgrounds can find unity through the universal language of art.Each piece serves as a "bridge": between the industrial and the organic, the personal and the collective, the chaotic and the serene. My process involves layering textures and colors to create a space for quiet reflection. By giving a second life to materials that have been cast aside, I invite the viewer to see the possibility of rebirth and transformation in the world around us.

Tatiana Savchenko is a Los Angeles-based mixed-media artist whose practice explores the intersection of urban materiality, personal memory, and emotional resilience. Her work is characterized by a "visual dialogue" between found objects—such as industrial remnants, vintage correspondence, and discarded fragments—and expressive layers of acrylic and watercolor.In 2026, Savchenko’s presence in the Southern California art scene was highlighted by several key exhibitions. She was featured in the "March/Forward" showcase at Shoebox Projects within the Brewery Arts Complex and participated in the StARTup Art Fair at Venice Beach. Her collaborative artist book, LA: Two Voices, One City, created in partnership with Gregory Desgouttes, exemplifies her commitment to exploring unity and connection through shared creative narratives.By transforming everyday debris into layered, atmospheric compositions, Savchenko invites viewers to find tranquility and "healing" within the chaotic textures of modern life. Her work serves as a bridge between the mundane and the spiritual, aligning perfectly with the global call for empathy and connection through the universal language of art.

Jane Serebrenikov’s narrative graphical art works reflect her deeply lyrical and uniquely poetical vision. All her life she is interested in visual art and, grown up on fairy tales, combines magic, vivid imagination and sense of humor in her art works. She also inspired by the arts of Mark Chagall and Reno Magritte.

Jane is started etching 5 years ego and has been taken part of several exhibitions. She sold her arts nationally and internationally. She makes aquatint etchings. This is where the plate is immersed in acid and the lines and tones achieved when the acid “bites” the areas which have not been masked. Than color applied manually and print on printmaking press. Each print is unique.

Jane was born in Moscow, Russia and immigrated to Los Angeles in 1995 with her family. She graduated college as a graphic designer, holds AA degree and contentious working in printmaking studio.

Integration between clear state of mind, transparent heart, fluent hand

Education

B. tech at an academy of visual arts Bezalel Jerusalem

Alma - Jewish culture studies Tel Aviv

Printing house etching, mono-print Jerusalem

Exhibitions

Group exhibition at Printing House, curators “Salamanka” group Jerusalem

Duet exhibition at water tower - Kibuz Shfaim, curator Ishal Sakhrr Israel

Self exhibition (happening) - Sunflower people, Richter gallery, Jaffa, curator Avivi Kineret

Group exhibition “young russian-israely talents” at museum of Ramat Gan,

under the auspices of 9 chanal

Group exhibition “Home work” at Ramat Aviv, featured wall painting of yang students of mine (7-9 years old) who participated along with adult artists

Group exhibition “Exquisite Corpse” at Con gallery, curator Fay Shelton Barcelona, Spain

multinational collaboration of 24 artists

at the moment a member of Association of Painters and Sculptors Haifa North

I have always had a passion for the blending of art and science, and have enjoyed the challenge of finding harmony between the two. After years of working with these two disciplines independently, I have now been able to merge them in a meaningful way.

My recent work combines my fascination with science, my drive to create art, and my passion for life. As both a physician and an artist, I live the motto life inspires art inspires life.

Dr. Lori Shocket has devoted her life to creating a bridge between art and medicine with an unconventional edge.

In the 1970's, she broke long-standing traditions in the fire departments and ambulance services by becoming the first female paramedic in the United States. During those years she also studied graphic design and advertising at Art Center College of Design, and although her dream was to become a doctor, she was diverted by a lucrative position for an international beauty/fashion manufacturer, where she spent 20 years producing award-winning ad campaigns, trade show exhibits and packaging.

She earned her MD degree at 56, but instead of a private practice or working at a hospital, she shifted her focus back to art, and is now a full-time artist. Lori has found a unique niche that manifests as a creative link between art and science. Her work as a physician inspires her as an artist, and her artistic vision inspires her work as a physician.

Her most recent work has been featured on the cover of Cardiovascular Diagnosis and Treatment and has been exhibited at the Laguna Art Festival and the Institute for Genetic Medicine Art Gallery at the USC Keck School of Medicine.

I am growing through art. I like to experiment with color, movement and light and see what this will bring to the universe in this moment in time.

Biography: Born in St. Petersburg into a very artistic family Peter Shpayer studied in " St. Petersburg Art School" and inherited knowledge of some of the best teachers and creative artists. He lives and works in Los Angeles, California, now. His latest art shows have been "Downtown L.A. Art Walk Show", "Eagle Rock Gallery" (L.A.), and Beverly Hills Art Walk. Art statement: My work depicts and implies the flow of versatile emotions of a human soul, with accents on the edge of feelings and experiences every one of may have at a certain time period of life. One word that would describe my painting is "ENERGY". I exert energy in its purest emotional form upon the colors in my paintings.The bright red colors, dominant in my work, emphasize the deepest emotions one may have, whereas more subtle colors represent hope, love, and faith. Each painting has an "energetically" influenced story that I want to tell.

My focus is on fine art photography, with occasional detours into other related branches that I find interesting. I'm drawn to images that capture my imagination, spark an emotion, rouse my curiosity, and stir my intellect.

My inclination is to let each image speak for itself and elicit in the viewer whatever it might, allowing it to stand alone in a Rorschach-like fashion. One of my joys is seeing or hearing whatever that might be as someone looks at it for the first time.

Some of my photos may feel somewhat disturbing to a viewer, and that tells me I've succeeded in evoking some emotional or psychological connection. Sometimes the response is not disturbing but more curiosity or puzzlement, as someone asks, "What is that?" when the image presented is actually as it came out of the camera and without any major Photoshop manipulation. My preference is to be shooting what I see as I go out into the world, without studio setup or extra lighting. In this sense, it is to be capturing what I sometimes call “found images,” which is more of a combination of street photography and photojournalism, even when it may happen in a studio.

I started taking photos during college. I began working with film, but discovering digital jumpstarted my becoming committed and dedicated. It freed me up to be more adventurous in following my being inspired by what I saw, without having to worry about costs of processing and buying film. Now I shoot digital only.

I began having photos shown in juried exhibitions in 2011. Since then, I have been in several juried exhibitions, and I have a solo exhibit now running.

How color affects me is an important issue in my paintings. Certain color combinations can cause an immediate emotional response. This might happen while looking at flowers, photographs in a magazine, or simply selecting colors of paint that capture my attention at that moment.

I create my paintings outdoors, under the California sun, where I have the freedom to work physically, without restraint. There is an organic quality to the process, utilizing fluid color to create movement. I never use brushes. Paint is applied to the canvas by dripping, pouring and splashing, with water sprayed onto the surface. Painting for me is about capturing the physical and emotional energy that I experience while being completely lost in the process.

My paintings are open to interpretation. Each person will find their own meaning in the work.

Born St. Petersburg, Russia

Lives and Works in Los Angeles, CA

Education

Bachelor?s Degree in Economics, Institute of Soviet Trade, St. Petersburg, Russia

Fashion Design, Los Angeles Trade Technical College, California

Self-Taught Artist.

Member of Laguna Art.com. Member of LA FAN group of artists

Member of Aleatoric Modern Artists /MAMA/

Solo Exhibitions

2012-2013

Divided Sky bar, South Lake Tahoe, California

2011

Chrysalis, Gallery GoDo, Glendale, California

Elements Restaurant, Santa Barbara, California

Krystal Salon, Studio City, California

Group Exhibitions

2013

Townley Gallery ,Laguna Beach ,California

2012

Laguna Gallery of Contemporary Art, Laguna Beach,California

Gloria Delson Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California

Walk Art Way Gallery GoDo, Glendale, California

January 20th,March 23 rd Gallery Godo, Glendale, California

2011

Florence Biennale Internazionale D?Arte Conetemporanea, Firenze, Italy (catalog)

Happy 2, Gallery Godo, Glendale, California

Spring Brewery Art Walk, Diavolo Theater, Los Angeles, California

Save Japan, Gallery GoDo , Glendale, California

American Art Salon, Finalist, Juried Internet Exhibition, www.artjury.com

Projekt 30, Finalist, Juried Internet Exhibition, www.projekt30.com

Erotica, Gallery GoDo, Glendale, California

2010

Hotter Than July, Gallery GoDo, Glendale, Californ

Egor Sovtsov explores the concept of object-as-it-is, contemplating quotidian thing as a unique phenomenon. He extracts the objects from immediate environment and incorporates them onto the empty canvas to illumine the native perception of them. In the state where subjects have no physical orientation or weight they display the marks and language of their own source. Objects and activities presented in such manner bring viewer back to the infant reminiscences or awaken the experience of ancient cults.

Approaching creation as a visual performance of inner consciousness, he invites spectator to participate in the creative process that depends on viewer?s activities. To achieve this he uses a wide range of techniques and media.

BORN:

1975 Saint-Petersburg, Russia

Lives and works in Los Angeles since 2007

EDUCATION:

1997 Graduated from Saint Petersburg State University, Master in Genetics and Molecular Biology

EXIBITIONS:

United States

2011 Bleicher/Golightly Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2010 Bacchanal Event, Los Angeles, CA

2007 The Summer of Love, Himmelberger Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Private Collections:

Mr. David Himmelberger, San Francisco, CA

Ms. Nancy Larrew, Los Angeles, CA

DUAL PROCESS ARTWORKS:

The Synthesis of Collage and Photo Processing

Understanding the photage process gives insight into the unique abstract images I achieve in digital painting. Photage is not the odd juxtaposition of visual language you generally associate with collage. For me it is an expressionistic, painterly, problem-solving process that begins with finding a rich and cohesive palette of fragments from recycled magazine pages. I then help each piece find its niche based on light and shadow, color, and texture dynamics. This focus on cooperation and symbiosis of parts is what paradoxically imparts a sense of calmness, strength of structure, and serenity in an otherwise very busy environment, a metaphor of my vision for a healthy earth.

"In a future series I expect to explore many more interesting color combinations and visual effects and perhaps create more loose, dynamic photages with more simplified patterns. However, since unpredictable is part of the definition of photage, I will be as surprised as my patrons to see what comes out next," I wrote in a previous artist's bio. Rereading this today, imagine my pleasant shock of realization that I have done just that, but not in the way I imagined. Digital painting has allowed me to push the photage images in the direction my artistic sense wants to take unfettered by the physical limitations of cut paper. I find that the interests piqued by photage, such as experimenting with light and shadow, depth of field, the balance of space, visual porosity of elements, mood and interaction of color, simultaneous micro/macro perspectives, and the commingling of straight lines and curves, can all be indulged using a stylus and powerful photoprocessing tools.

Traditional art training has been an immeasurable benefit in creating abstract depictions of qualities and sensations found in the collages and digital paintings. But while I can draw and paint, I consider myself more a constructionist and have always been inclined towards building, layering, combining found material, and the frugal and resourceful person's excitement in making something new and different out of something else. This seems to be the Nature's way of creating, and these new media dual-process artworks are my homage to and idealization of its many mysteries.

For a view of both photage and its spawn, digital painting, please visit: www.marlenestruss.com

Life-long artist Marlene Struss is a native of California. She received her bachelor's degrees in fine art and social sciences from the University of California Santa Barbara and found the climate, both physical and spiritual, so conducive to creativity that she never left the area. Since that time she has produced a large body of work in a variety of disciplines, including drawing, etching, painting, surrealistic and political collage and, most recently, digital painting. She is best known for the striking collages she calls "photage" to distinguish the unique technical process and the visual effect achieved.

Ms. Struss's collage and photage has been widely exhibited and acclaimed in group and solo shows throughout the United States. She is the recipient of the coveted Independent Artist Award in Collage/Assemblage from Santa Barbara Arts Fund. She is an award winner in the National Collage Society's 23rd annual Juried Exhibition and a juried member of the National Association of Women Artists. Her work has appeared in several publications, including Kennedy Publishing's juried books Best of California Artists & Artisans and Best of America Mixed Media Artists & Artisans. Recently she has been selected by invitation to participate in Kennedy's Best of Worldwide Genre volume.

She started learning and experimenting with digital photo processing in early 2010 using high-resolution images of her photage as starting points. She soon realized that she had a natural affinity for this state-of-the-art technology and the stylus "paintbrush." It didn't take long for the new media artworks to be selected for several competitive group exhibitions.

She refers to these large abstract organic-looking scapes printed on canvas with archival pigment as digital paintings. They are distinguished by their lively fluidity, sophisticated color, impression of dynamic space, and dramatic use of light and shadow. In addition to her experience with layering paper, the meticulous interlacing of layers involved in her new method harks directly back to the layering technique she was noted for in her early etchings. And like all her previous abstract work, she prefers to allow the image to evolve without preconception by means of a series of aesthetic decisions. The beauty and mystery of the final creation then becomes its own message.

To view examples of both photage as well as digital paintings, please visit www.startran.com/artweb.

Sallie-Anne Swift (a Graphic Designer) moved from Melbourne, Australia to Long

Beach, California in 2008 and started exhibiting in the USA in 2011. With a keen

awareness of her environment, her great love of nature, wildlife and music, she

expresses herself on canvas with an interesting approach using acrylic and

clever use of other mixed mediums giving a fresh approach to her contemporary

abstract art that highlights and reflects our ever changing environment, nature

and wildlife.

For many years she focused on realism and began exhibiting her work in Australia in 1984 and had numerous successes in some of Melbourne’s most renowned Art Exhibitions.

She has exhibited in Art Galleries throughout Melbourne, Victoria and acquired commissions for her paintings both Australia wide and Internationally. In 2001 The Equestrian Federation of Australia

commissioned the artist to do an oil painting of world cup winner, “Kyra Kirkland” for Emirates Airlines who sponsor the prestigious, “Dressage With The Stars” competition held in Melbourne each

year.

Since focusing on her abstracts Sallie-Anne the artist has won several international awards. She was an exhibitor at Miami Red Dot 2011 and this year she received invitations to exhibit in galleries in Florence, Italy, New York and Las Vegas. Her work has been published in Southwest Art Magazine and American Art Collector 2011 and can be seen in “INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY MASTERS V”, 2012.

MISTERIOUSLY ADDICTIVE UNBELIVEABLY INEVITABLE TO QUITE AFTER STARTING.

Spiritual signs, universal symbols, music, numerology, philosophy, astrology, mathematics, cartoons, advertising strongly influenced him daily. Tivetsky is much like a researcher within the context of an ever-changing constantly broadening epistemology. For Tivetsky “visual cues function like a language in which visual signs work to suggest non-visual messages”.

Sergei Tivetsky was born in 1949 in Moscow, Russia. He has been living and working in West LA for more than 20 years.

Sergei's unique life experience and great spirituality made him one of the kind artist, capable to express " life of the soul" in colors and rhythms in his enigmatic paintings.

Any small dot or sparkle of color, movement, layers and fluidity has a Rembrandtesque meaningful depth.

EDUCATION 1961-1967 School of Fine Art (Moscow, Russia) 1972- 1977 Art Institute (Moscow, Russia). EXHIBITIONS:

1979 March- exhibition “GROUP-4” – Academy of Sciences (Moscow).

1981 July- exhibition in Stanford University (California).

1981 November- exhibition in Monterey University (California).

1982 January- exhibition in Parklane Gallery (New York).

1983 February- exhibition in Kuros Gallery (New York).

1984- 1985- exhibition in Miro/ Shpizman Gallery (London).

1986-1987- Anita Neal Contemporary Art Gallery (Laguna Beach, CA).

1987 February- Artist Society International (ASI) Gallery (San Francisco, CA).

1991 September- Center of Contemporary Russian Culture (Paris- New York- Moscow).

1992 October- Personal show in Nina Frost Gallery (Santa Monica, CA).

1994 July- “The Art Speaks for Itself XIV” show in Directors Guild of America (Los Angeles, CA).

1995 February- “First Annual International Art Exhibition”- ADR Fine Arts (Los Angeles, CA). 1997 May- exhibition in Los Angeles Country Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA).

Currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California.

My inspiration is nature. My work is an ongoing study of the dynamic relationship between form and emotion.

Ushangi’s work is highly recognizable for its unique artistry and style, which stem from his inner vision and his immersion in the culture of his native Georgia and other ethnic cultures of the former Soviet Union.

His lifelong devotion to his art began at age 9 with his first stone sculpture, which was completed at age 11. His first award in competition came at age 13. Much other Soviet recognition followed, including: Young Georgians Award (1970), Union of Georgian Artists Award (1971), Moscow Art Fund Award (1973), first place in the All USSR Competition of 1981 for his Memorial Monument to Tsiolkovski, the leading Soviet Space Scientist.

In 1981 he was brought to Moscow as a sculptor for the Russian Department of Monuments. During this period, he was also Master/Teacher at the Moscow Studio of Fine Arts.

Ushangi is a 1968 Graduate of the State Art School, Tbilisi, Georgia and a 1972 Graduate of the Georgian National College of the Arts.

Since immigrating to the United States, Ushangi’s work has been exhibited and commissioned in Washington D.C., the San Francisco Bay Area, the Sierra Foothills and Los Angeles, where he currently resides.

I paint about the beauty of change, inspired by my own personal life experiences, and expressed through images of the short-lived butterfly and the progression of its existence. The colors in my paintings symbolize feelings and emotions that cannot be expressed in words while the traces of pure white untouched canvas represent hopes, dreams and desires that are now unknown but will become clearer in the future. The process of painting nourishes my soul by revealing cocooned memories of life. My art is complete once I feel I have recalled certain stories, capturing and preserving them forever in my images. In similar ways, we all recall our feelings, emotions and experiences, reliving and enjoying them again. Holding onto certain aspects of our pasts and sometimes letting go, we dream of tomorrow.

I was born to Armenian parents in 1979, in Beirut Lebanon. At the age of seven I discovered my passion for art and began creative adventures. Surrounded by different cultures, I adopted painting as a universally understood language of expressing my inner thoughts and emotions. While living through the regional and civil wars of Lebanon between the years of 1982 - 2006, I found refuge and beauty in my art as contrasted with the chaos of my circumstances. In 1993, at the age of 14, I won a first prize in painting from the Armenian Cultural Center, which encouraged me to attend academic art courses and to later develop my talents at Emmagoss Art Center. After graduating high school in 1998 with a diploma in Philosophy, I pursued my passion by specializing in Fine Arts at ALBA (Academie Libanaise des Beaux Arts), where I received my Master's Degree in 2003. From 1995 to 2007, I participated in collective art exhibitions in Lebanon. In 2008 I moved to the States with my family, where I currently work and exhibit my art.

My paintings come out as attempts to "translate" from ideograms and fantastic hieroglyphs that I see in the patterns of nature, most often in the tree bark.

It is like listening to a song in an unknown language. Everyone will have their own guess of what the words might say, but the main theme of the song will be recognized.I am so thrilled by the moments of gazing into the patterns of nature when intuition gives a glimpse from the world of archetypes. I think that trees are books and libraries that can be read, perhaps as well as any thing around if we attune to it…

My paintings are sort of "snapshots" from the process of reading the Book of Nature by the mind;these "snapshots" are somewhere in between the imagery and the language.The mind projects meanings onto the shapes and lines, but they are being reflected back, startling and puzzling… there is always a sensation of a mirror dialog, of having been "read" yourself by the Book of Nature...

born in Baku, Azerbajan, lived in Moscow since 16 years old, moved to L.A. in 1992;

M.F.A. in Film &Tv( Animation major) from UCLA;

involved in painting, writing and illustrating, cartooning, mixed media, paper theatre, small size dioramas

THE ZEN OF THE LAND

unites a visual trilogy of country people, their landscapes and lifestyles in humanist, spiritual, pictorial harmony. Willat brings a centered, thoughtful and organic approach to photography and to the living of a purposeful artists' life. The serenity in her images is both pensive and evocative; mirroring her contemplative intellect and ebullient personality. The artist’s best works percolate with a Mandala-full of life forces that emanate from her subjects, which she shoots in situ. Her most interesting pictures linger in the mind's eye. They move the viewer into spaces where we breathe deeper and slower- harmonizing with those who inhabit the visual world that Willat creates.

“I can get lost in the moment. The shutter seems to click on its own when I'm fortunate enough to capture someone at one with their environment. My favorite shots are not portraits and they’re not landscapes. I like to shoot people going about the living of their lives within their lands. They become defined by how and where they live. That’s what I’m known for.”

Jemmaa El Fna, a cityscape of Marrakesh’s town square, is a pageant of humanity where horse drawn carriages, push carts and shoe shine stands are readying the famous marketplace for day’s end. It perfectly expresses the interchangeability of Willat’s desire to characterize those she shoots by the places they inhabit and to portray these places by the persons who populate them.

Felice Willat is an award-winning travel photographer and publisher, whose images from Burma, Morocco, China, Vietnam and Argentina, capture the beauty of the human landscape across cultures. Willat's photographs have been juried into the Los Angeles Center for Photography, Photo LA, Photo Independent, TAG Gallery, Bergamot Station, the Brand Library, Glendale, CA, and numerous other venues across the United States and in London, UK and Italy.In 2010, Felice won First Prize, for her Travel images in the Southern California Council of Camera Clubs’ annual juried exhibition. In 2009 Felice published The Quiet Between, Song of Burma, a book of photography and poems.

Felice sees her camera as providing a sense of time expansion and stillness. She says, “I could capture a moment, something sacred or commonplace, an unconscious gesture, a tattered clothesline, a red plastic pitcher, or a worn prayer book. I like to leave the familiar, travel to far-away places, and find the gift of really being present.”

Selected Exhibitions

2015

LAPhoto – Fabrik Magazine Gallery

Topanga Canyon Gallery – Juried Group Show – Featured Artist

Juror – Michael Zakian, Director, Weisman Museum

2014

Captured 2 – Second Annual Photo Competition – Santa Barbara Tennis Club

“Climbing Cardinals” – Best of Show

Los Angeles Center of Photography – First Annual Member’s Show

Photo Independent – Raleigh Studios – Inaugural Debut - Zen of the Land

LA Photo – Fabrik Magazine Gallery

As an artist I am fascinated with creating a heightened reality.Whether painting recognizable imagery or abstraction, I am always in search for what can't be seen with the 5 senses. I'm looking for the intangible. The space between dreams and the waking state. I am always searching for the poetic,the ethereal and rhythms that create mystery in my work. The paintings take there cues from nature and reflect my inner connections,responses and observations of being part of the human experience. There meanings are not literal, but are meant to evoke a response in the viewer.The paintings are left as an open ended story that the viewer is invited to make his/her own conclusion.

Hal yaskulka was born in Brooklyn Ny.

Studied at School of Visual arts,Taught at Art Center College of Design ,Pasadena