Erika Lizée, an artist based in Los Angeles, created an installation for new exhibition “Shift and Fade” at BLAM’s Los Angeles location. The show challenged artists in San Diego, New York, and Los Angeles to “explore material as a metaphor for personal history.” In response, Lizée crafted “Seed of Life,” an installation based in acrylic on Duralar.
The geometric design in the piece is created from overlapping circles, hinting at the “Flower of Life,” the ancient symbol found in many of the world’s ancient religions. The artist uses both the flat portions and a corner of the space to pull the structure into existence. And the result of this meditation on the nature of humanity and the Earth is something otherworldly.
“In my installations, I utilizing illusionistic painting where surfaces of the gallery walls become real and metaphorical dividing lines between the realms of things that do not physically exist, and those that do,” the artist says of her illustrations. “Mysterious and abstract elements appear beyond the surface of the wall, while others emerge from this space into the physical realm of the viewer.”
This is evidenced in the artist’s other work, as well. Take “Transfiguration,” from an installation this year at Tom Bradley International Terminal in the Los Angeles International Airport. Using the same materials, the artist creates an expansive, engrossing experience.
Artist/architect Mohamad Hafez uses found objects and scraps to craft politically and socially charged Middle Eastern streetscapes. His "UNPACKED: Refugee Baggage" series adds an audio component, with the sculptures of homes and other structures existing inside open suitcases. The narratives offered are of real people from Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, Congo, and elsewhere.
Belgian-born, Stockholm-based artist 
Using his “Emotigun,” 
Officially opening today,