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The New Contemporary Art Magazine
Aaron Marshall
Lena Rushing
Shag Twenty-one years after La Luz de Jesus Gallery first explored the faux-Polynesian “Tiki” culture with lowbrow artists reinterpreting the mid-20th-century phenomenon, the Los Angeles spot is back with two shows. “The Art of Tiki: 21st Anniversary Art of Tiki Show & No False Idols” is a two-parter that offers both “contemporary artistic interpretations of the Tiki art form and vintage Tiki originals from which the modern movement sprang.”
Van Saro's current show at La Luz De Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles is called "Concrete Jungle," and this newest collection hints at his past with street art. Whether it’s using oils on U.S. and foreign currency or adding poignancy and surrealism to street signs, Saro continues to grapple with the concepts of hope and decay in the contemporary experience. Within Saro's work, governmental iconography is replaced with the faces of children, haunted animals, pop culture references, and instruments of destruction. Saro was last featured on HiFructose.com here.
Next Friday, La Luz de Jesus gallery in Hollywood will dot their walls with thousands of coasters for the third year in a row. As most artists will tell you, it is the smallest works that are the most challenging to create. In the case of the Coaster Show, where the coasters measure 4" inches round, they require confidence in one's technique and precision. Their sizes aren't the only aspect of the show that is small. The affordability of the works attracted hundreds of fans to last year's show, who scrambled to get a piece by one of their favorite artists. This year, that list includes well-known names alongside emerging talents.
With her most recent series, "Viscera", exhibiting this weekend at La Luz De Jesus gallery in Los Angeles, JAW Cooper creates intricately detailed mixed media paintings that stir up a sense of adventure and wonder. Rendering figures with graceful, technical lines and vivid, enchanting color, Cooper's dreamy illustrations show people an imaginary archaic culture that seems foreign, but still familiar. Surrounding the figures are luscious worlds filled with exotic animals and luscious plant life than seem to live on the outside of the page.