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The New Contemporary Art Magazine
What determines an artist's most pivotal master-work? It could be near impossible to articulate, a question with more than one answer; workmanship, extraordinary design, originality, and influence on other artists. On Thursday night, Long Beach Museum of Art (LBMA) presented this to gallery goers with "Masterworks: Defining A New Narrative". The exhibition showcases 14 massive, critically acclaimed paintings by curator Nathan Spoor, Jeff McMillan, Esao Andrews, Sean Cheetham, Natalia Fabia, Alex Gross, James Jean, Josh Keyes, Mario Martinez, Greg Simkins, Nicola Verlato, Eric White, Aron Wiesenfeld, and Martin Wittfooth.
As Issued, Costa Mesa based bookstore and art gallery, celebrates three years tonight with a show curated by Kevin Peterson and Marcas Contemporary's Dana Jazayeri. Titled "Tres Ãnos", As Issued's 3rd year Anniversary show will highlight new and original pieces by 21 artists- Nathan Spoor, JeanPaul Malozzi, Jessica Ward, Shane Jessup, Anthony Hurd, Edith LeBeau, Cate Rangel, just to name a few. They are primarily street artists and figurative painters of the Lowbrow generation, who credit their inspiration to 'zine culture' and share cutting edge aesthetics.
On Saturday, Copro Gallery pulled back the curtains for "Suggestivism: Chronology" (previewed here), curated by Nathan Spoor. This is the fifth installment of "Suggestivism", Spoor's moniker for fantastical, figurative work that 'suggests' to be more than it seems. In the 1890s, art historian Sadakichi Hartmann defined it in his writings as a style “of poetic mysticism and psychological intensity.” Spoor chose 42 contemporary artists whose work shares a surreal, poetic-like quality, such as Aron Wiesenfeld, Chet Zar, Nicoletta Ceccolli, Dan May, Hsiao-Ron Cheng, Naoto Hattori, Charlie Immer, Gregory Jacobsen, Sarah Joncas, and more.
Artist and curator Nathan Spoor takes over Copro Gallery in Santa Monica this month for another iteration of his "Suggestivism" group show, an annual exhibition with a rotating roster of contemporary artists. Spoor coined the term "Suggestivism" during his graduate studies to describe the type of ambiguous, fantastical figurative art he was creating. He later discovered that art historian Sadakichi Hartmann used the term as early as 1890 to describe “an art that is possibly more than it seems, or possibly an art that is not what it seems.” The description seems apt for the collection of dreamlike, imagination-driven works in the show, featuring artists like Amy Sol, Dan May, Scott Musgrove, Heidi Tailifer, Michael Page, Hannah Yata and Marco Mazzoni. Spoor has staged past versions of the show in LA, Rome and New York. Take a look at the new work in this year's rendition below.