CUMULUS: MATTHEW MOORE AND BRADEN KING

MARKING THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LOS ANGELES AQUEDUCT

Residency: June 2013 – December 2013

Exhibition: October 5, 2013 – January 5, 2014

 

OPENING RECEPTION: October 5 from 7-10pm 

 

 

Major support provided by the Metabolic Studio and Casio LampFree Projectors:

Grand Central Art Center has invited Matthew Moore and Braden King as artists in residence to explore, examine and reflect upon the impact of the Los Angeles Aqueduct – part of a sixteen institution initiative funded through the Metabolic Studio’s Chora Council grants, marking the LA Aqueduct’s 100TH anniversary.

Cumulus marks the first collaboration between these two accomplished artists.  Through the residency, the artists set out on journeys – a series of driving trips along the aqueduct.  They connected with people who work, live and engage along its path.  Their travels allowed them the opportunity to listen to the land and then the water as it rushed down the cascade near Newhall Pass; flowed through massive piping in the Antelope Valley; traversed under slabs of concrete through the Mohave Desert; diverted from the Owens River.

The journey of water is not a foreign concept to artist Matthew Moore; it is actually central to generations of his family’s livelihood.  For without the control of water, it would have been impossible for Moore to become the fourth generation of farmers in his family, sowing land in what would otherwise be considered hostile desert environment of western Phoenix, Arizona.

Through his agricultural history, Moore found his artistic voice.  He uses his creative practice to explore issues of place and ecology.  The foundation of his approach come from the realization that the actions of taking the desert, converting it into arable land by diverting water, creates an infrastructure that provides the perfect environment for urban growth and suburban sprawl, which are inherently complex and problematic.

Working in the medium of film and installation, Braden King’s projects often focus on individuals finding their place in the world and how external geographies can act as mirrors to our internal selves – mapping, landscape, geography, work. To quote Zachary Wigon’s in Filmmaker Magazine (Apr 11, 2012) regarding King’s 2011 film HERE, “is about nothing so much as having an appreciation and understanding of where one is.”

King approaches his art through his personal desires of seeing something in the world and then making that thing a reality.  It’s an attempt to make a little more order in the world, both his own and that of others.

The site-specific installation Cumulus is a culmination of a residency that allowed for multiple site visits, time to talk, and time to travel outside the institution.  To quote King “It’s been a truly creative collaboration and process – feeling our way into something, not thinking our way into something.” The project is an attempt to tell the story of this 100-year old engineering marvel that was dedicated on Nov. 5, 1913, when thousands gathered northeast of Los Angeles to mark the opening.  A ceremony where Chief Engineer and Aqueduct designer William Mulholland remarked, “There it is. Take it!”

Constructed to transport water from the Owen’s Valley in its first phase, and later from the Mono Basin in its second.  The 373 mile long LA Aqueduct created a rich environment for growth in Southern California, while leaving a virtual dust bowl in the central part of the State.

Cumulus addresses the “it” of the aqueduct and Mulholland’s statement.  What is the “it” that we may be taking and what does “it” enable us to achieve?  Is the “it” simply water that has run down from the Sierra’s, or does it reflect someone’s real or potential prosperity and livelihood?  What impact does “it” have on landscape? And most significantly, how much control do we actually have over “it”?

Through the use of building materials, specifically used scaffolding planks, the artists have created a massive pipeline that emerges from one side of the gallery before quickly disappearing into the other.  Projected upon it are moving images of atmosphere and landscape, traversing its surface as fluidly as water flows through the aqueduct itself.  The installation reflects our inherent curiosity, of being fascinated by the things humans decide to make.  To quote Moore, “the audacity of the human endeavor is never more apparent than when societies come together to construct such industrial feats as the aqueduct, achieving a perceived common good.” At the same time, such achievements acknowledge our limits of control as makers, as much as we desire to do so.

From Moore’s direct experience of water in agriculture, “to believe in it as a certainty is inherently flawed.  We can build all the infrastructure and systems to transport this precious resource, but if it doesn’t rain, they are all for naught.”  He continues, “there may be no more hopeful image than that of a cloud… the promise of sustenance and a future that cannot be controlled by the will of man.”

To quote King, “The Aqueduct made it possible for a lot of things to exist.  Los Angeles wasn’t there, and then it was there, which again has made the success of Orange County possible.  People thought, ‘Hey, we can take that water from up here, and make a channel and take it down there, across the desert, and then we can make more things and more people can live.’  And then they did it.  They turned clouds into concrete.”

Major support provided by the
Metabolic Studio (http://www.metabolicstudio.org/)
Casio LampFree Projectors (http://www.casioprojector.com/).

Programming and Projection System Design: Brian Chasalow
CAD/Architecture Support: Aaron Forbes
Project Assistance: Catherine Mahoney, Kim Larkin, Tracey Gayer
Installation: Claes Bergman, James Sulak, Matthew Miller
Promotional Assistance: Yevgenia Mikhailik, Shauna Hultgrien
Gallery Assistance: Maxwell Rivas, Tony Pedraza, Angelica Perez

More information regarding the Metabolic Studio Chora Council grant can be found online at:http://www.annenbergfoundation.org/node/50769

FALL SEASON PREVIEW – Grand Central Art Center

FALL SEASON PREVIEW
Exhibitions / Artist in Residence / Theatre

EXHIBITIONS

 

 

 

 

Adriana Salazar: Nothing Else Left
2013 California-Pacific Triennial Partnership with Orange County Museum of Art
through September 22, 2013

Is there an end to our existence? Can we be separated from our bodies and be transformed into something else? Adriana Salazar’s work has continued to revolve around these questions in different ways. This is why the realm of mortuary customs appeals to her: it presents numerous ways to approach the ultimate unknown.

During a two-month residency at Grand Central Art Center, the artist desired to go deeper into that moment of transition between life and death, finding out as much as she could about what happens with our bodies, with our consciousness and with everything we build around the death of others. In her words, “I found, amongst other things, that there is an aesthetics of transition, that there are rituals trying to maintain life after death, and laws which govern our bodies, even when we are not fully present. I also found out that there are transitional techniques and an intricate industry around them.”

Salazar has decided to rescue as many cremated artificial body parts possible. These parts remain as solid as they were inside their bodies and are nevertheless considered residue. She found their value in this very ambiguity. They embody the question of the status of our own existence on a physical level: their materiality creates confusion between those objects as parts of a physical body and our own body, thus opening the gap between our certainties and uncertainties, beyond the matter of human death itself.

 

 

 

 

Beatriz Cortez: The Time Machine
through October 13, 2013

The Time Machine is an installation that explores the dual realities of a first world metropolis, Los Angeles, and of urban space in a developing region of the world, in this case San Salvador. These spaces coexist in the same hemisphere, separated by over 2,300 miles. However, they have strong connections to one another through labor and culture. Los Angeles is home to the largest Salvadoran population outside of the capital city of San Salvador.

Cortez’s work explores memory and loss in the aftermath of a war and in relation to the experience of immigration. Her installation conveys the experience of an immigrant who lives in Los Angeles, but who simultaneously inhabits another reality, that of one’s own city of origin. As a result, the installation makes reference to a landscape of diverse layers, the superimposition of two urban realities. The outside wall of the room displays a video projection of the City of Los Angeles in the daylight, viewed from the Griffith Observatory. The inner space of The Time Machine, on the contrary, is dark and shows a view of the city of San Salvador at night. It is a space reminiscent of childhood and nostalgic memories – a childhood of an artist who was raised during a war torn period in Salvadoran history.

 

 

 

 

Eamonn Fox: Solo residency exhibition for the purposes of furthering my career
through October 13, 2013
Performance: October 5 from 7-10pm

Eamonn Fox solo residency exhibition… is a real time adventure in art making. The artist approaches the exhibition opportunity as a fluid series of related events, as opposed to an exercise in the arrangement of static objects. Featuring sculpture, photography, printmaking, painting, and performance in a bizarre and unpredictable rotation – the artist hopes to engage audiences on a personal level, one individual at a time. Taking time away from his day-job, Fox plans to be in “residence” and on site during gallery hours (as much as possible) to collaborate with patrons, field questions or perhaps play darts. Without a discernable strategy in terms of “big picture” meaning making, content is variable and specific to individual works. As fleeting, fast and dynamic as contemporary life is, the exhibition aims to be an enlivened site of exchange – nimble enough to adapt to news items, world events and local engagement through the constant development/arrival of un-predetermined artworks and programming.

 

 

 

 

Matthew Moore and Braden King: Cumulus
Residency/Exhibition with support of the Metabolic Studio
October 5, 2013 – January 5, 2014
Opening Reception: October 5 from 7-10pm

The journey of water is not a foreign concept to artist Matthew Moore; it is actually central to generations of his family’s lively hood. For without the control of water, it would have been impossible for Moore to become the fourth generation of farmers in his family, sowing land in what would otherwise be considered hostile desert environment of western Phoenix, Arizona.

Through his artistic practice, Moore has found his artistic voice, while at the same time coming to a realization – the actions of taking raw desert/native land, converting it into fertile farming land by diverting water, and creating infrastructures, actually provides the perfect environment for suburban sprawl to occur. He also realized that his practice of farming this land might actually exploit more natural resources than the subdivisions he was so quick to criticize.

Matthew Moore has invited filmmaker/artist Braden King to collaborate through residency at Grand Central Art Center. They have spent time traveling the LA Aqueduct route from Central to Southern California. Along the way they’ve reflecting upon its impact, connecting and having conversations with individuals who live, work and engage this structure on daily bases. Informed by these experiences, the artists will create a major site-specific installation, marking the aqueduct’s 100th anniversary on November 5, 2013.

Major funding support for this project provided by Metabolic Studio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tim Youd: “Performing” A Scanner Darkly
Throughout November 2013

Novelist Philip K. Dick lived the latter part of his life, and died, in Santa Ana. During his time in Santa Ana, he wrote some of his most highly acclaimed work. One of these late classics is A Scanner Darkly, a semi-autobiographical novel of drug use and paranoia set in a dystopian Orange County of the then near future (he wrote the novel in 1977, setting it in the mid 1990s).

Artist Tim Youd will “perform” A Scanner Darkly over the course of a 2 to 4 week period in the Grand Central Art Center lobby as part of his new series of novel/typewriter based work.

 

 

 

 

 

Aili Schmeltz: Cross Cut
November 2, 2013 – February 9, 2014
Opening Reception: November 2 from 7-10pm

Cross Cut, from Aili Schmeltz’s Tomorrowland series, explores the idea that utopia can be considered not only a place or a goal, but also as the very act of striving for such a target. Schmeltz’s hybridized structures are materializations, remnants of an ideal that never was and may never be. As fallen monuments to a utopic philosophy, they function as relics of both a “good place” and “no place.” Part architectural, part fossil, part potential: these works utilize discarded building materials that appear to have crystallized within a ‘natural’ process—strata that have undergone philosophical transformation yet to be fulfilled.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rage Bear: Juggling Awesome
Organized by Marvin Chow, CSUF MFA in illustration
November 2, 2013 – February 9, 2014
Opening Reception: November 2 from 7-10pm

An exhibition representing both in-game artwork, concept artwork and fan artwork as it relates to Rage Bear – a concept involving a Bibi bear whose specialty juggling skills allow him to juggle ridiculous amount of objects when he gets angry. Through the invitation of Marvin Chow, 30 Los Angeles-based entertainment artists will develop work for the exhibition, creating part of the Rage Bear storyline in their own personal style.

 

 

 

 

 

Miracle Report: Julianne Swartz and Ken Landauer
January 18 – May 11, 2014
Opening Reception: February 1 from 7-10pm

Julianne Swartz and Ken Landauer spent their Social Studies residency at the Arizona State University Art Museum looking for miracles. The artists explored the miraculous through people’s perceptions of it in their lives, interviewing students, school children and community members of all ages and backgrounds. They combined their findings in an installation of fleeting vignettes playing on all of the available sound and video equipment in the museum’s possession. In the words of the artists, “Our installation will strive to embody some beauty, some hocus-pocus and some unexplainable magic.”

Initiated by John D. Spiak, this project was realized at the ASU Art Museum and supported by a grant from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts as part of the Social Studies series. Upon Spiak’s departure to accept his new position at Grand Central Art Center, Heather Sealy Lineberry curated the exhibition at ASU Art Museum with curatorial assistance from Nicole Herden.

ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE

(Cog•nate Collective) Amy Sanchez and Misael Diaz
Eamonn Fox
Matthew Moore and Braden King
Julianne Swartz and Ken Landauer
Holly Myers
Tim Youd
Vincent Goudreau
Daniel Tucker
Heather Layton and Brian Bailey

GRAND CENTRAL THEATRE

 

 

 

 

 

Fall Show #1 – ALMOST, MAINE
by John Cariani
Directed by Kari Hayter
The residents of and visitors to the tiny mythical town of Almost, Maine are falling in and out of love.
“An all encompassing globe of love: puppy love, hidden passion, love lost, burgeoning love, and many that fall in-between.” Amanda Gunther MD Theatre Guide
Performs 8pm 10/4, 10/5, 10/10, 10/11, 10/12, 10/16, 10/17, 10/18, 10/19
Tickets: http://www.fullerton.edu/arts/gcac/theatre.html#maine

Fall Show #2 – THE SUBMISSION
by Jeff Talbot
Directed by Mark Ramont
A raw, unsentimental play about race and gender exposing quiet prejudice and intolerance in the theatre.
“A mischievous dance across the minefield of affirmative action in the arts” David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
Performs 8pm 10/25, 10/26, 10/31, 11/1, 11/2, 11/6, 11/7, 11/8, 11/9
Tickets: http://www.fullerton.edu/arts/gcac/theatre.html#submission

Fall Show #3 –ILLYRIA
Book, music, and lyrics by Pete Mills
Directed by Kari Hayter
Illyria is a musical based on William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.
Performs 8pm 11/15, 11/16, 11/21, 11/22, 11/23 (dark Fall Break) 12/4, 12/5, 12/6, 12/7
Tickets: http://www.fullerton.edu/arts/gcac/theatre.html#cradle

MISSION

Grand Central Art Center is dedicated to the investigation and engagement of contemporary art and visual culture – regionally, nationallyand internationally – through unique collaborations between artists, students and the community.

SUPPORT
Grand Central Art Center programs are made possible with the generous support provided by:
Metabolic Studio
Efroymson Family Fund
William Gillespie Foundation
Fainbarg-Chase Families
Memphis at the Santora
An anonymous donor
The Yost Theatre
Memphis @ The Santora
Community Collaborative Partners

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR GRAND CENTRAL ART CENTER
Quality exhibitions, programs and outreach of Grand Central Art Center are made possible through the generous support of individuals like you.

MAKE A DONATION TODAY – Support GCAC for Continued Success!
Please call Tracey Gayer @ 714.567.7233

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(First Saturday of the month galleries are open until 10.00 pm)
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Thank you for your continued engagement and support!

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a unit of Cal State University Fullerton’s College of the Arts
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INTERNal Affairs: Guitar Fights and Neon Tights

INTERNal Affairs is a new series by GCAC Curatorial Intern and CSUF Art History major Shauna Hultgrien.

(Multiple Possessions performance)

Did you see that guy getting chased by a guitar-wielding musician? How about those three gentlemen who striped down to neon tights? Did the musical melodies of LYSOL pierce your eardrums and shake your entire being? No? Well then you must have missed September’s Art Walk! Shame on you for ignoring my last blog! I told you, Grand Central Art Center is a hotbed of experimental and exciting artistic collaboration, and it should not be missed! Those who attended can attest to that and are fully aware that words hardly convey the events of that evening. However, as your faithful reporter I will do my best to recreate the happenings of that thrilling Saturday as they occurred to me, GCAC’s dutiful intern.

(patrons view The Time Machine)

September resumes the shows from August’s opening of Beatriz Cortez’s, The Time Machine and Eamonn Fox’s, Solo Residency for the Purposes of Furthering My Career; the artists rose to the challenge of keeping their pieces stimulating and engaging. Cortez obliged inquisitive minds by remaining in her exhibition space for the duration of the evening, offering insight and guided tours to any and all who were willing to venture on her artistic journey. Fox fulfilled his objective of involving the public in art by completely submerging them in three jaw-dropping performance pieces.

(Multiple Possessions performance)

(Multiple Possessions performance)

(Multiple Possessions performance)

Fox welcomed back fellow artist Patrick Ballard, as well as Nathan Bockelman and Brian Getnick, in the evening’s first performance, Multiple Possessions. Ballard (the Cyclops conjuring, blue mouthed, Mozart of the synthesizer that performed during August’s Art Walk) joined Bockelman and Getnick in dropping their drawers and drawing a crowd. If you were lucky enough to have been present, you’ll remember me as the door monitor warning all that the show contained “adult content.” The three wandered about the stage area boasting sheer neon tights (complete with newspaper for censorship), looking confused and muted as though they were trapped in a bubble in which the audience could not understand them and they could not be heard. After the artist’s wandered the stage, they each took a place behind a microphone and began chanting one word each until they reached a unified, melodic tune. The tune stopped and the center performer picked up a guitar and proceeded to never play. After a brief silence, a glow of normalcy returned to the artists’ faces and with that, the performance concluded. As a uniformed audience member, (I didn’t discuss the project with the artists) I took the performance to be a commentary on the general public’s reception of art. Certain works may not fulfill the expectations of the creator nor the observer and while artists do create with meaning, there is not a wrong way to interpret art; it is as unique as the person experiencing it.

(patrons view The Time Machine)

(patrons view The Time Machine)

(patrons view The Time Machine)

This idea seemed to travel through the halls of GCAC; as I stood in the foyer with my handy-dandy clicker counter, I could hear Beatriz Cortez asking what feelings her Time Machine evoked in those individuals emerging from the wooden box. She loved hearing the range of responses and when asked what it was supposed to mean, she simply responded with her view, but noted that it is something different for everyone. Meanwhile Fox was setting up his personal performance in the promenade.

(Emoticons performance)

Fox’s passion for actively involving the public in art led to a performance titled, Emoticons, which flung creativity and originality in the faces of the audience. A Santa Ana local who has certainly built up his frequent flyer miles here at GCAC shared with me his thoughts on Fox; he feels that Fox is indeed a true artist because true artists, “cut through the bulls*@t.” Eamonn Fox is certainly free of Buls*@t. He is sarcastic and ironic in all the right ways, while maintaining a consistent and blatant honesty in all that he does. Art is a creative expression of the thoughts and feelings of the creator, and Fox, with a band behind him and a microphone in hand, creatively expressed his thoughts and feelings to the entire promenade. The performance concluded with the guitarist chasing Fox into the gallery with his instrument drawn over his head like a battle-axe.

(LYSOL performance)

(LYSOL performance)

The final performance was once again in Fox’s gallery space and consisted of a live performance of the piercing sounds of the band LYSOL. It is difficult to place the band within a genre, but I would say it was a 50-50 blend of singing and screaming. Bravo to LYSOL for maintain energy and keeping their vocal chords intact. It was a wonderful opportunity for GCAC’s patrons, as well as myself, to fully appreciate the acoustics of our building; if you were ever curious as to how well sound carries through our corridors, the answer is very well. In fact, I would venture to say that in some parts of the building sound is even amplified. At this point in the evening I was that girl in the bowler’s cap in the lobby shouting greetings at newcomers as they entered, my need to greet and welcome could not be deterred by the overpowering sounds of a band who’s amps reach 11.

(Matthew Moore and Braden King: Cumulus – installation proposal image)

(patrons viewing Nothing Else Left)

Alright art world of the Internet, have you learned your lesson? I sure hope so, October’s Art Walk will be THE LAST time to see both Cortez’s and Fox’s work here at GCAC. We will also have a brand new show, Cumulus in the main gallery. This work is a collaborative effort of Matthew Moore and Braden King and it is going to be quite a display. This means if you have yet to see our current main gallery exhibition, Nothing Else Left by Adriana Salazar, get down here now! Her show ends Sunday, September 22. So please, I beg of you, do not make the same mistake twice. Come refine that creative palate here at Grand Central Art Center and be a part of history in the making. I certainly will be here, clicker in hand, waiting for you. This is the GCAC intern, over and out.

CSUF – ART GRAD MIXER

Tonight, Grand Central Art Center hosted the Art Grad Mixer organized by Christina Y. Smith, the new Graduate Program Advisor for Cal State University Fullerton’s Department of Visual Arts. The occasion, in honor of the students, provided the opportunity for all current visual art graduate students to meet, connect and be introduced to their Program Advisor.

We had a great turn out, with attendance by College of the Art Dean Joseph Arnold, Chair of Visual Art Department Jade Jewett, Graduate Secretary Laura Garcia, GCAC Director John D. Spiak, GCAC Associate Director Tracey Gayer, a few CSUF alumni, current GCAC artists in residence Cog•nate Collective (Amy Sanchez and Misael Diaz) and all the talented CSUF Graduate Visual Art Students. It was truly a festive and connective evening.

Thank you to all who attended and a special thanks to MEMPHIS at the SANTORA for their generous in-kind support of the evenings fantastic food!