MARK GLEASON & ROBERT CRAIG

January 8-31, 2016

 

MARK GLEASON & ROBERT CRAIG
January 8-31, 2016
Opening reception: Friday, January 8th, 8-11PM

Mark Gleason  – Blood and Fire
“These works embody my continued exploration of the forces that fuel and animate the human, the animal, and the elemental material of the world. In the creation of these allegorical images of solitude, absurdity, determination, transcendence, and consequence, I reduced my palette to the four archaic pigments: Red corresponding to blood, black derived from charred animal bones, fiery yellow and titanium white bring light to dark lands.” –Mark Gleason

Please enjoy this French language clip of Mark preparing for his previous exhibition, Darklands, which debuted here in 2013:

Arte TV: Mark Gleason from La Luz de Jesus on Vimeo.

 

 

Robert Craig – Inobvious Epithets
Who is Robert Craig?

The only word for the art of Robert Craig, and for the man himself, is exuberant. And if I shoved that word into one end of his brain, chances are it would emerge from the other end as exurbeant — extrubean — rebunxeta, or in all likelihood, some outlandish transmogrification far beyond the powers of my brain or any other to anticipate. I suspect it would not emerge as a word at all, but perhaps as a one-legged jig, a one-armed push-up, or a violently-expelled fart accompanied by a mischievous smile. If you think I’m exaggerating, then clearly you haven’t had the peculiar experience (and I do mean peculiar) of meeting Mr. Craig in the flesh. The man, like his paintings, is not soon or easily forgotten.

Picture, if you will, a harlequin-clad jack-in-the-box springing joyfully, and alarmingly, into the once tranquil airspace beneath your nose; a wind-up cymbal-playing monkey juddering across the floor of an empty room; a set of false teeth click-clacking like a turbo-powered castanet; or a kewpie doll straddling a miniature Oscar Mayer Wiener-mobile, plump arms raised exultantly and big round eyes delighting in its pink celluloid nakedness. If you can picture these things in all their droll and grotesque splendor, in all their quaint and kitschy charm, with all the vibrant sound, color and movement they inject into an otherwise bland and mirthless world, you will have taken a first step toward appreciating what Robert Craig brings both to the world and to his canvases. Items such as those described above have, in fact, come fiercely to life in Mr. Craig’s paintings; many of them line shelves in the man’s home and studio; and the spirit of overt and unapologetic jouissance they embody is the same spirit which animates the artist himself. Should you pay him a visit, don’t waste time worrying that he will spring from a box, greet you with a crash of cymbals, clack teeth in your ear, throw his arms and gaze up to heaven in an attitude of rapture, naked as a kewpie, or manifest some other type of equally startling and unconventional behavior: rely upon it. – D.E. Sievers

A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING ROBERT CRAIG

 

It has come to our attention that Robert Craig’s production method was likely not what he represented it to be on several of the pieces in the January 2016 exhibition. As such we take full responsibility and have offered a full refund to patrons who purchased pieces that were not as described. In the thirty year history of this gallery we have never had to post a notice like this and feel it necessary to state that this is an isolated incident that should in no way tarnish the talents or reputations of any of the myriad of other artists who have shown here in all of that time.
Thank you for your continued support.

 

 

Please enjoy this short film about Robert Craig from Ron English:

 

Contact Gallery Director Matthew Gardocki for purchase info:
info@laluzdejesus.com  (323)666-7667