Derek Harrison, Click Mort, Mel Weiner, Jasmine Worth

July 5 – 28, 2013
Artist Reception: Friday, July 5th; 8-11 PM

Derek Harrison
“L.A. Woman”

July 5 – 28, 2013
Artist Reception: Friday, July 5th; 8-11 PM

The lines, shapes, colors and forms that the female figure presents are about as inspiring as it can get. When that is coupled with one of the most interesting and amazing places on earth, Los Angeles, the possibilities are infinite. This body of work has been in the making for the past couple of years. Over this period of time I’ve been able to paint the wonderful environment of LA with all of its unique locations and the very unique individuals that inhabit it. L.A. Woman is a series of works that encompass two ends of the spectrum when it comes to contemporary art. The purely visual, which yields a visceral response. One that is very powerful and is what makes art such a unique and amazing universal language. All of the locations and models in the pieces are carefully sought out and are what I find to be incredibly inspiring. LA lends itself to this ideal perfectly. The other element of my work is one that aims to convey female empowerment. The figures whom are painted are representing an array of emotions. The works are left as open narratives to be interpreted by the viewer. My hope is that through this engaging experience the viewer is part of the work and connects with it in a way that leaves them intrigued and most importantly, inspired.

L.A. Woman is Derek Harrison’s second feature exhibition at La Luz de Jesus.

Click Mort
“Mutatis Mutandis”

July 5 – 28, 2013
Artist Reception: Friday, July 5th; 8-11 PM

“Mutatis Mutandis” is a Latin phrase meaning “only the necessary changes have been made”. The phrase calls attention to differences between the current state of things and the previous. It can be understood as meaning “acknowledging the difference between the two” or (more succinctly) as “acknowledging differences.”

Click Mort’s work centers on indiscreet modifications to existing porcelain figurines. Each piece is a unique consolidation of two or more previously unrelated figures, with extensive cutting, sculpting, sanding, and painting required to unify them into a new, seamless whole. The result is kitsch resurrected in a still vaguely familiar but somewhat less cozy form. Click’s recapitated figures have found their way into several of the premeire collections of post-pop art via exhibitions in Pasadena, Los Angeles and Waxahachie, Texas.The overwhelming majority of his patrons collect multiple pieces.

Mr. Mort’s formal training consists of a single high school ceramics class, where the tendency of his pieces to explode when fired eventually led to him being banned from the kiln. He has since opted to work only with pre-fired materials.

Mutatis Mutandis is Click Mort’s third feature exhibition at La Luz de Jesus.

Mel Weiner
“Esther Milkfat and Other Characters”

July 5 – 28, 2013
Artist Reception: Friday, July 5th; 8-11 PM

The mangled, distorted and contorted qualities of the boxer have always fascinated Mel Weiner. As a child, he’d watch The Friday Night Fights on a black and white feed from his parents’ TV in Echo Park. These fights etched a permanent spot in the young artist’s psyche that infiltrated his creative outpu t for the next half century.

Mel graduated from Chouinard Art School in 1971 and worked as a billboard painter and a scenic artist for movies and television, which trained him to capture a likeness that could be easily identified at great distance and in fast traffic.

With Esther Milkfat and Other Characters Weiner has rendered an illustrated expose of Hollywood’s past through a lens on the outskirts of Tinseltown. Celebrity hanger-ons from the Tabloid Golden Age exude a playfully grotesque demeanor that’s more Frolic Room than Sardi’s.In each of these skillful caricatures, Mel has surpassed satiric cartooning to breathe real life into his line work.

This is Mel Weiner’s first feature exhibition at La Luz de Jesus, having previously exhibited at Billy Shire Fine Arts.

Jasmine Worth
“Cultus Sanguine”

July 5 – 28, 2013
Artist Reception: Friday, July 5th; 8-11 PM

Jasmine Worth crafts scenes from fairytales gone awry—swirling seamlessly between the sweet and surreal, inevitably dipping into the valley of the morbid. Jasmine studied formally at Studio 2nd Street in southern CA, and earned her BFA from the Laguna College of Art and Design. While she possesses the credentials, the product of her toils clearly pours from the cobwebbed corners of her mind, not the classroom. Her paintings—a cabaret of vibrant hues—are a blend of soft textures and colorful characters, juxtaposed against gloomy themes. Created in her home of San Diego, Jasmine combines dark influences and subtle-yet-serious undertones with raw artistic talent and a rarely seen creativity. Her work exudes a strong bearing of individuality, manifested through characters that speak almost vocally and give a new element of depth to an otherwise two dimensional medium. Each scene tells a story and every story is as diverse in emotion as it is in appearance.

In Cultus Sanguine, Worth explores the connection between blood and life, birth and death, and the idea that all is one, even when seeming opposite. Playing with the theme of the connection of all, the ideas of birth of life from death, cycles, energy being neither created nor destroyed, as above so below are symbolically represented throughout the series.

This is Jasmine Worth’s fourth feature exhibition at La Luz de Jesus, and has sold out all of her work each time.

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