I Saw You Post About It

La Luz de Jesus Gallery is pleased to present I Saw You Post About It, a group exhibition featuring the works of Isabella Cancino, Alex Graham, Mayon Hanania, Carmen McNall, Sea Monster,Patty Spyrakos and Joanna Szachowska.

Yet again, La Luz De Jesus Gallery’s Director, Matthew Gardocki has compiled a group exhibition loosely based on a phrase he overheard someone say in passing: “I Saw You Post About It.” A simple yet complex subject, this exhibition offers insight into the psyche of six women artists who have developed their prismatic techniques that include but are not limited to such themes as youth, fashion, pop culture, preservation of tradition, passivity, and nihilistic behavior.

Isabella Cancino’s intricately stylized graphite, colored pencil, and ink illustrations touch on themes of interiors, fashion, childhood, and the artist’s own veiled emotions.

​Alex Graham is a painter and cartoonist. Her combination of brightly colored and loudly patterned compositions mixed with semi-human subjects derive from her childhood subconscious and are warped by the pains of becoming an adult. She experiments with color, posture, and facial expression in a way that allows a silent narrative to develop into the universal psyche.

Mayon Hanania is inspired by the Pacific Ocean, flora and fauna, and Los Angeles as a diverse subcultural magnet. As a Plein air sketchbook painter, Hanania captures the essence of a person, place, or object through her classical color applications. These moments represent a candid and personal narrative that, when strung together, offers a glimpse into her alternative world.

Carmen McNall is interested in recreating the emotional evolution of a time, place, or phenomenon that has been erased from history. Her subjects are predominantly female crafts-makers who work to preserve artifacts and traditions passed down from generation to generation. McNall’s work emphasizes the quiet moments between large events that have a lasting impact on the outcome.

Sea Monster gently reveals break from female innocence through her soft watercolor painting techniques. At second glance, the imagery begins to develop a suggestive and empowering female narrative favoring sexuality and the promotion of an open dialogue.

Patty Spyrakos cartoon-like characteristics of her ceramic female forms are meant to create a conflict of deep emotion vs emotional void. The cartoon form is non-realistic, caricature – a disconnect from ego, yet the figures attempt to engage the properties of the limbic system which focuses on memory, basic emotions (fear, pleasure, anger) and drives (sex, hunger, care of offspring) via cartoonish form and gesture, where breasts and lips act as principal appendages – acting to replace arms as ruling attachment in the weight they are given. The female is reduced to something meant to suck and be suckled, with wide eyes placing her in the position of a passive observer. The reality of the female, the mother, the primary nurturer, reduced to a cartoon. Titles of the artwork are often inspired by the copy on fast food promotional signage.