Rob Reger, Lauren Gardiner

September 2 – October 3, 2011
Artist Reception: Friday, September 2nd; 8-11 PM

Rob Reger “The Encyclopedia of Hallucinations”
(Excerpts from 3 Chapters)
Chapter 9: The Exquisite Corpse
Chapter 11: Everything’s Connected
Chapter 13: Strange Fascination

Mixing clean design with a pop culture neo-surrealist sensibility, the concept for Rob Reger’s “The Encyclopedia of Hallucinations” has its roots in Reger’s childhood camping trips when his father taught him to draw forms from a squiggle with a stick in dirt. The future artist and his father drew mainly faces, animals, and monsters and then created narratives from these figures.

As a result, Reger learned to experience pareidolia, to ‘find things in other things,’ a concept that is still with him to this day. “The Encyclopedia of Hallucinations” gives the viewer a glimpse into this visual and psychological practice that has become second nature in Reger’s own visions. Imagination is Rob’s inspiration, and though his suggestive abstract forms, Reger gives his viewers the freedom them to find their own visions. States the artist: “Looking back, I see this early experience as shaping my fascination with suggesting recognizable forms in abstract work and the tendency to personify forms and ‘find’ figures within general chaos. I inspire others, through specific forms that suggest forms, to use their imagination to find their own forms.”

Reger’s art aesthetic and his design house, Cosmic Debris, grew from a tangle of roots joining the DIY punk scene of the ’80s with guerilla art, surrealism, and the psychedelic explosion of the ’60s. As the founder, Creative Director, and President of Cosmic Debris, Reger introduced the world to Emily the Strange —an icon of empowerment for young alternative girls and outsiders of all ages. Like the little black-haired muse herself, Reger fuels his imagination with music, the natural environment, science and the artistic explorations of his friends and other inspiring figures.

Reger received a BFA from University of California, Santa Cruz and a MFA in printmaking from the San Francisco Art Institute. His oil paintings, printmaking, watercolors, and collage have exhibited in galleries around the world, including: Tokyo, Paris, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, Berlin, Milan, Hong Kong, Sydney, and Santa Cruz.

Attendees will be asked to write a short description of what they see in Reger’s paintings. The best of these writings will be documented on the La Luz de Jesus website.

 

Lauren Gardiner “Misfits of the Forest”

Lauren Gardiner’s newest series of mixed-media sculptures, Misfits of the Forest, is an exposé of perverted pixies, fat fairies, inbred elves and naughty gnomes. From among the seemingly innocent mystical creatures of our collective folklore, Lauren reveals the ones THEY don’t want US to see: their deformed, their mentally ill, the fringes of their society who are not so magically perfect. These forgotten outcasts are brought to life in Lauren’s usual witty style, but this time in three dimensions! Now experience the poop of these irritating imps UP CLOSE with the scientific accuracy of make-believe!

Lauren graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in Illustration in 1998. Since then, she has been based in Los Angeles. This is her 9th time exhibiting at La Luz de Jesus Gallery.

 

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