Vakseen, Annie Terrazzo, Tracy Lewis, Dos Diablos, Matt Adrian & Sean Stepanoff

July 7 – July 30, 2017

Opening Reception: Friday, July 7th, 8-11 PM

Annie Terrazzo

Annie Terrazzo surrounded herself with dreams. Her childhood was unorthodox and chaotic, having been raised by a mother who was a schizophrenic adult entertainer and a father who was a formula one race car driver. This chaos was countered by a large family who, through silversmithing and plein air painting, taught her the value of and method to making beauty in the world.  After graduating from the Academy of Art in San Francisco, CA, Terrazzo began her career in trash portraiture, focusing on using found objects, newspapers, and magazines. Annie strives to create work that allows the viewer to recognize image and text based language that instantly draws in the viewer and it stands out among other contemporary art due to its familiarity, but also its originality and undeniable intention and masterful craftsmanship.

 

Back in January 2017, Annie Terrazzo was interviewed by the BBC about the looming Drumpf Presidency and what it would mean for her and her work. She said, “I’ve always desired to depict strong bad-ass women who would push through the system and overcome the hardships at hand. And now I think I’m just going to be stronger and more bad-ass about how I do that.” During the few months leading up to the La Luz Summer showcase, Annie broadened her scope to include more of these figures, such as women who are struggling to be viewed as more than sexual objects, to enduring bullying on the Internet, to defiant icons of our time. The pieces on display for the La Luz De Jesus summer group show are meant to elevate the viewer to find humor and strength in continuing to persevere in Drumpf’s world.

 

 
 

Sean Stepanoff

In his second featured show at La Luz de Jesus, Sean Stepanoff takes his focus off of hipsters and hip-hop and focuses on the movies they love. Reinterpreting the aesthetic of Ghanaian Barbershop sign painting, he pays homage some of his favorite cult movies.

 

Tracy Lewis

Tracy works primarily in transparent watercolor, layering luminous glazes of pure hue to give everything a candy coating of Easter-like color. Inspired by a collection of curiosities, along with a love of fairy tales, Art Nouveau and Old Hollywood Glamour, Tracy creates portraits of ephemeral beauty, often in a contradiction of disquiet and harmony; the compassionate femme fatale. “I am fascinated with the interconnectedness of all things, the strength, and fragility of our world, the duality of nature. The metamorphosis of life and death, the beauty of it all captures my imagination. By listening to nature’s incantations, I hope to portray in my work some of these delicate and unseen forces that surround us” states Lewis.

 
 

Matt Adrian

Matt Adrian splits his time between Los Angeles and Joshua Tree.”The mood that inspired these paintings came about as a direct, visceral response to the current American political disaster that is currently unfolding. They’re also very much of a place: Los Angeles. While the constant blue skies of Southern California can be enjoyable at first, for me the relentless march of day after day of blue skies occasionally take on an unsettling quality that’s hard to put a finger on.”
 

Jorge Dos Diablos

Jorge is self-taught and works predominantly as a painter though also Jorge illustrates festival posters, album covers, and illustrates for print editorials. Jorge lives and works between Guadalajara and Los Angeles and has exhibited in Mexico, the United States, and France.

 

“For some people, it is usual to take off the thorns, but others decide to leave them and watch them grow. I celebrate the hidden human emotions through the paint, I dig from the deepest, from the brain to the guts, from the heart to the stomach or the throat contained. This portraits from the inside of hell, they’re the discomfort nobody wants to see, and every day, they live with them.”

 
 

Vakseen

While working on hit records has played a driving force in his career, it’s Vakseen’s (born Otha Davis III) passion for the arts that has served as his key to sanity in the entertainment business. The self-taught, Floridian has developed a distinct collage-influenced painting style (Vanity Pop) that fuses elements of cubism, photorealism, fashion design and pop surrealism into vibrantly alluring, abstract portraits. While most viewers assume they’re viewing collage or mixed media art, each creation is in fact meticulously hand painted directly on canvas. Drawing distinct inspiration from our fascination with popular culture, his gallant paintings are a celebration of women, beauty, duality, insecurity, and self-preservation. Currently based in Los Angeles, his paintings have been featured by Adidas, Complex, Juxtapoz, Hi Fructose, Vibe, Bombay Sapphire Gin, and Tupac Shakur’s estate, amongst others.

 

 

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

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