Artillery and Art History

It was an art history kinda night down in Chintown last Saturday. At the Box on Chung King Road was a show featuring works of Robert Mallary, an abstract artist know for his unusual use of materials who was active starting in the 1950s. His work is somewhere in between sculpture and painting, incorporating materials like resin, cardboard, concrete, dirt, wood and canvas. It was the perfect show for a rainy, overcast, LA winter evening. The pieces looking like exhibits excavated from a petrified shanty town. Really bold and beautiful stuff.
http://www.theboxla.com



Later at Artillery and Ammo it was "going off" for the closing party of Friends of Ours, a 3 person show. I've never seen Patrick Hammerlein so intoxicated. Must've been huffin' some of those underpass fumes.



These three artists presented a concise and efficient assortment of illustration, and collage. It was pleasing to the eye in so many ways. Patrick's always excellent manipulated photo collage work fit in well with Bill Donovan's surreal and meticulous pencil drawings, and Maureen Shields' nostalgic collage experiments.



I was finally able to fight may way through the crowd (and the cloud) to congratulate Deryke on his adept curatorial effort. It's well worth the trip to visit A & A. You probably drive over it every day on your way to work.

Artillery & Ammo Gallery
1162 Glendale Blvd.
Echo Park , CA 90026