Art in LA: Ryan Callis

In my round of westside gallery openings on La Cienega in Culver City last Saturday, I had a happy lightbulb moment - the presence of faux bois in the at least one piece of every gallery I went into. Wow, pretty neat. My feeling is that people want to include the warmth and familiarity of woodgrain to soften up the art while making their big bad statement. Even the saddest subject matter wanted to emit some form of hope in the form of woodgrain. This is all my interpretation of course, but totally worth noting, no?


First, I send congratulations to the newest gallery on the block - Taylor de Cordoba, who opened their doors this weekend with the work of Ryan Callis. The show was called How It Feels to be Something On. Based in Los Angeles, Callis's paintings reflect his heightened awareness of his surroundings. Clearly he's LA based with all that patterned traffic! Loved everything - the colors, the patterns, the iconography, and he consistently balances conceptual and a really pretty aesthetic at the same time. It's a show worth seeing and up until May 13th.

The pieces: "The Furthest Occidental", "How It Feels to be Something Off", "Yes!!"