I’ve never attended an art show and walked out with homework but this was the case at LA Art Lab’s “Language”. After perusing Typeface (Barbara Kosoff), a piece that puts a spin on the language of typography, I meandered over to a piece titled Field Trip (Jill Vacarra). The caption instructed me to pick up an assignment and take it home with me. I couldn’t commit to just one and therefore grabbed three:
Assignment 1
??????
• Write question marks on all the pages of a sticky notepad.
• Post question marks onto anything you find questionable as you go about your day.
Assignment 2
Vegetable, Vegetable, or Vegetable?
• Observe the people around you when you are out and about.
• Imagine: If each person were a vegetable what kind of vegetable would that person be?
• Write down, sketch, or otherwise record your findings.
Assignment 3
Pro-Alias
• Choose an alternate name you like.
• For a month, every time you sign your actual name include your alternate name after it in parenthesis.
I haven’t completed my missions yet as I’m still working on my all-star alias but I am in love with the idea of the game. Sign me up for anything that serves to spark the flame of creativity.
Field Trip, was just one of the projects on display from the show’s sixteen emerging and established artists who each contributed an individual work that explored, displayed, and questioned language in many forms. The exhibit included several rooms worth of creative expressions by the following participating artists: Florence Canicave, Marina DeBris, Terry Lee Dill, Nicole Greenberg, Susan Harris, Sari Hatma, Mark Hennessey, Diana Hobstetter, Barbara Kosoff, Jaw Lee, Jason Madsen, Audri Phillips, Aixa Salazar, Sharron Shayne, Jacqueline Truong, Jill Vacarra. 100% percent of the proceeds from art purchased at the event will benefit The Wonder of Reading, a Los Angeles-based organization that strives to increase literacy rates in children and refurbish elementary school libraries.
Highlights from the show:
• Babel II (Florence Canicave) – This unique sculpture is made out of a piece of wood outfitted with speakers and wire draped across it. As you approach this piece, various noises came out of the speakers. Babel II is said to “examine the entanglement of languages believed to have separated humanity into a cacophony of disparate linguistic groups.”
• Sharon Shayne’s works investigates “the language of grief and the relationship between written text and image where potential exists for healing.”
• The gallery’s third room featured a centerpiece video installation by Nicole Greenberg. Two televisions were pointed at each other and a female and male appeared to be shouting at one another in their own languages. Greenberg says this exhibit ”represents the challenges of communicating with spoken word cross culturally and between the sexes.”
• Fragile Flesh (Diana Hobstetter) examines memories and stories associated with scars on the human body. This was my favorite item in the exhibit. I stood for a while and read these stories that she had scribbled onto canvases which were then accompanied by corresponding pictures and objects, She had this touching tale about taking her dog to the dog park, witnessing a dog getting hit by a car, trying to help it, and ending up with a dog bite that punctured a hole in her hand. She later found out that the dog was rushed to the vet and did not survive the whole ordeal. Next to the story was a painting of her wounded hand and fur with vampire fangs representing the dog’s mouth.
On my way out the door, I grabbed a piece of chalk and added my own little rendition to a chalkboard encouraging open language. I shared something near and dear to my heart that has always served as a phrase of inspiration for me during vital times. Stepping back, I admired the words I had written in blue chalk.
Words by Nicole Pajer. Photos by Dustin Downing.
