PHOTO BOOTH

There's something intriguing about vintage photo booth strips. You can't help but wonder who these folks were, what their lives were like, if they were happy, sad, in love, heartbroken...

Check out these series of photographs titled, Auto-Portrait, by Yoko Kanayama. Between 1996 -2000 she took a series of head-to-toe self portraits in a photo booth at her local drugstore. Pretty amazing.

ph//walter plotnick//mwaterslide

Yoko Kanayama
www.yokorabbit.com

BEACH HOUSE #8

 beach house #8

 ocean #8

My friend Yoko Kanayama is an amazing artist and photographer. Untitled consists of twelve 14" x 11" Gelatin silver prints of abandoned beach houses and twelve corresponding Chromogenic prints of ocean waves later taken in front of each of those houses. The photographs were taken at Crystal Cove State Park located between the towns of New Port Beach and Laguna Beach in Southern California. 

These beach houses not only embody different architectural styles of the 1930's and 40's but also symbolize precious memories of bygone summer vacations for those who once stayed in them. 

Yoko Kanayama
www.yokorabbit.com

A GOOD EGG

"...the world breaks us all. Afterward, some are stronger at the broken places." - earnest hemingway

eggs

transformation

regeneration

24 days

24 frames

state of being

yoko kanayama

photographer

ARTISTS' EXHIBITION

Tonight was the opening of Artists' Exhibition hosted by Community Partners in downtown Los Angeles. The exhibit showcased art from local, regional and national artists like Yoko Kanayama, Trine Wejp-Olsen, and Rodrial Tramell.

Photographer/Artist Yoko Kanayama's work is a study of Ficus trees in the urban landscape of Los Angeles. She uses mixed media of photographs and silk-screened plexiglass.

"My projects often begin when I notice something mundane and ordinary."

This project began when she decided to photograph a neighbor's Ficus which was scheduled to be cut down because its roots were damaging the water line. She soon started to notice other unusually large Ficus trees throughout the city. In photographing them, she included people to show how extraordinarily large the trees were, and in doing so noticed that the trees seem to take on characteristics of monsters or funny creatures. Because people rarely take note of their surroundings, especially trees, they tended to blend into the mundane urban landscape that included electric wires, graffiti, cars, street signs, etc.

"This reminded me of the English idiom "The Elephant in the Room." In this work I am interested in playing with this idea by making the elephant disappear from the room or make the room invisible around the elephant, in an attempt to make us see the strange phenomena that exist in our surrounding."

Untitled #8 [S. Rampart Blvd. / Beverly Blvd., neg.] 2009 16x20 inch Mixed media

Untitled #5 [N. Vendome St. / Council St., pos.], 2009 16x20

Mixed Media

Untitled #3 [W. Temple St. / N. Dillon St., pos.], 2009 16x20

Mixed media

Untitled #6 [N. Vendome St. / W. Temple St., pos.], 2009 16x20

Mixed media

Kanayama believes people want to devote their lives to something meaningful in order to feel like their lives have purpose. Yet not all of us are meant to be Olympic athletes, or world explorers. However, through the process of creating art she believes artists can have a similar experience of being a world traveler or an athlete without actually going anywhere or being anyone else. And by exhibiting her work, she can share her 'travel experience' with others and communicate with them in a way that doesn't require words.

"We all are different individuals, but by sharing each person's 'travel experience through art', it can make us travel even farther and deeper than our expectations."

Danish born Trine Wejp-Olsen's work intermingles detailed botanicals, animals, and symbolic iconography within dreamlike landscapes. The whimsical paintings and stories Wejp-Olsen tells are kept dynamic with a multitude of narrative elements exploring personal and universal questions. Set in the enchantment of a fairy world, where animals and plants are individually empowered, the paintings reveal an alternate world where there exists a worshipping of nature.

Oh, Butterfly

Yin-Yan Rabbits

The Purple Circus

Trine Wejp-Olsen is represented by Nancy Margolis Gallery in New York, she lives and works in Los Angeles. Her other works, both paintings and sculpture can be viewed on her website.

Rodriel Tramelli's work explores cultural diversity and spirituality through movement and dance. He uses rapidograph ink pens, also known as architectural pens. The images are first drawn in brown ink, then layered over with colored ones.

Untitled, 14x17, Rapidograph Ink

Untitled, 14x17, Rapidograph Ink

Untitled, 14x17, Rapidograph Ink

Community Partners

1000 N. Alameda Street, Suite 24o

Los Angeles, CA 90006

(213) 346-3207

The exhibit is on view by appointment through April 8, 2010.