The Compound Studios & Gallery

Review of Compounding in the East Bay Express (July 2010)

Lena — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 02:31:38 +0000

The Compound’s Workers’ Paradise

Resident artists of the Oakland gallery put on a show.

Detail of Alison Offill-Klein’s “The Sickness.”

In a group show entitled Compounding, the artists sharing private and communal studio facilities at the newly expanded Compound Gallery exhibit paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures, and mixed-media works. These elude thematic categorization, but share stylistic elements that define the current Zeitgeist: small scale, humble or even scavenged materials, traditional craft processes not generally associated with fine art, a hint of narrative, and an ironic, self-deprecating humor. Everything exhibited in Compounding was made on-site, in the large work room behind the gallery, so anyone seeking subtexts, back-stories, and origin myths (i.e., most of us, to a certain extent) will have fun peeking backstage. What’s onstage in the gallery, however, is what’s relevant here. The artists include: Julian Birchman, Takehito Etani, Faye Kendall, Annie Frykholm, Alissa Goss, Norakiera Heiser, Ryan McJunkin, Crystal Morey, Dominic Nguyen, Kerri Lee Johnson, Jaime Lakatos, Sophie Leininger, Jeanne Lorenz, Jocelyn Meggait, Michelle Morby, Alison Offill-Klein, Marie Reich, Lena Verderano Reynoso, Matt Reynoso, Kelsey Robinson, Eric Sanchez, David Spiher, and Tallulah Terryll.

Their figurative or representational works include, in no particular order, Offill-Klein’s masked-subject watercolors (”Mummies,” “The Sickness”); Robinson’s screenprints abstracting natural forms (”Shell Baked by the Sun”); Johnson’s nautical-themed drawings on wooden plaques (”Fanny,” “Anchor,” Sailor Boy”); Lakatos’ mixed-media studies of deer, living and dead (”Chaos Theory II,” “Hung Out to Dry”); Birchman’s cut-felt cartoon figures (”Gloating,” “Butcher”); Morey’s droll ceramic female nudes (”Log Burial,” “Water Burial Part II”); Leininger’s graphite studies of boats and ships (”Drifting,” “Family”); Lorenz’s woodcut-like oil painting of a volcanic plume (”Under the Ground It’s Already Burning”); McJunkin’s female nude by the seashore (”Endless Summer”); Verderano Reynoso’s enigmatic history painting (”President Arthur’s Anticipation”); and Spiher’s roundish-format acrylic painting of backyard miscellanea (”Kayaks”).

More abstract or conceptual in approach are Frykholm’s paper/porcelain-slip doily (”For My Grandmother”); Goss’ ceramics of ambiguous identity (”Centipede,” “Satellite”); Heiser’s untitled micro-macro organic abstractions in distemper on paper; Kendall’s found-object fetishes/idols (”Like Swimming,” “Poppy”); Reynoso’s wooden polygons (”Black Dodecahedron,” “5 White Octahedrons”); Terryll’s process-based abstractions (”Adeline,” “Golden Yarrow”); Meggait’s installation of ceramic beads strung into a curtain (”Obsessive Recluse and 83 Bottles of Wine”); and Etani’s deconstructed tabloid cover, its celebrity catfight participants reduced to eyes peering out from ghostly white burqas through a veil of mock-shocked teaser prose (”Stars Gazing”). Compounding runs through August 8 at The Compound (1167 65th St., Oakland). 510-817-4042 or TheCompoundGallery.com.

Readers’ Poll Winner!

Lena — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:21:45 +0000

The Compound Gallery just won the East Bay Express readers’ poll for Best Gallery Openings!

Coming and Going: Greetings from Limboville in Studio 10!

Lena — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 08:18:26 +0000

See a Drama adapted from Andrew Demcak’s noveladapted for stage by David Spiher; Mis-en-Scene by Kerri Lee Johnson: “Coming & Going: Greetings from Limboville” Two late night performances: Sat. July 17th & July 24th 9:30pm Tickets $5.00 at the door. click here to go to facebook event page

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Habitual Homesteaders: Work by Gina Tuzzi and Tyler Bewley (August 14th-September 19th, 2010)

Lena — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 20:50:00 +0000

Habitual Homesteaders:
Work by Gina Tuzzi and Tyler Bewley

(August 14th- September 19th)

Opening Reception: Saturday, August 14th, 6-9pm

*Curated by BayVAN

First Friday Reception: Friday, September 3rd, 7-10pm
Closing Tea & Artist Talk: Sunday, September 19th, 3-6pm (Talk begins at 4pm)

This exhibit explores the idea of home through the notions of mobility and adaptive ways of living. As in the past, modern day homesteaders are in search of new strategies to lay down roots and create environments conducive to life and growth. The two artists chosen for the exhibit approach ideas of travel and home from futurist, fanciful, nostalgic and pre-apocalyptic viewpoints.In search of the idyllic lifestyle, Gina Tuzzi creates fantastic caravans of modern gypsy travel mobiles with ether reaching, stacked living quarters. By re-appropriating symbols she have collected throughout the years of her California seaside existence, she aims to celebrate the presence of the spiritual and electric, as it exists within this idyll and its many modern day tribes.

Tuzzi’s recent works on paper and 3D models have become a surrogate convoy of paradisiacal blueprints through which she investigates the cosmic architecture of a dreamscape that is rooted very solidly in her own desires.

Tyler Bewley spent much of his youth exploring the expansive areas of rural California. Now residing in San Francisco, he has become acutely aware of the tension that exists between nature, man and development in CA. His work is inspired by the state of the natural environment, urban american life, and the human proclivity to develop and dominate our surroundings.

Through his mixed media works on paper and canvas, Beweley conveys a message of urgency about the state of man and nature using his work as a lens to provide the viewer with ways in which to reflect and examine these underlying issues.

Gina Tuzzi lives and works in Oakland, CA, she recently graduated with an MFA from Mills College and was a nominee for the 2010 SECA award.

Tyler Beweley received a degree from Skidmore College, his work has been exhibited widely and can be found on international magazine covers and local wine bottles. He is currently teaching art at Marin Academy High School.

San Francisco Chronicle -Junk Pirate

Lena — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 22:33:44 +0000

Don’t miss: ‘Junk Pirate’

May 27, 2010|By Mary Eisenhart

“Cassettes” is one of the found-object pieces in Pete Glover’s exhibition “Junk Pirate.”

Credit: Compound Gallery

Artist Pete Glover’s other career (as a thrift store employee) has served him well in his quest for the creme de la creme of cultural detritus – as evidenced by his Junk Pirate blog, zine, book and more. Now some of his favorite collections – incorporating game pieces, antiquated electronics, personal memorabilia and more – are gathered in a single collection sure to trigger the fondest and oddest of flashbacks.

Reception 6 p.m. Sat. Through July 4. Noon-6 p.m. Thurs.-Sun., 7-10 p.m. first Fridays. The Compound Studios and Gallery, 1167 65th St., Oakland. (510) 817-4042. www.thecompoundgallery.com.

Compounding: Annual Group Exhibition (July 10-August 8, 2010)

Lena — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 22:39:51 +0000

COMPOUNDING: Annual Group Exhibition
(July 10-August 8th)

First Friday Reception: Friday, August 6th, 7-10pm

CLICK HERE to see if we are streaming LIVE

Alison Offill-KleinAlissa GossAnnie FrykholmCrystal MoreyDavid Spiher
Dominic NguyenEric SanchezFaye KendallJaime LakatosJeanne Lorenz
Jocelyn MeggaitJulian BirchmanKelsey RobinsonKerri Lee Johnson
Lena Verderano ReynosoMarie ReichMatt ReynosoMichelle Morby
Norakiera HeiserRyan McJunkinSophie LeiningerTakehito EtaniTallulah Terryll

Also:

“Coming and Going: Greetings from Limboville”

In Studio 10
Two late Night Performances:
July 17th and July 24th 9:30
Tickets $5 at the door
BYOLC (Bring your own lawn chair)

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Artist Talk with Pete Glover

Lena — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 22:14:05 +0000

Artist Talk with Alissa Goss and Tallulah Terryll

Lena — Wed, 26 May 2010 01:02:57 +0000

Round Rhythm Review- East Bay Express (April 28, 2010)

Lena — Mon, 17 May 2010 19:29:58 +0000

Microcosmos at the Compound Gallery

Two artists explore geometry in nature.

By DeWitt Cheng

Alissa Goss’ “Survey: Topographical Study.”

The Compound Gallery inaugurates its new, expanded quarters with work by two artist-residents, Alissa Goss and Tallulah Terryll, in a show aptly entitled Round Rhythm. Goss’ rounded, biomorphic ceramics are covered with nodules, suggesting animal skins or seed pods, while Terryll’s abstract paintings depict layers of gridded circles, like stains from pallets of damaged bottles. The formal resemblance is clear, but there’s emotional common ground in these reticent, elegant works — perhaps. Both artists consider nature, but from antithetical yet complementary points of view; both are uninterested in straight representation, but allow subjectivity and improvisation to shape the process and the work.

Goss explores the ideas of shelter and protection available through the contraries of solitude and sociability. She writes: “I do not work from reference material, as I am not interested in representing actual existing things. I do, however, find inspiration in naturally occurring repetitive patterns in cells, spores, bacteria, disease, flora and fungi. These influences are abstracted and recreated into intimate objects and presented for close observation. … I explore the ideas of home and domesticity in my works.” Her shell-like, gourd-like forms, transfixed and protected by spikes, filaments, stalks, and flagelli, “purposefully” inhabit their environments. Some resemble the embryonic blastulas and gastrulas, hinting at growth and mutation; others (”Continental”) seem to have succumbed to invasion; still others (”Mothership,” “Survey: Topographical Study”) “live” in dialogue with other members of the same rudimentary, preconscious, instinctive species.

Terryll’s paintings seem to grow, like Goss’ sculptures, through accretion. Her overlaid planes of stenciled circles generate irregular, lobed, even floral, geometric shapes that may suggest Frank Stella’s Protractor series, or Valerie Jaudon’s Pattern and Decoration paintings, with their common interlaced woven/plaited forms combating an insistently flat, steamrolled pictorial space. Where Terryll differs from the hard-edged painters is in her painterly treatment of planes, with the watercolored shapes defined by the overlapping of disks (or oeillades, glimpses) appearing both aqueous and aerial — porous, breathing products of nature rather than artifacts constructed with drafting instruments, masking tape, and paint rollers. It might be an over-interpretation based on too much TV drama to see in such liquid-sample arrays a metaphor for perception and analysis. If that interpretation holds any water, however, the paintings become depictions of accidental discoveries and even creative epiphanies, like Nauman’s sculpture of the space beneath a chair. If not, they’re still process-based abstractions of beauty. Reception on Friday, May 7, 7-10 p.m. Round Rhythm runs through May 23 (closing-day tea, 3-6 p.m.) at the Compound Gallery (1167 65th St., Oakland).

We won the 2010-2011 Indie Award for “Ripple Effect”!

Lena — Sat, 15 May 2010 19:46:26 +0000

Wow, we are truly thankful that we won an Indie Award at the 4th Annual Oakland Indie Awards! We are also so proud that we were teamed up with our friends at Bay Area Visual Arts Network (BayVAN) to win this award! We all worked so hard to get Plaid Friday off and running, and we thank everyone for their support! We are also proud members of Oakland Grown! We love our friends at BayVAN! We love Oakland!