Alchemy of Form: Lin Utzon, Anne-Sophie Øgaard, Laura Lappi - Scandinavian Women at Madison Gallery

by Patricia Frischer

Lin Utzon

Now is your chance to get to know three Scandinavian Women Artist Alchemy of Form: Lin Utzon, Anne-Sophie Øgaard, Laura Lappi on show at the Madison Gallery until Aug 23. These artist are all well known in their own countries and very reasonably priced.  This is a minimalist exhibition, cool in the summer heat and elegant as it reveals itself to our eyes in much need of peace and unity.

Lin Utzon from Denmark  but with pronounced  influences of Japan and Mallorca draws you in with a shelf full of elongated white ceramic shapes with splashes of black. In other venues, these works are on a large then life scale, which gives a fresh meaning to pottery. When you add in the very large floral paintings also in black and white, you get a better sense of how design has been translated three dimensionally. She is the elder of this group, and has shown extensively worldwide.

Next stop Copenhagen, where Anne-Sophie Øgaard layers paint, sand cement and plaster and carves back into the surface. Working only in black and white, usually in pairs, then is also one solitary yellow canvas. Although we are told she also has an exception blue hue she uses, it is the yellow stripes on the gallery wall that help to tie the three artists work together visually.

Laura Lappi gives us the burnt forests of Finland but tempered by her time in Queens, New York. After her wood has under gone the test of fire, it is sealed and arranged in vaguely architectural forms.  We are reminded of liturgical shapes of church windows, crosses, reliquary frames.

Alchemy is “speculative thought and experimentation focused on transforming base metals into gold, discovering cures for diseases, and finding a way to prolong life indefinitely.”  Each of these artists is transforming humble materials into fine art. It might not cure cancer or be the fountain of youth, but it is the good news story of today’s world.  

Lin Utzon

Lin Utzon

Laura Lappi and Anne-Sophie Øgaard, 

 

Anne-Sophie Øgaard, detail

Anne-Sophie Øgaard

Laura Lappi

There is always a viewing of some of the other artists in the Madison stable and a few works by the artist of the next showing in September. There is a taste here and more work by RETNA Love Letters will be on view from  Sept 3 to Oct 3, 2025. RETNA born Marquis Lewis in 1978 is one of the young artist who was helped to transition from street graffiti to the gallery world. His calligraphy is influenced by Blackletter, Egyptian Hieroglyphics, and Arabic and Hebrew shapes. RETNA is of African-American, El Salvadorian, Spaniard, Pipil and Cherokee descent. These mature works reference his coming of age and the desire for home, hearth and peace. 

RETNA

RETNA, detail

Alchemy of Form: Lin Utzon, Anne-Sophie Øgaard, Laura Lappi       
Madison Gallery
320 S Cedros Ave suite 200, Solana Beach, 92075
On view until Aug 23
Info: Lorna York  858.523.9155

The Cardiff-By-The-Sea Music and Arts Salon

 by Patricia Frischer

Pointeworks. Reka Gyulai and Lester Gonzalez.

The Cardiff-By-The-Sea Music and Arts Salon is not-for-profit project under the leadership of The Encinitas Friends of the Arts. It is dedicated to building community around music and the arts in North County San Diego. The first gathering was launched by Hillel Katzeff, who volunteers as its host and curator.  He has led a group of passionate music and arts lovers who volunteer their time and talent.

Andrea Clearfield

Andrea Clearfield

The historic music salons of 17th and 18th century Europe were initially brought into the 21st century by  Andrea Clearfield and her Philadelphia salon now in its 39^th year.  During the pandemic, her salons became Zsalon, z for zoom, and this salon in Cardiff by the Sea was sold out and live streamed on Facebook.   She has inspired Katzeff to bring the salon experience to North County. Ms. Clearfield  told us inspiring stories about her life and the creation of her contemporary salon and play some short piano pieces especially about her experiences with Lung-Ta in Napal.  

 Rebekah Brannan 

Tiffany Brannan 

Tiffany and Rebekah Brannan 

Cinema, Ballet, OPERA = Cinballera Entertainment. We did not get to see the cinema part, but the ballet and opera in a taste of Madame Butterfly were beautiful. The voices sent chills up your spine and the costumes were absolutely lovely. The two sisters that delighted us were Tiffany and Rebekah Brannan  who only formed their company in June of 2023 and are now performing throughout Southern California.

Big Boss Bubeleh 

Yael Gmach 

Big Boss Bubeleh  is always composed of Yael Gmach and Vlady Yarovinsky and today had a great drum player as well.  Especially delightful were the French songs and the great banter between Yael and Vlady. We have never seen platform shoes so high and worn with such grace!

Sharon Katz

Hillel Katzeff

Sharon Katz and the Peace Train got us to join the African part of the audience in snapping our fingers and clapping. Hillel wowed us with his surprise dancing. Her soul was in every nuance of her voice…maybe this is where soul train got its roots.

Pointeworks. Reka Gyulai and Lester Gonzalez.

The dancing continues but this time with elegance, grace and athleticism by Pointeworks. Reka Gyulai  who choreographed her own work was partnered with Lester Gonzalez. The founder Sophie Williams trained in Solana Beach and went on to an international career and this is only their second session.  We really encourage these new companies Pointeworks and Cinballera Entertainment and applaud their talents and determination. I was too mesmerized to video this dynamic duo but I have edited footage supplied by John Campbell.  

Fred Benedetti 

Fred Benedetti fingers flew on the guitar with classical flamenco music and then he delighted us with a Beatles tune on the ukulele. He is a truly a troubadour. He even taught us how to pronounce ukelele the authentic Hawaiian way.

Sue Palmer and vocalist Liz Ajuzie

Sue Palmer and vocalist Liz Ajuzie wrapped up the late afternoon with rousing songs that got some of the audience on the dance floor. Liz Ajuzie was especially glad to see the diversity of performers with great cultural depth.

Hillel Katzeff, Joy Lyndes, Naimeh Woodward

The evening continued with a chance to meet, mingle and stuff our faces with a great buffet of food and drink. Naimeh Woodward was introduced as the founder and president of the Encinitas Friends of the Arts. We were delighted to see Joy Lynnes, the deputy major or Encinitas and district 3 council person in attendance and with a bright smile and a tapping foot.  The audience gave their foot stomping approval for further Cardiff by the Sea Music and Art Salons!

8th Annual Proud+ Exhibition at Studio Door

by Patricia Frischer

David Acevedo For the 49,  Best in Show

The Studio Door directed by Patric Stillman presents the 8^th Annual PROUD+ Exhibition in Hillcrest showing until August 1^st. This year’s show was aided by Jonathan Carver Moore (Jonathan Carver Moore Gallery,)  a contemporary art gallery director in San Francisco that specializes in working with emerging and established artists who are BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and women. Studio Door is our leading gallery in support of LGBTQIA  (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual) in San Diego.

We were impressed to learn that In 2024, 9.3% of U.S. adults identified as LGBTQ+, according to a Gallup poll. This represents an increase from 7.6% in 2023. The percentage has nearly doubled since 2020. We looked at this show, not so much from that lens, but at the high quality of the work presented. All good art is art first. However, there is no doubt that the point of view of LGBTQIA is well represented here.

David Acevedo was awarded best in show for his pride flag depiction in rich, warm, subtle color. Titled For the 49, it honors the tragic events of June 12, 2016, at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida where 49 lost their lives in a mass shooting. the club was hosting its weekly Latin Night at the time. 

There are two featured artists in the exhibition. Max-Arthur Mantle: Fierce, Framed, and Unapologetic with wonderful photographs of black, brown male nudes, brings such a powerful and aesthetically pleasing view to all of his works with queer, and Caribbean lives. Desire, pleasure and connection murmur from each of these works. 

Carole Kuck delivers a joyful installation of The Colors of LGBTQIA+ Pride with all the variety of flags represented and a nostalgic look of building blocks. Every combination is possible to make our world more accepting.

Many more of the artist are on view at The Studio Door, but there is also an online showing including artists from across the nation. You can view the entire Catalog of artists.

Max-Arthur Mantle  

 

Carole Kuck  

 

Tommy Diehart, Winter, the Old Men of Ice and Snow 

Anuj Jenveja and Priyanka Pathak, Hot and Bothered 

Robin Venter, Crossed

Local LGBTQ+ Artists: WORDS OF PRIDE

Words of Pride is actually a collaboration with the San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria’s GLBTQ Historic Task Force.  We applaud that Hillcrest is now official recognized as an LGBTQ Cultural District. We now have a Black Cultural District with undefined borders, and an Asian Cultural District near Convoy.  We know that the City of San Diego will be working on an official cultural district policy in 2026 which hopefully sets precedent for the county as well. In the meantime, the three state recognized cultural districts are Balboa Park, Barrio Logan and Oceanside.

This panel features 30 local LGBTQ+ artists and is made to travel. So, watch for it nearby in the coming year. They hope to grow this  tapestry with even more community support.  Artists included are:

Esau Andrade, Alexander Arshansky, Anthony Ayala, Betty Bangs, Chad Berwald,Nik Boivin, Yvette Deas, Stevan Dupus, Jackie Han, Michael Hopkins, Liliana Hueso, John Keasler, Vanessa Lopez, Martin Luera, Marina Molodets, Causaundra Perez, Big Mike Phillips, RD Riccoboni, German Rubio, Danne Sadler, Michael Saltsman, Patric Stillman, Syd Stevens, Ramona Szczerba, Stefan Talian, Teemstir, Aries Tjhin, Tim Weedlun,

8^th Annual PROUD+ Exhibition
The Studio Door
On view until August 1.
3867 Fourth Avenue, San Diego, CA 92103-3113 between University Avenue and Robinson Avenue
Tuesday - Saturday • 11 AM - 6 PM or by appointment  

For more info forallweknow@thestudiodoor.com 619-255-2867 

“Sun Goin’ Down”: Soulful Art Lights Up Oolong Gallery in Rancho Santa Fe

By Lonnie Burstein Hewitt. Photos by Maurice Hewitt.

 

The Wrestlers, by John Singletary. Oil on canvas, 60” x 40”.

John Singletary is a singular artist, and Sun Goin’ Down is his first solo exhibition since receiving his MFA at UC San Diego in May. It’s a chance to experience nine of his soulfully eloquent paintings in the small but special Oolong Gallery, recently relocated to RSF from Solana Beach. 

Photos can hardly do these pieces justice; there’s no substitute for seeing them face to face. And the longer you look, the more they command your attention. 

Here’s a little intro to the artist and his work, which will be on view through June 25^th.

He was born in Chicago, the youngest of seven children, and he started drawing early on. 

“A couple of my sisters were into art in high school, and I’d draw with them,” he said. “I wasn’t even in school yet, but I really loved drawing; I didn’t get into painting until much later. And my grandfather was a pastor, so the Christian Bible was a big part of my life. It was a principal source of information and storytelling, given to me with love and a sense of community. But as I grew older, I came to realize how many people had it forced on them, how it could be a tool of fear and control.”

The large-scale painting above is his version of the biblical story of Jacob wrestling with God.

“Jacob had tricked his brother Esau into selling his birthright--a blessing from their father, Isaac--and he ends up wrestling with God. He’s nervous and stressed and God puts his hip out of place. It’s all pain and fear: you’re wrestling yourself, and you’re holding each other up and fighting at the same time.”

The artist with Self Portrait in a Tree III,
the most recent of a set of three paintings on wood.

“I call them Self Portraits because of the tradition of self-portraiture in the history of painting, but I’m in all the other pieces here too. They’re all about me and my family and my girlfriend. It’s a way for me to better understand all these things in my life and get away from thinking too much.”

Three Faces of the Artist: 
Self Portraits in a Tree I, II and III

    

“These pieces contain more than brushstrokes. I got the cypress wood from a friend, and there are cracks in the wood that speak too. This is my first time seeing them hung in a gallery!”

Why did Singletary call his exhibition Sun Goin’ Down? It’s a line from a song by the late great Texas bluesman Lightnin’ Hopkins. This whole show, he said, is inspired by the blues.

“Blues is an outpouring of emotion from the clash between African spirituality and American Christianity. I love blues music but I’m interested in the pain that creates it. My grandma was a sharecropper in Waco, Texas. I got my BFA at Baylor University there.”

Along the way, he’s had his work shown at MOMA P.S.1 in NYC and the Museum of African American Culture in Houston, and even on the cover of Time Magazine.  Now you can have a taste of it right here in Rancho Santa Fe. And there will be a very special event on the evening of Juneteenth (June 19^th) when he’ll be projecting a silent showing of a 1968 film about Lightnin’ Hopkins on the wall between his paintings and accompanying it with a two-hour soundtrack he put together including Detroit techno, Chicago house, and soul music, plus a few pieces he’s written himself, since he’s also a musician. He calls this “activating my paintings by celebrating the tradition of black dance music.”

I can’t think of a happier way to spend a few hours than this. And if you add the possibility of chatting with the artist in person, you’re sure to feel nothing but joy at “Sun Goin’ Down”.

Sun Goin’ Down at Oolong Gallery
A solo exhibition by John Singletary
On view through June 25^th at 6030 La Flecha, Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92067
info@oolongallery.com   858-229-2788
Hours: Wednesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
Special Juneteenth event: June 19, 7-9 p.m.

 

Lonnie Burstein Hewitt is an award-winning author/lyricist/playwright who has been writing about arts and lifestyles in San Diego County for over a dozen years. You can reach her at hew2@sbcglobal.net

Roy Jenuine; Modern Folk Art Exhibition on Cedros in Solana Beach

by Patricia Frischer 

Camper Stress Test, detail 

Most artists that I know work in isolation. Yes, there are some collaborations, but on the whole they are solitary in their creation. But Roy Jenuine has seemingly tucked himself away in his Leucadia garage workshop for a quite a while. I reported on his work in 2012 when his art was chosen for the Invitation exhibition at the Cannon Gallery by Karen McGuire.  Back then I said, “… (he) has stories to tell and allows our imaginations to fill in the blanks although we are directed by the visuals. Jenuine’s small figures holding on to picnic tables in gale force winds generated by drawn desk fans are charming….  we feel we are let into the world of an acute observer of life.” 

His education at San Diego State University precludes him from being considered a folk artist, but I think this artist’s humility makes him relate to those untrained, but highly skills community of storytellers. His choice of materials is very intentional and even when upcycled it is finely finished.    

These are sculptures even when they perform as a chest of drawers or a table. Jenuine has a point of view based on his personal experiences. One work records a childhood memory of a plane crash in his neighborhood. Another was when he was depressed and posing on a picnic table for a series of photographs reflecting his moods. Many record days with his dog with added drawing notations which give a authenticity to the work. Those often tiny hand drawn sketches are in contrast to the pristine surfaces. 

Wave variations are evident in number of works, both on and off the wall. Observing the ocean, noticing temperature differences, patterns, wildlife interactions...these are all evident in the art. For all the elegant treatments of shapes and forms, it might be noticing that is Roy Jenuine's real superpower. 

Camper Stress Test 

Camper Stress Test, detail 

Camper Stress Test 

Dog Dream, 2010

Dog Dream, 2010

Camping with Dogs Near a Blue Sky, 2010

Merry Go Round, 2010

Half a Dozen Dogs, 2010

 

Wave in a Table, 1994

 

f

Building Seas, 2021

Step Chair, 2022

The most recently completed work in this exhibition, the sandpiper bird trapped
or taking refuge in this contraption over the sea. 

Roy Jenuine;  Modern Folk Art Exhibition 
312 S. Cedros, Solana Beach, 92075
Showing until July 6. Thursday through Sunday, 11am to 6pm
More info: info@royjenuinestudio.com 858.337.0522