This survey show of 25 years of the work of David Adey,
curated by the artist and Mark Quint is of interest particularly to see what he
has been up to since receiving the SD Art Prize in 2010. It is an impressive
gathering for a man who has never really been satisfied with two dimensions. The
works ties together nicely with the title Sacrificial Bodies.
Adey uses his own body to map the surface of his skin and
in doing so cuts and flattens the images much as a cartography might do. He
uses commercial images from fashion magazines to make hearts out of lips, but also gathers thousands of clips of snake
oil sales adverts from the TV to enliven his flower encrusted mannequin. He has
even resewn a lamb from the cuts of meat you might buy at the grocery and
presents the entire carcass in a freezer. What could be a more sacrificial
symbol than a lamb!
At first glance, the wood column that has been shot to
within an inch of breaking, the beer bottles turned upside down and made into
glasses and the shoes will acrylic heels sealing in his shit might seem like
one-off jokes. But they give you a very good look into the mind of the artist
who uses his unique way of seeing the world to create his art. The carefully
cut out space for a glue gun in the book of Frankenstein, including the cut-out
pages) was a favorite…what if the monster was glued together instead of
stapled?
Adey gives himself permission to have fun, be obsessive, craft with infinite care. We
wish him another 25 splendid years.
This two-sided exhibition started with a wonderful screen that was made by James Hubbell for the SD Art Prize exhibition in 2013 at the Athenaeum Art and Music Library in La Jolla. It was a delight to see it again, standing tall and proud. The bright red side with its fabulous hinges and the subtle honeyed wood side with the carved surface and lovely hints of color. This is so representative of the man himself, strong and so kind. This exhibition curated by his son Brennan Hubbell, brings together the two brothers James and Burt Hubbell. We included here a few close ups of favorites pieces and a video of the mountains. You can read the full report Hubbell Brothers Reunited at Oceanside Museum of ArtPicked RAW Peeled by Lonnie Burstein Hewitt. Photos by Maurice Hewitt, except as noted.
James Hubbell, reverse belwo
James Hubbell
Burt Hubbell's Mountain and James Hubbell's Mountain...both of sculptures by these brothers.
Two things are striking about the show featuring
the sculptures of Aaron Kramer. This first was his wonderful sense of space in
the solid and still works that you could not touch to animate. These
immediately gave you a sense of the serious skills this artist had at his command.
They are simple, uncluttered and profound.
The second striking thing was this man’s
amazing teaching skills. You can easily imagine him showing the smallest
student how you can take a piece of wire and some cardboard and make a toy that
will delight you. He would help you to glance around you to find some trash,
and help you bring it back to life. Imbuing inanimate objects with motion and
emotion, makes them into treasures. That is a lesson, we could all learn.
During the Covid 19 isolation, Kate Tova made a series of “glitch” artworks she calls her Flux series.
You can see these on the staircase at OMA. These are exciting, explosive views
of flora, some on canvas and some cut out and reminding us of the Big Bang theory
of evolution. They are an eye-popping rush of color pleasure. Maybe these works or the pandemic wore her
out, as now A Place to Rest (My Tired Mind) comes forth. Field of
flowers with relaxing figures are pretty, but the star of this part of the show
is the large canvas spilling out onto the floor in three dimensions beckoning
us to lie down awhile even though we know we cannot do so. This is strangely
not frustrating as it does carry some of the pop of the previous work which is
invigorating. Maybe we don’t all need to
rest?
An additional building to the east of the existing museum, does
not just mean more space, it signals the re-imagining of the existing space as
well. With less than a million dollars left to raise, the construction is
anticipated to begin in early 2027, with a projected public dedication date in
spring 2028. Take a look at the scale model, the rendered drawings and
especially the video conception of the largest and most important cornerstone for
the arts in Oceanside.
Oceanside Museum of Art
704 Pier View Way, Oceanside, CA 92054
(760) 435-3720
Hours: Wednes to Sun 11:00am–5:00pm. Extended Hours on First
Fridays 11:00am–8:00pm
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