{"id":1999,"date":"2016-03-16T21:30:33","date_gmt":"2016-03-16T21:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/life\/arts-culture\/dreams-of-another-time\/"},"modified":"2016-03-16T21:30:33","modified_gmt":"2016-03-16T21:30:33","slug":"dreams-of-another-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/art\/dreams-of-another-time","title":{"rendered":"Two Los Angeles-based Artists Confront Family and Femininity in DREAMS OF ANOTHER TIME"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"unspecified\"<\/em><\/p>\n

Photos courtesy of the University Art Museum. Paintings pictured above by Samantha Fields: <\/em>Containment (Series of 48) (2009) and\u00a0<\/em>Passenger (2013)\u00a0courtesy of Samantha Fields and Traywick Contemporary.\u00a0<\/em>Oncoming (2012)\u00a0courtesy of Anonymous (pictured to the right).<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not very often that an established artist will show you their behind-the-scenes practices, their sketches and scrawls made before they embark on the finished work to be displayed to the public, oftentimes for an exhibition planned a year or more in advance.<\/p>\n

However, in the University Art Museum\u2019s (UAM) latest exhibition, Dreams of Another Time<\/em>, on view until Sunday, April 10, curator Kristina Newhouse had a vision from an educational perspective, a plan where two important Los Angeles-based artists, both known for their highly refined skills and techniques in painting, would collaborate in a way that would make them both susceptible to new ideas and discoveries.<\/p>\n

\"ephemera1\"<\/p>\n

Rebecca Campbell, “Ephemera” on display from call-and-response collaboration.<\/em><\/p>\n

In this two-person exhibition, the museum shows narrative paintings, drawings, collages and sculptures by artists Rebecca Campbell<\/a>\u00a0and Samantha Fields<\/a>.<\/a> In a call-and-response collaboration they began in 2014, Campbell, known for her portraits painted with her signature broad, yet exacting strokes and Fields, who creates nostalgically, \u201cdigitally\u201d blurred landscapes, created a visual conversation inspired by their own personal histories, which over the past 18 months became a catalyst for the artists to produce new works.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe call and response project pushed us both into territory in the work we might not have otherwise explored,\u201d Fields told the Post<\/em>. \u201cIn my work, I started a series of self-portraits, something that I never imagined I would do. In that sense, the call and response allowed us each to open up some space in our very established practices, something that is difficult to do as a mid-career artist.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought [the call-and-response] might be a good bridge to connect their very different painterly styles and narratives,\u201d said Newhouse. \u201cMore than that, I thought the audience would enjoy having insight into the process of creation, executed by two women artists at the top of their game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"missapril\"<\/p>\n

Rebecca Campbell, <\/em>Miss April 1971 (2015), oil on canvas, 72 x 156 inches. Courtesy of the artist and L.A. Louver, Venice.<\/em><\/p>\n

The first piece, a collage, that Campbell created for the collaboration, directly led to her painting Miss April 1971, one of the first astounding you works you see as you walk past the UAM\u2019s first gallery wall. Inspired by the April 1971 issue of Playboy<\/em> magazine, Campbell used tape on the smaller collage and felt compelled to realize it on a much larger scale, calling the initial piece, “beautiful and terrible at the same time[…].\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was actual tape on the smaller collage and I loved the different effects it had,\u201d she continued. Those effects varied from violating to seductive, to protective. I was interested in how you could cover something in many different ways and that each one meant something very different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both artists made new work for Dreams of Another Time<\/em> that address the concept of fracturing, said Fields. In Campbell\u2019s Miss April 1971<\/em>, she explains, the tape-like strokes are placed between the viewer and the objectified female body, a \u201cpointed reversal of the male gaze.\u201d While in Fields\u2019 painting, Transplant<\/em>, she depicts an airplane through the window of a second plane dripping with de-icer, \u201cdistorting the powerful machine that takes me to and from my family, becoming symbolic of the space between us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"transplant\"<\/p>\n

Samantha Fields, <\/em>Transplant (2015), acrylic on canvas over panel, 63 x 106 inches. Courtesy of Samantha Fields and Traywick Contemporary.<\/em><\/p>\n

The title, Transplant<\/em>, has two meanings for Fields. It refers to her as a California transplant and takes her father into consideration, who was undergoing a heart transplant, the reason for her flying to Ohio. In Dreams of Another Time, family and femininity are two major themes confronted, distorted and questioned by both creatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that people spend some time with the work, it isn’t a fast read,\u201d said Fields.<\/p>\n

The \u201cephemera\u201d from the call-and-response is also on display, showing off Campbell\u2019s \u201cfast, ridiculously imprecise thumbnail sketches,\u201d as described by Fields as gratifying to see, that another artist who creates such technically complex paintings starts off just as loosely. Fields isn\u2019t finished with her series of self portraits, yet, saying she sees the series continuing well past the exhibition. The two will continue to work together this summer at CSU Summer Arts in Monterey, where Campbell will be a guest artist for her advanced studio course.<\/p>\n

\"ephemera2\"<\/p>\n

Rebecca Campbell, “Ephemera” on display from call-and-response collaboration.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe best take-away, aside by being moved by Rebecca and Sam\u2019s obvious talent and compositional skill, is an understanding that artists never simply \u2018arrive\u2019 at mature art practice and stay put,\u201d said Newhouse. \u201cThe very best artists are never afraid to open up their practice, take apart the pieces, and reassemble them into something new. It keeps their artwork fresh and leads to new breakthroughs.\u201d<\/p>\n

On display alongside Dreams of Another Time<\/em> are two more exhibitions. \u201cWhat\u2019s the difference between an art object and a luxury good?\u201d is the question posed by Frenemies: Art Versus Commodity<\/em>, curated by Museum and Curatorial Studies graduate students Kimberly Bakovic and Crystal Ferrer, under the guidance of Dr. Nizan Shaked. Think Andy Warhol\u2019s iconic Campbell\u2019s Soup Cans created in the 1960s or Michael Elmgreen\u2019s and Ingar Dragset\u2019s Prada Marfa, a one-structure ghost town of a Prada store, its deserted handbags and left-footed shoes contained as mere sculptures in a stoic box surrounded by a lifeless landscape just outside of Valentine, TX.<\/p>\n

Described by the UAM as \u201ca quintessentially California artist with strong Long Beach roots,\u201d Thiebaud\u2019s work presented in Wayne Thiebaud: Prints in Process<\/em> shows the artist\u2019s idea development over decades. The exhibition includes four Thiebaud prints from the UAM\u2019s permanent collection, gifted to the museum by the acclaimed artist himself, and 22 prints from the University Library Gallery at Cal State Sacramento, the artist\u2019s alma mater. Lining the walls of the UAM\u2019s Permanent Collection Gallery are Thiebaud\u2019s etchings, woodcuts, color linocuts, lithography and other print processes marking his colorful depiction of cakes, candies, pies and pastries and his overarching creative process.<\/p>\n

For more information on the current exhibitions, click here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The University Art Museum is located at 1250 Bellflower Boulevard.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Curator of the University Art Museum’s latest exhibition,\u00a0Dreams of Another Time,<\/em> Kristina Newhouse, had a vision from an educational perspective, a plan where two important Los Angeles-based artists, both known for their highly refined skills and techniques in painting, would collaborate in a way that would make them both susceptible to new ideas and discoveries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":67370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[114],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-1999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","tag-university-art-museum","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1999"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=1999"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}