Miami Art Scene™: mami art scene

Monday, September 4, 2017

Fabien Castanier Gallery in Los Angeles Sept 16th Opening Reception of "Mark Making" Group Exhibition

Mark Making
with Aaron De La Cruz, Alex Kizu (aka Defer), & Mark Dean Veca
September 16 - October 14, 2017

Opening Reception with the Artists
SATURDAY, SEPT 16th @ 6-9PM

Fabien Castanier Gallery is excited to announce their next exhibition in Los Angeles, Mark Making, featuring work from Aaron De La Cruz, Alex Kizu (aka Defer), and Mark Dean Veca. Each of these artists present work that is built on a foundation of mark-making. Recalling a variety of styles, including abstraction, design, and graffiti, the artists are most familiar with creating large scale installations, pieces that envelope the viewer in realms of meticulously detailed linework and hypnotizing compositions. The exhibition will include paintings, sculpture and installation.

Aaron De La Cruz | "Untitled" (detail) stucco on wooden panel, 1 of 4 panels, 60 x 48 in. (152x122cm)
TOP: Alex Kizu (Defer) | "Natural Habitat" (detail) acrylic on canvas, 73.25 x 49.5 in. framed (186x126cm)

Aaron De La Cruz presents paintings and sculpture that incorporate patterns and motifs that at their core are very simple, but when gathered together create complex, labyrinthine compositions. His pieces, with bold lines and distinctive use of color, straddle the line between painting and design. He reduces his expression into its most minimal form, keeping in mind the surface that he paints on as his patterns seem to flow over and within the walls and canvas. The artist's marks are more often than not unplanned and instinctual, work that he hopes the viewer will infuse with their own narrative. By combining a minimalist aesthetic and often purposefully minimal materials, he seeks to create affecting work with maximum impact.

Alex Kizu's work stems from his culture and connection to graffiti and the urban landscape, representing a profound artistic language which distorts the lines between street art and fine art. Kizu, aka Defer, was one of the pioneer members of the first generation of Los Angeles graffiti writers, and he has distilled the hand-style developed since his youth into abstract pieces that incorporate not only typographic motifs but cultural motifs, and complex patterning. Kizu's paintings are highly detailed examinations of line and color, frenetic structures that flow organically with multi-layered abstractions that create a borderless visual depth and complexity.

Mark Dean Veca's newest work evolved out of the textures and patterns found in his more representational compositions. By distilling the line-work aesthetic he has used in part, Veca's paintings and installation are an examination of the patterns and details which have grown organically from his oeuvre. The visual motif in these "Dither" paintings are improvisational – spontaneous and abstracted tessellations that exist un-tethered to any particular orientation. By observing his paintings and stepping into his installation, the viewer is engulfed within an optical meditation. While purely abstract, his forms express a refined organic geometry and a sense of depth and illusion contained within a balanced yet tumultuous array.