Art Gallery

UNTIDY:

THE WORLDS OF

DOUG HARVEY

October 15 - November 26, 2008

Artist Reception & Discussion , Wednesday, October 15th, 7:00 pm

When noted contemporary art collector Diana Zlotnick was invited to select the artist for this exhibition, she chose Doug Harvey.

Harvey's imagination - an unruly, fermenting whirlpool - plays out in a surprising variety of artwork: paintings, sculptures, films, alternative radio, performances, sound art, installations, mail art, comic strip drawings and zines (cheap, self-published magazines). The diversity of his output runs contrary to the conventional notion that an artist must commit to a single artistic direction. Harvey, who is best known as the art and culture critic for the LA Weekly, has strayed from that singular path

Attempting to characterize the breadth of his work, even when one looks only at his drawings and paintings, is challenging. For example he has drawn hundreds of small comic strip panels. He has also created large paintings on canvas done in overall patterns that cover the works from top to bottom. He has produced still other paintings, many featured in this exhibition, which consist of overlapping, artful jumbles of paint, collage and images. These are composed upon a single field of color, typically white, and seem to be arranged by caprice or by stream of consciousness. His approach to picture-making owes a debt to many, including Sigmar Polke, Kurt Schwitters, and particularly Robert Rauschenberg, as does Harvey’s use of collage and his many sources of imagery – popular culture, low and high art, technical illustration, religious iconography, and an active subconscious

He often works in the style of underground comics, drawing characters in simple outlines with flat colors and including handwritten dialogue. He liberally peppers his work with pasted newspaper clippings, clip art, and retro mid-century magazine ads. One example demonstrates the general tenor of these sources, a 1930s ad entitled Joe’s Temper Almost Broke Up Their Home, in which a domestic conflict is played out in several comic strip panels and resolved when the characters buy softer toilet paper. Its absurd silliness, appeal to blatant consumerism, and cartoon styling were the perfect grist for Harvey’s mill. Layered fragments of this ad have found their way into numerous collages and other works by Harvey

He is equally freewheeling in his use of painting techniques and materials, which range from kitchen shelf paper to urethane foam to traditional artist supplies. And do not look for pristine surfaces. These works are messy, with rips, stains and smudges. Harvey’s home/studio is a disheveled array of art pinned to walls, stacked carelessly in piles, or left outside to rot. His nonchalant attitude is refreshing in an art world relentlessly concerned with the preservation of unsoiled and untouchable art. When Harvey is finished with a project he moves on – done. Wait, maybe not. Most recently he has begun to paint back into works that have been weathered by the elements or inadvertently damaged, fully incorporating the deterioration into the visual fabric of his art. He has even begun to intentionally “pre-rot” materials for painting.

Harvey’s mixture of sources and materials results in a narrative art that is lively, slyly humorous, wryly hip, and at times crude. These works exhibit the wit of an art world insider who chooses to appear at times either erudite or common, skillful or untrained, sophisticated or naïve. Like most good art, Harvey’s work is subversive and iconoclastic.
The broad range of Harvey’s artwork, from drawings to sound pieces, pack the Art Gallery from floor to ceiling with the detritus of his untidy, unabashed creative energy.

Dennis Reed, Dean of Arts

Directions to the Art Gallery

The college is located between the 405, 101, and 170 freeways. Enter the campus from Oxnard Street between Fulton Avenue and Ethel Avenue. The Art Gallery is located in the Art Building. Park in any lot north or east of the Art Building. No permit is required during Art Gallery hours.

For information, please telephone 818-778-5536.

Mailing List

The public is welcomed to all Art Gallery exhibitions and programs. If you would like to be added to the mailing or emailing list, please contact us by emailing reeddj@lavc.edu or mailing a request to: Dean of Arts, Valley College, 5800 Fulton Avenue, Valley Glen, CA 91041.

Recent Exhibition

Impossible to Forget: The Nazi Camps Fifty Years After –
Photographs by Michael Kenna

April 7 through May 8, 2008

The exhibition consisted of 88 photographs produced by Michael Kenna, a renowned English photographer, who initially visited the Natzweiler-Struthof camp in 1986. The visit had a profound impact on him, and in 1988 he began a twelve-year project of documenting 30 Nazi concentration camps as an act of remembrance, conscientiously creating images of commemoration.

Impossible to Forget: The Nazi Camps Fifty Years After – Photographs by Michael Kenna was organized by Patrimoine Photographique, Paris, with the support of the French Ministry of Culture, and is toured by Curatorial Assistance Traveling Exhibitions (CATE), Los Angeles.

Kenna’s work has been exhibited worldwide and is housed in many museum collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the National Gallery, Washington, D.C.

Quotes from the Guest Book

Art Gallery Publications
Publications still available appear in bold and indicate a price. Contact the Dean of Arts at reeddj@lavc.edu to purchase an item. Shipping to be paid by purchaser.

Perceptions: Bay Area Photography, 1945-1960 (catalogue) - $10

Creativity in the Shadow of Political Oppression: Recent Czechoslovakian Graphic Art from the Werksman Collection (catalogue & poster)
Pottery & Photography: Selections from the Fidel Danieli Collection (brochure)
Recent Painting, Drawing & Sculpture of Walter Askin (brochure)
Ornett's Way: Judith Von Euer (poster)
The Furniture of Gustav Stickley (poster - winner of a national design award)

Japanese American Photography in Los Angeles, 1920 -1945
(catalogue - winner of four national design awards) - $25

Richard Pettibone; A Survey of Work from 1961 through 1981
(catalogue) - $15

John Bertolino, The Girl on the Bench, c 1950, from the exhibition Perceptions: Bay Area Photography, 1945-1960 (Courtesy Susan Herzig & Paul Hertzmann, Paul Hertzmann, Inc, San Francisco – © John Bertolino)

Past Exhibitions (selected)