Back in my day—a childhood amid the
groovy ’70s—black light posters were all the
rage. My sister had several on her bedroom walls (covering
wallpaper that was of a patchwork quilt design!) and she
and I were just two of millions of bell-bottomed kids
who’d lie in orange bean bags, lights off, purple
bulb on and trip out organically on their other-worldly
terrains and mystical possibilities.
Bringing back that electrifying kitsch, curator and new
dA Center for the Arts director Marci Swett has pulled
together a wild display of all things off-kilter and bizarre
in “Ultraviolet”—and it’s an experience
that both the young and those who still feel young, shouldn’t
miss.
Jim Towler’s staggering, 8-foot-tall polyurethane
and fiberglass sculpture Medusa is a fitting greeter in
the main foyer; her scary red/blue snaky locks beckoning
you into a carnival of glowing sideshow fun. Likewise,
Joshua Frank’s funky 4-foot-tall Barbie, Sex Sellz,
could easily be your date or gal pal on this trip—if
you don’t mind the smaller dolls clinging to her
legs (one with a My Little Pony head), the mirror and
nail crotch and the yellow condom she’s (hopefully)
getting ready to trash.
Other retro times abound with Grasiela Rodriguez’s
acrylic (and culturally tinged) remembrance of Otter Pops,
Summertime Favorites, and Carol Towler’s kooky love
for those queer and really quite nasty-tasting marshmallow
chickies in Peep Show. On the darker side of this memory
lane mélange, Sam Towler’s assemblage Moonlit
Saloon might recall a favorite spot in Pioneertown or
Knott’s Berry Farm, depending on how far your parents
were willing to drive you and your screaming horde.
Kenneth Schwartz’s small, plaster companion pieces
of brick-like female torsos, Brick and Ribin, are exceptional
and might suddenly induce the humming of a Commodores
song, and Thomas Stubbs’ fascinating screen print
of a giant, clawed insect in a business suit terrorizing
city streets, Oly G. Archy, is far-out fantastic.
There’s much more, of course—dozens of eccentric,
neon-based paintings from the likes of Robert Stillwell
and Charles Fogg, who bless us with smart Day-Glo figures,
and Tim Spain, who’s vibrant Le Roi on the Lawn
is a striking coup of re-imagined furniture that really
should be on every grassy knoll.
Over on the next horizon, the SCA Project Gallery offers
a different kind of daytrip or evening excursion. Curated
by Bob Pece, “Earthviews” takes us on an organic
outing with a wide variety of natural forms and foliage
dotting our landscape.
Superstar animal-tician, Amy Caterina has allowed her
furry forest friends out for a nibble in her petting zoo
installation, once again brilliantly redefining critters
and faux crabgrass and its many possibilities. Far from
this idyllic scene, Preston Daniels’ models of dismembering
steel-girdered shacks and buildings recall the decay of
the forgotten—the man-made monuments of a civilization
in such a frenzy to produce that it fails to consider
its self-imposed demise.
Jessica Newman-Skrentny asks us to ease up on that rapid
descent, and stop and smell the ice plant. Her 6-foot-long
raised plot of oozing greenery (replete with hovering
insects) and Venusian blooming potted cacti are a fantastic
botanical bazaar. A place where these freaky flora might
once have sprouted could be in the wacky and whimsical
realm of the artist known as Magu—whose historically-inspired
When They Came Here It… reminds us of imperialism
and the many lands and people it envelopes.
A bird’s eye view of that aftermath can be seen
in Leora Lutz’s maps—which are a spot-on topic
these days with their markings of the thousands upon thousands
of American oil truck stops dotted across our nation.
Virginia Katz’s abstract swaths of color and texture
all tumultuously in motion are clearly what came before
man took over this Earth and what will no doubt return
after we have long since vanished—reminding us once
again that no matter how important we think we are, Nature
will certainly get the last laugh.
“Ultraviolet” at the dA Center for the Arts,
252 S. Main St., Pomona, (909) 397-9716; www.dacenter.org.
Wed-Sat, noon-4PM; Thurs, noon-9 PM. Thru July 24; “Earthviews”
at the SCA Project Gallery, 281 S. Thomas St., Unit 104,
Pomona, (909) 620-5481; www.scaprojectgallery.org. Thurs-Sat,
noon-4PM. Thru July 3. Open receptions for both Sat, June
12. Free.
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