Radio Interview Hosted by Susan Petrella, of Creative Orange County and GYST radio

The link below is to today's radio interview with me hosted by Susan Petrella, of creativeorangecounty.com
You can hear me talk about my background, work, my inspirations and process of creating my work.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gystradio/2012/08/28/creative-orange-county-the-radio-show#.UD0g6Nm2EKV.email

Review of Luc Leestemaker's abstract landscapes at Madison Gallery, La Jolla,CA

Luc Leestemaker, “Stories of My Life”

Luc Leestemaker’s “Stories of My Life” exhibition at Madison Gallery showcases a series of abstract paintings completed between 1990 -2012.  Leestemaker, originally from the Netherlands, has lived in California since 1990. His mostly large scale acrylic works heavily reference the landscape and his color palette appears to have been influenced by the light and colors distinctive of southern California. The pastel yellows, pinks, greens, and sky blues laid down with large and small sweeping brushstrokes punctuate his canvases. Deibenkorn’s palette and DeKooning’s brushwork come to mind as the viewer visually enters the often airy, loosely constructed abstract spaces that appear to have little if any horizon lines. Some works are layered with a fresco-like mixture of grainy concrete with active painterly brushstrokes, while others feature the black lines and strokes reminiscent of abstract expressionist paintings.

The title of this exhibition - “Stories of My Life” may have more to do with an overall reflection upon the lifes’ work of this recently deceased artist rather than a statement about the theme of the work shown.  This exhibition will be on view through September 15^th.

Review of Photographer, Michael Kenna's Black and white ethereal and contemplative work

Michael Kenna’s New and Classic Images exhibition at Joseph Bellows Gallery in La Jolla comprise a selection of  black and white ethereal and contemplative photographs. These fifty images span twenty years and thirteen countries. Kenna has been photographing for forty years and still relies on Kodak film in spite of the growing digital marketplace. He makes his own sepia toned silver gelatin prints in a traditional darkroom, creating precisely 7 ¾” square images which are dry mounted on 16” x 20” museum board. He doesn’t deviate from his methods and there seems to be no reason he should. His remarkably atmospheric and surreal architectural and landscape scenes are uninhabited but hint at human intervention.

Kenna has traveled the world taking photographs and has spent countless nights outdoors using sometimes ten to twelve hour exposure times to create his vision of the locations he is capturing on film. Some images possess the stark contrast of darkness against the drama of focused light like a Rembrandt painting while others portray a dreaminess -  a misting and blurring of objects against a distant cloudless sky.  One group of images in the show closely resemble delicate line drawings or detailed paintings rather than photographs.  Many of Kenna’s images were photographed in southeast asia and directly reference Chinese or Japanese brush painting.

Michael Kenna’s work possesses a universal classic style with a unique personal vision – seemingly a travelogue marking places he has been and places we would all like to visit.

review by Cathy Breslaw