26 Jan 2008 to 15 Mar 2008
Wednesday - Saturday 11 - 6pm
Opening Reception: Sunday, January 27, 4-8pm
See Line
1812 Berkeley Street
Santa Monica
90404
Los Angeles, CA
California
North America
p: 1 310 829 1727
m:
f: 1 310 829 3164
w: www.seelinegallery.com
Roni Feldman, Manifestation #4, 2008 Acrylic Sprayed on Canvas 36 x 48 inches
US versus THEM Asad Faulwell, Roni Feldman & Ivan Limas
Our personal and cultural identity is as much defined by what we are, as by what we are not. This divide between self and otherhood creates a myriad of political, ethnic and social tensions in American society. However, when borders of identity are challenged, deeper understanding of ourselves can occur. See Line Gallery is proud to present three rising artists, Asad Faulwell, Roni Feldman, and Ivan Limas who explore the Us versus Them mentality as an increasingly gray area.
By blending modern forms of painting and collage with Islamic design, Asad Faulwell blurs notions of nationality, religious, and cultural identity. Along with expressionistic paint strokes that whirl into Arabic script, Faulwell adheres photographs of leftist, post-colonial Middle-East leaders. These leaders were often loathed by Western government, yet esteemed in the Middle East as uniters. Through such juxtaposition of friction and unification, Faulwell subverts misconceptions about the Middle Eastern.
Since 2006, Roni Feldman took thousands of photographs of protests, which were montaged and repainted using airbrush. The works function sociologically with the subjects’ ideology literally displayed on their sleeves. However, the blurred, crystallographic repetition of figures and color vibrate against the eye and immerse viewers in an ethereal experience. Through such distortion, Feldman depicts ecstasy in a united crowd, but also the potential decent into a mob.
Ivan Limas draws from his experience growing up in Compton. Through drawing, painting, video and sculpture, he engrosses viewers in confrontational cultural situations which at first seem foreign, yet are eventually recognized as self-implicit. For Us versus Them, Limas created a large-scale drawing composed of two colliding galaxies swirling with opposing images and ideas. The nebulous image questions the borders of selfhood and culture.
