The Laband Art Gallery continued to enrich the artistic environment at Loyola Marymount University with its fall show that featured the works of LA artist Kim Abeles.
Abeles mines the urban environment with a great sense of curiosity, incorporating both conventional and unorthodox media—from using smog particles to quilting with trash—to explore broad social topics.
This wide range of media and innovative techniques are on display in this show, which includes some of her most recent work, as well as a selection from the last three decades. The exhibit focuses on themes that have served as important threads in her career: women’s lives and women’s issues, civil rights and environmental issues.
She uses metaphors and humor to focus our attention on pollution, gender roles, pedagogy and even traffic. The exhibition reveals Kim Abeles’ keen perspectives on tough social issues and her distinctive style compels us to examine these problems afresh. In Kim Abeles’ life and work aesthetics and activism blend seamlessly.
Four public events were scheduled as part of the show:
- An opening reception on Sept. 11;
- An evening of Abeles, dance and discussion; Thursday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m.;
- Bellarmine Forum reception and gallery tour with Abeles; Friday, Oct. 29; reception 5-7 p.m., tour 6 p.m.;
- How Big is Your Footprint? Screening of the film “No Impact Man” and panel discussion, Nov. 15, 6:15 p.m.
The exhibition is curated by Carolyn Peter director and curator of the Laband Art Gallery. Generous loans to the exhibition have been made by the California African American Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and a number of private collectors.
MORE ABOUT KIM ABELES
Kim Abeles has a BFA from Ohio University and an MFA from UC, Irvine. The Smog Collector series brought her work to international attention in the art world, and mainstream sources such as Newsweek, National Public Radio, CBS Evening News and The Wall Street Journal. Her work is in numerous collections including the Museum of Contemporary Art; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Yucun Art Museum, Suzhou, China; Sandwell Community History and Archives, U.K.; and is archived in the library collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Cooper-Hewitt Publication Design Collection of the Smithsonian. She has been awarded grants from the Andy Warhol Foundation and Peter Norton Foundation and fellowships from J. Paul Getty Trust Fund for the Visual Arts, Pollack-Krasner Foundation, and the California Arts Council.
Portrait photo: Leopoldo Peña
ABOUT THE LABAND
The Laband Art Gallery opened in 1984 as part of the Fritz B. Burns Fine Arts Center with a generous gift from Walter and Francine Laband.
Please visit http://cfa.lmu.edu/laband for more information.
Hours: Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 4 p.m.; closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
Admission: Admission and parking are free.
Location/Parking: The Gallery is in the Fritz B. Burns Fine Arts Center on the LMU campus. Enter the campus at Lincoln and LMU Drive. Kiosk attendant will direct you to parking and the gallery. For a map of the school, visit: www.lmu.edu/maps.
