DAVID O’BRIEN 'Explosions in a Mental Sky'
TOFER CHIN 'Double Dip'
C E R A S O L I  gallery is pleased to present a pair of exhibitions by two artists producing graphically bold works that blur the distinctions between the natural and synthetic worlds: David O'Brien: 'Explosions in a Mental Sky' in Gallery One and Tofer Chin: 'Double Dip' in Gallery Two at the C E R A S O L I  gallery (8530-B Washington Blvd in Culver City). Opens March 14, 2009, and remains on view through April 15, 2009.  Opening reception is Saturday, March 14, from 6 – 9pm.    
David O'Brien, a Los Angeles based artist who trained as an architect with the legendary Frank Gehry, creates large-scale, highly intellectual ink and color pencil paintings.  O'Brien's background in architecture is evident within his work, where abstract compositions seem to crystallize into patterns that are ordered with mathematical rigidity while seeming to flow with the serendipity of a constellation or school of fish.  With an interest in cultivating intuition and freedom more than knowledge, O'Brien strives to integrate his own highly personalized, hand crafted language with more universal forms and landscapes.  From a distance, O'Brien's patterns are expansive, giving the beautiful illusion of a moonscape clustered with geometric stalagmites, astro dust floating through space.  Approaching his work, however, we experience an incremental shift in our perspective, as one pushed for light years through a wormhole to get a closer look at the world and our place in it.  'Love is in a little crystal,' O'Brien states, 'some glowing pixels…’ It's in the edges of the explosion where O'Brien best reveals us to ourselves.  
Evoking the aesthetics of Op art, Tofer Chin's 'Double Dip' is a continuation of his latest body of work. Focused on sensory perception, he continues to explore 'a world of electronic psycho sexual energy.'  For this show, Chin perseverates on LSD; its psychological and spiritual impact, as well as its entertainment and allure. The result - three, large format paintings; bear the trademark of inspired hallucination. As modified rainbow apparitions pop out of 2-dimensional surfaces and sharp colors seem to glide from glassy canvas onto the gallery wall, a line is blurred between the real and the illusory. Chin ultimately completes his trip with cause and effect: a limited-edition print on blotter paper, resembling perforated acid tabs and a photograph of an unadulterated rainbow. Mirroring the experience from which it came, 'Double Dip' is an enigmatic exhibition, intimate and communal; fleeting and impossible to duplicate. Tofer Chin, a Los Angeles native, continues to exhibit, in both gallery and museum, in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Barcelona, and Australia. Past works appear in The Los Angeles Times, Flaunt, Nylon, Trace, Big, Vice, Rojo, and Idn. In 2006, Rojo published his first book of photography, entitled 'Finger Bang', and in 2008, published his highly anticipated follow-up, entitled 'Vacation Standards'. »
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MONET, RENOIR, VAN GOGH, GAUGUIN
Impressionists and Post-Impressionists from The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
COPENHAGEN. They caused an outrage when they appeared. Today they rank among the most reproduced, popular and priceless artists in the world. Monet, Renoir, Degas, Pissarro, Rodin, van Gogh, Cézanne, Braque… From the end of January 2009 they can all be seen at ARKEN Museum of Modern Art in Denmark. In the spring of 2009 ARKEN presents the fine collection of French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists from The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. 53 paintings and sculptures come to Denmark for four months in the exhibition MONET, RENOIR, VAN GOGH, GAUGUIN – Impressionists and Post-Impressionists from The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. It is a unique opportunity to experience a number of masterpieces by the many brilliant and innovative artists based in France who would revolutionise world art from the 1870s and into the twentieth century. A time when change was the only constant. The artists caused an outrage when they appeared. Today they rank among the most reproduced, popular and priceless artists.
ENCOUNTERING THE MODERN WORLD
In their art the Impressionists communicated their sensory perception of the new modern world that was developing before their eyes. They created a new style of painting, immediate and sketch-like in order to capture the fleeting moment before it was over. They painted the reality around them. The heroes and gods of past generations’ art must surrender their place to contemporary people of flesh and blood; elegant Parisiennes, rural girls, posh gentlemen and harvesters. Eager students of sunlight, the Impressionists painted outdoors. They daubed their canvasses spontaneously and with brushes heavy with paint. They painted with colours rather than lines. Their works pulse with presence and a particular sensual pleasure. The Post-Impressionists denotes the group of contemporary or younger artists who painted in a different style from the Impressionists. Some of them, instead, retired from modern life. They depicted the inner world instead of the outer one – and an artist like Gauguin travelled to Tahiti to find and pursue the original, primitive life.
MONET, RENOIR, VAN GOGH, GAUGUIN presents the incredible span in the artists’ reactions to the new age. We are shown a volatile, versatile period when the artist milieu was seething with innovations, discussions, inspiration, friendships and discord. PAINTING AND CHAIN-SMOKING MONET IN ACTION
This insight is given us not merely through the paintings but also via some rare film clips that are shown in the exhibition. They are taken from Sacha Guitry’s 1915 film Ceux de chez nous (Those of Our Land). His project was to immortalise the most important personages in his own time – before it was too late! – in the relatively young medium of film. Here we see Monet painting and chain-smoking at his lily pond. An arthritic Renoir in a wheelchair painting while his son, Jean Renoir, is helping him mix the paints. Finally we are given a glimpse of a reluctant Degas promenading down a boulevard. Degas did not wish to receive Sacha Guitry. The film is unique both because of its content and as film history. As far as we know, it has never before been shown in Denmark. The exhibition is organised by The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, in collaboration with ARKEN Museum of Modern Art. »
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