Brad Spence “Nothing Gold Can Stay” exhibition – opening at the Eastern Star Gallery at Archer – Los Angeles art report

The Eastern Star Gallery at Archer, located on the historic campus of The Archer School for Girls, will be exhibiting work from Brad Spence. The exhibition, Nothing Gold Can Stay, will feature a selection of work from the series, Of Age.

“Brad Spence’s most recent exhibition at Shoshana Wayne Gallery, part of which is featured in the Eastern Star Gallery, really appealed to a younger generation of art enthusiasts.  The subject matter is specific to the 1980s and 1990s, to adolescent aspirations and youthful attempts at navigating the world,” says Shoshana Blank, owner of the Shoshana Wayne Gallery.

Entitled Nothing Gold Can Stay, this series explores a young man’s coming of age, using a visual vocabulary sampled from the photography of glossy lifestyle magazines, burlesque, album covers and the electronic palette of MTV music videos. These cultural sources deified entertainers for their glamour, status, wealth, power and personal freedom, and created a sense of distance and yearning in the viewer. Using these iconic graphic and design references, Spence explores the mystery he finds intrinsic to women, gazing upon them from a distance.

In Nothing Gold Can Stay, Spence’s technique has evolved from creating sterile, seamless perfection through airbrushing to a more tactile surface. Smudges and finger-painting techniques suggest the application of makeup to the skin, and give this current collection an aura of more intimate contact.

“Brad’s paintings induce feelings that are reflective of our generation as well as the generation of our parents,” comments Ciel Torres, student and Director of Media at the Eastern Star Gallery at Archer. “His work is provocative, adolescent and abstruse, and collectively, we thought very fitting to exhibit at our school’s gallery.”

Spence’s Nothing Gold Can Stay exhibit will be on public view at the Eastern Star Gallery at Archer by appointment from December 5, 2013 – January 16, 2014.

On December 5, Archer will host a public gallery opening and reception for Brad Spence, beginning at 6:30 p.m., followed by a Q&A with the artist at 7:30 p.m. The Archer School for Girls is located at 11725 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90049.  To see images of prior exhibits of the artist’s work, please visit his website.

Brad Spence Nothing Gold Can Stay

Exhibition runs December 5, 2013 – January 16, 2014  by appointment

The Archer School for Girls

11725 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90049.

Opening reception for the artist:

December 5, 2013 from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.

Q&A with the artist at 7:30 p.m.

To see images of prior exhibits of the artist’s work, please visit his official site here.

About The Archer School for Girls:

Founded in 1995, The Archer School for Girls is an independent school that provides a 21^st-century college preparatory program for students in grades 6 through 12 in an environment that explores and refines the ways girls learn best. Cultivating a strong sense of individuality, personal identity, independence, a sense of global engagement, and an array of leadership opportunities define each student’s experience. For more information, please visit their website here or call 310-873-7000.

About The Gallery – its MISSION:

To engage gallery visitors in the collaborative journey of the artist’s creative process, and to build an expansive community around the shared experience of contemporary art, within The Archer School for Girls community and beyond. The exhibitions also serve to provide students with a real-life business model for gallery operation and art business management. Proceeds from art sales support Archer’s financial aid program.

ABOUT THE GALLERY:

The Eastern Star Gallery at Archer is more than a unique space to view contemporary artwork: it is the center of a vital dialogue between artists, students, teachers, collectors, gallery directors, curators and other art-lovers who are drawn to the Archer campus. Students with an interest in curation, exhibition planning, and museum and gallery management receive an introduction to the business aspects of fine arts through off-campus excursions and visiting guest lectures and panels of experts.

HISTORY:

By definition, the Eastern Star Gallery at Archer is a place of transformation. The space originally served as a chapel in the 1930s, offering residents a place of worship for more than six decades. During its subsequent metamorphosis, the 300-square-foot room served as a classroom and theater staging area before assuming its current life as an art gallery in 2006. Since then, this space has housed some of the most prestigious contemporary art in Southern California. In 2013, students renamed The Gallery at The Archer School for Girls as the Eastern Star Gallery at Archer, honoring the building’s historic roots as the Eastern Star Home for Women.

 

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