SAFARI AMERICANA: As Seen In ArtScene!

I was thrilled to read the review of my solo show in this month's ArtScene. Suvan Geer's review of my art has brought certain themes to my attention, themes that challenge me to grow as a person and as an artist. I am grateful for that.

Part of the reason I make art in the first place is to constantly answer the simple questions, like "who am I?" And the answers keep on coming, which in turn only make me ask more questions. I am sure I am not alone in this.

Without any further ado, here is a peak at the article.

Excerpted from ArtScene
ARLENE BOGNA and BARBARA BLATT
By Suvan Geer (July 2008)
Arlene Bogna’s "Safari Americana" photographs make the viewer sink into a nostalgic reverie. She asks us to consider what it is in human nature, or the American psyche, that makes us delight in the sight of painted, three dimensional animals perched atop sign poles or hawking honey from flat bed trucks. Bogna’s images have the spontaneous feel of snapshots, yet the carefully orchestrated camera angles and artist’s repeated down-low perspective capture the sheer naive exhibitionism of the roadway animal signs.
[Click here to read the full article.]



:: bogna ::

Safari in the Summer? Oh yes.

I had the best summer solstice ever. The opening of SAFARI AMERICANA: SCENES OF DELIGHT packed the gallery at its peak last Saturday (here is a photo by TastyPiePhotography.com before the crowds gathered):
I was so happy to see my friends, some who I haven't seen for a while, come out and support me, willing to spend some time in a crowded white room with me on a hot summer LA night. What a great feeling! And it was fun to talk to people I just met. I loved everyone's interpretations and observations about my work, and I must have had the same empty water bottle in my hand for hours because I was on a roll fielding questions non-stop. And I absolutely loved it when people went over to the audio installation and got the courage to push the button that was there to tempt them (the name of that piece is Satisfaction, and it's okay to push the button, and I'm not telling what happens if you do).
I was quite excited that METROMIX had written an awesome article about my show, and I was thrilled to find out that ARTSCENE is running a preview article by Suvan Geer! It was also a blast to get to meet Peggy Fogelman, so brilliant, so sophisticated, and an absolute curatorial rockstar (you can thank Peggy for putting contemporary artists' work into The Getty Center...yeah, she's that great) only to find out that she helped select my show for the gallery! I am over the moon.
My show is up through July 18th if you haven't already checked it out. And please, if you can, do check it out. I am so happy to have this opportunity to share my work with you.

:: bogna ::

Having an Art Attack... and Loving It!

I am very excited to share this preview article of my upcoming solo show SAFARI AMERICANA: SCENES OF DELIGHT in METROMIX. Please enjoy!

Art attack: Arlene Bogna's 'Safari Americana'
By Kimberly Waid & Alie Ward, Metromix

Here is an excerpt:
"Photos from her new series, "Safari Americana: Scenes of Delight" pop off the paper with rich pigments and a gorgeous stillness. Exploring the very specific and bizarre theme of roadside animal effigies (fiberglass cows, anyone?), Bogna presents a show that’s hauntingly vintage in aesthetic but also an homage to modern, plasticine life."

You can read the entire article here.

I absolutely cannot wait for the show!

:: bogna ::

Getttin' ready for SAFARI AMERICANA

Yes, it's just around the corner. 'It' being SAFARI AMERICANA: Scenes of Delight, my solo show this summer at Gallery 825 in Los Angeles. I'm excited that I get to have the big space that I wanted in the back, and I get to fill it. And I will. With big, fun colorful images taken with toy cameras from my road tripping. And it's analog, baby. Except for the multimedia component of course. But it's mostly large format color photographs dominating the walls with the images that dominated me when I saw them in "real" life. And since I am about to experience a very rewarding process both as a visual artist and as a filmmaker, I am pulling up my sleeves, rubbing my hands together, and giggling on the inside. I cannot wait!

WACK! 'd and loving it

If you haven't seen the WACK! show at the Geffen Contemporary, why not? Afraid of feminist art? Don't be. The show has a bit of everything: it's humorous, somber, playful, sad, mischievious, showy, intense, experimental, revolutionary, exploitational, intimate, legendary, so there is something for everyone.

There have been plenty of reviews about WACK! but I just wanted to share the pieces that affected me the most.

First of all, I think one of the funniest inventions of mankind is pantyhose, but it gets better...What if someone made a bold, sophisticated installation out of pantyhose? Not a lame piece, or a pretty docile piece about texture, but something, I dunno, macho, but in an ironic way? There have been times I must say I've been tempted to try, especially after a bad day from a corporate past-life, but Senga Negudi has done what needed to be done and let's leave it at that and enjoy it. It's the first image in the second row on the Geffen's online gallery.

Or have you ever seen any of Judy Chicago's work up close? I still see her Through The Flower piece turning in my head. And nearby was the "soft gallery" - I can now say I have been inside a self-reflective art gallery made of mattresses. So many great pieces but I don't want to spoil the surprises.

Gallery 825 just had an ArtSpeak series with some of the pioneers/renegades of early Feminist Art. We are lucky that we have the opportunity to look at art so politically charged for its time and talk about it openly.

Have you seen WACK!?

:: bogna ::

Crackerjack: Jay Belloli from the Armory Juries Gallery 825 Show...

...and one of my pieces, "tribe", is in it! Tribe is an abstract color photograph (not a painting) and it's all about the moment, a very long moment, an "even longer than you think" moment, captured on film. Check out Gallery 825 - they are a very cool gallery and I am very happy I get to be a part of this show.

:: bogna ::