I have officially been podcast'd...

How cool! It's an audio version of the ArtScene review of my solo show Safari Americana: Scenes of Delight. Here is a link to the whole podcast on ArtScene:

:: bogna ::

What's up @ Holy Land (and by 'Holy Land' I mean Panavision)

I could have looked at the camera tests at Panavision all night. Yes, show me desert badlands on 2-perf 35 mm film. Go ahead, show me the Genesis Test of cars on windy road, I can take it. I can't get enough.

I love how Panavision embraces both worlds of digital and film, making the artistic process a priority. Thanks to the Alliance of Women Directors for making an evening @ Panavision happen!

:: bogna ::

Pin Ups Revealed

I am a big fan of art photography which is as strong in concept as it is in execution. And I feel like I haven't been stumbling upon it that often in galleries lately. Mostly I've either seen technically well-executed photographs without a complex concept, or, I've seen complex concepts without a commitment to photographic execution. So I constantly yearn for the best of both worlds, where concept meets execution at a peak, elevating photography - and any aspect of it - to the higher art form that it can be.
Luckily, I recently saw an exhibit which was terribly satisfying. Currently at Regen Projects, you can catch Gillian Wearing's Pin Ups. And if there is anything worth catching, it's that exhibit. Gillian questions our need for transformation and artifice by offering exactly that to amateur models who want it very badly. She then shares the results with us; it's like a scientific experiment to expose a hunger in our modern psyche to be made over, airbrushed, and presented to the world as the sexiest beast alive. And it's not just the ladies who want to be objectified, "Pin Ups" is an equal opportunity exploiter, granting sexpot transformation to both men and women, making their Pin Up dreams come true.

Wearing presents her Pin Ups as gorgeous, colorful photo-realistic airbrushed paintings, based on photo shoots of the models in sexy attire and attitudes. But Wearing also anchors the eye candy with a strong narrative component. Behind each painted panel lie snapshots and written essays from each model, offering the viewer a healthy dose of reality behind the fantasy, quite literally. The subjects, often self-diagnosing their self-esteem issues in handwritten pleas to be photographed, are given life by their own words. And while their words express a desire to be presented in sexy perfection to the public at large, the casual snapshots reveal how far from that each model is in daily life. The viewer might feel a bevy of feelings - such as temptation, compassion, scorn, pity, admiration, intrigue - all at the same time. By showing us both the vulnerability and the magnificence of each model, Wearing continues her explorations of identity while sharing with us the manufacturing process of image, the way a magician might reveal a slight of hand. And at the end of the day, the The Pin Ups have been humanized. You might feel a little educated, a little human, maybe even a little dirty afterwards, but like most successful art viewings, it will linger long after you leave the gallery.

:: bogna ::

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 ::

The Unveiling at Steve's

With my the opening of my show SAFARI AMERICANA: SCENES OF DELIGHT just a couple of days away, it was great to go to see Steve at Finishing Concepts and have a peek at my mounted photos. It felt like a reunion! Here is a pic of Steve unveiling my mounted print of Bronco just in time for the show.

It's funny, I think all roads lead to Steve when it comes to fine art photography finishing, and I think it's been that way for generations. And to think that I just stumbled upon him because I liked his work, only to find out that he owns THE place to go in Los Angeles to get fine art photography prints ready for the walls. As you might be able to see, Steve's space is awesome, and there are amazing photographs there (John Baldessari anyone?). So I have to give him a proper shoutout because he made my day. So Steve, if you are out there, you totally rock!

:: 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 ::

Oh, it is definitely ON! Ready for SAFARI AMERICANA: SCENES OF DELIGHT

Life is sweet. Lately my days are filled with the images from my upcoming solo show. They are always with me. I get through each day just fine, but I am living with an extra quality to my life as I prepare. I love it.

Somebody recently asked me what inspired me for SAFARI AMERICANA: SCENES OF DELIGHT. Well, let's see if I can answer that.

You could say that someone's impulse to fabricate a gigantic plastic cow to house a roadside business triggered an impulse within me to stop the car immediately and photograph it. Think about it, imagine you are driving down a remote rural highway when you see a gigantic fabricated plastic cow on the side of the road, and you think to yourself, 'Wait, is that a Jeff Koons installation? Oh, it's not - well, what's that about?' And my point is: exactly. After that experience, I started to see more and appreciate just how pervasive animal symbols are in modern life. I started to chuckle at the thought that a plastic bovine could give street cred to almost any business: barbecue restaurant, rv dealership, honey stand, you name it. And it's like we exist in such a world without noticing how wonderfully strange that is. Well, I noticed, and I started to explore that.

And since I know that absolutely anything could be done in terms of digital art and photo-realistic special effects, I decided that my personal art was to be raw and analog in order for it to have the most meaning for me. Perhaps because of my background, that is the line in the sand between 'work' and 'art'. I have to find ways to experience my freedom, i.e. did the expired film in my overheated holga make the Mississippi River look like a red nuclear pond? Fine. Good. Print it. Yes.

I've been reflecting about my Artist Influences for my show, and here they are:

Gerhard Richter
I am simply awestruck by his work, especially by his photo-based paintings and his abstract paintings. I love that he is such a master of visual representation yet he can also go totally abstract. He is vital to me.

Mona Kuhn
The softness and dreamy intimacy of her work gives me a sense of connection. Her photographs exist in a world all their own.

Jeff Koons
Provocative, bold and playful. I enjoy how the scale of his work instantly forces a confrontation. And I think the world is a definitely a better place because of his balloon dogs.

So, if you find yourself in Los Angeles on June 21st, please come on by to the SAFARI AMERICANA: SCENES OF DELIGHT Artist Reception @ Gallery 825. It is my delight to be able to share my work with you.

:: bogna ::

Group Show at the Bird Museum

To those who think art is for the birds, artist Michael Giancristiano salutes you! He has recently created the Eli Bird Contemporary Art Center, a miniature museum in which
he curates art shows with accurate miniatures of original fine art pieces. I am happy to say his first show features a wide range of work from many contemporary artists, and it includes a miniature of my abstract color photograph the abyss.

I can usually spot Giancristiano's work right away. He knows how to work with wood and media to create something elegant yet organic. I've mostly seen his 'On Thin Ice' series of paintings on plywood which minimally reveal the deeper layers of his work, showing a process that feels persistent, measured, and natural.

As for the Eli Bird Contemporary Art Center, otherwise known as the EBCAC, part of Michael's concept is to have work that invokes nature, and I believe that the EBCAC shows will also benefit children's foundations.


The inaugural EBCAC show has work by the following artists:
Lori Agostino, Dori Atlantis, Arlene Bogna, Paul Blieden, Richard Bruland, Ellen Cantor, Rebecca Hamm, Yoichi Kawamura, Linda Kunik, Daniel Lara, Lynda Lester, Erika Lizee, Rebecca Lowry, Freyda Miller, Amandine Nabarra-Piomelli, Hung Nguyen, Ana Osgood, Paul Pitsker, Bryan Ricci, Gina Stepaniuk, Elizabeth Tobias, David Eli Vaughn, Valerie Wilcox, Karen Frimkess Wolff, Kyoung Ha Yoo.
It's nice to see how many artists find Giancristiano's concept absolutely irresistible.

:: 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!