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Indepth Arts News:
"Alien Organic : Julia Westerbeke"
2009-09-26 until 2009-10-31
compactspace LA
Los Angeles, CA,
USA United States of America
compactspace announces "Alien Organic", an installation of sculptures and site-specific works by Julia Westerbeke. In her obsessively detailed works, Julia Westerbeke creates terrains that are by turns organic and curiously alien, quiet yet chock-a-block with information. These abstract sculptures covered in crops of cilia-like drawings
invite associations that run the gamut from microbes and scientific diagrams to Dr. Seussian flora and fantastical illustrations. For instance, a mountainous spill of white hot-glue adorned with patches of vinyl drawings
might be a glacial landscape or Superman's Fortress of Solitude.
A slick,
coiling tube that sprouts leaf-like forms could inspire thoughts of tropical
vines or venomous creatures. Through a certain indeterminacy, each piece feels
at once familiar yet foreign. The artist is interested in these subtle
contrasts, tempering the beautiful with elements of the strange or the
unexpectedly alluring. In kind, her use of materials could best be described
as alchemical: burnt Styrofoam, melted plastic, paper dipped in resin and tiny
units of drawings clustering on the surface.
The detail in each work pays homage to the intricacies of natural forms, while
the obsessive accretion of elements gives a nod to the process of germination.
It could be argued that the artist likes to „grow‰ these works, building them
slowly from the ground up. This installation is filled with sculptures that
yield more after closer inspection. While exploring ordered rows of drawings
you will discover a neighboring plastic sphere encasing a nest-like form and
translucent arches that bend toward delicate filigrees of dripped glue. Here,
there are patterns within the patterns. The sum-total creates an eco-system of
the artist‚s making, one that is grounded in a specific visual vocabulary that
has been influenced by cultures of fantasy and science fiction.
Julia Westerbeke has just recently completed her MFA at the University of
California, San Diego. This is her first solo show in Los Angeles.
About compactspace:
compactspace Los Angeles and its sister space in Geneva, Switzerland are part
of the the compactspace collective started 2003 in Berlin. compactspace Los
Angeles opened 2004 in LA‚s Pico-Union district and has recently re-located to
historic downtown LA, where they promote a multi-media arts program that
mainly features emerging and mid-career artists. compactspace LA is made
possible by the contributions of the University of California San Diego's
Visual Arts Department
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