The Orange County Center for Contemporary Art Presents:
 
Mystifications
Manipulations
Subversions

Richard Bohn, Mark Bryan & David Ordaz
 
May 4 - 28, 2013
Opening Night Event:
Saturday, May 4th, 6-11pm
Closing Night Event:
Saturday, May 25th, 6-11pm



117 North Sycamore
Santa Ana, California 92701

Phone: (714) 667-1517
Email: info.occca@gmail.com
Website: www.occca.org
Hours: Thurday - Sunday, 12-5pm;
Friday & Saturday, 12-9pm

In Richard Bohn's elegant work, humor and mystification of the ordinary play a fine duet.  Common objects and pop imagery are transformed into new, surprising and beautiful constructions which delight the viewer, make comment and invite a meditative and new way of seeing.

Mark Bryan's whimsical paintings of political, social and psychological topics subvert, manipulate and mystify with their deadly humor and imagination. His bizarre juxtapositions and parody of iconic and pop subject matter manage to leave the viewer both disturbed and entranced.

David Ordaz states: "I have always been fascinated with taking things apart to see how theyare constructed. This process of de-constructing and reconstructing is intriguing and continually satisfying as I try to understand the world in which I live. I am amazed at the capacity that we alone have to make an object or a machine or an elegantwork of art from a mere thought."

In addition:
Saturday May 18th, from 12 noon to 5pm, Free
In conjunction with the “Imagination Celebration” and the May exhibition“Mystifications, Manipulations, Subversions”, exhibiting artist Rich Bohn will give an artist talk and offer a unique site specific installation art workshop at OCCCA. In this hands-on art workshop, you will learn to utilize found and everyday objects to construct sculptures inspired by the shapes and designs of the ancient Mandela form. Participants will have the opportunity to create both their own small scale Mandela (to take home), and also work together in a group to create a large scale collaborative mandala installation. The large collaborative-group mandala will remain on display at OCCCA for all to see, during the last week of the exhibition, from May 18th thru May 25th. This workshop will be facilitated in English and Spanish.

Richard Bohn 
Our thought, perception and mystification of the nature of nature is the manifestation of art. We with nature are finding a path in the expanding time of an unfinished universe through the subtle nuance of transparent layers of logic. As in mountaineering, the first step is as important as the last, so when we put brush to a canvas or place a pretzel near a piece of pasta, what are we saying. Something that was formerly eaten as food can now be art and then recycled as food. Art and nature are both functions of repetition and randomness, always resulting in released energy as art. The result of repetition and structure is growth and life itself, yet it seems to be at odds with our spirit and nature. But repetition is an illusion, when a percussionist conforms to a tempo or vocal phrase, each measure is quantified as an interval separate of all others, before or after, based on the many overlaying functions converging in that moment. Art is a convergence, a balance of many, sometimes opposing forces that lead us to a point, in time and space.

In a minor subversion of perception, a mystification of the regular way if we might think, a manipulation of the items we touch, use and take for granted every day, evoking a combined and multiplied continuing history embedded in the object. Door handles, keys, locks, the key to our thoughts, the key to the back door, the key to a treasure chest, the key to the present moment. Mystification of the ordinary is a logical progression from previous work, based in found-object, provisional and relational constructions and derived from experimentation and waste from completed and non-completed projects of the recent past. 

The Bohndala Series manifests a transformation into the digital realm but not without the safety of analog back-up. I ask you to stay with the art for a moment or longer, there is something more within the surface.

You can see more of Richard's art at richardbohnart.com

Mark Bryan 
Born in Southern California, a child of the Fifties and Sixties, Bryan simmered in the pop culture and angst of that era. Cheesy Horror and Sci-Fi movies, super hero comics, Mad Magazine, Salvador Dali, The Boy Scouts etc... all that plus the constant threat of death by atomic war had their shots at a sensitive mind. As the '70s arrived, Bryan was immersed in the anti war, psychedelic and spiritual movements of the day. The Vietnam War, Kennedy assassinations and the civil rights movement all contributed greatly to a political awareness and a sense that all was not right with the human species. While attending Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles (MFA, 1974), Bryan took up with the early founders of the Chicano Art movement (Los Four). They introduced him to the Mexican Muralists' work of the early 20th century and the value of a tradition of accessible work with social/political content. All these diverse influences have come together in a strange brew and are manifested in his work today.

Although most known for his political work savaging the Bush administration, Bryan directs many of his efforts inward, producing work from the imagination. At first impression, this surreal and whimsical work seems just for fun but usually contains underlying symbolic comment about life in these times and human nature in general. In spite of the mixed and sometimes disturbing nature of his topics, Bryan always manages to portray them in a humorous and seductive fashion. Bryan has exhibited his work throughout the US, Canada, Europe and Japan. His work appears on numerous satirical and political web sites across the US and internationally. It has also been featured as illustration and cover art for publications, including Juxtapoz and Adbusters magazines. You may see more of Bryan's work at:  artofmarkbryan.com

David Ordaz
I have always been fascinated with taking things apart to see how they are constructed. This process of de-constructing and reconstructing is intriguing and continually satisfying as I try to understand the world in which I live.  I am amazed at the capacity that we alone have to make an object or a machine or an elegant work of art from a mere thought.