This Side of Eden

This Side of Eden, a group exhibition featuring the works of 7 artists, including Carlos Almaraz, Emmanuel Crespo, Cody Norris, Josh Patterson, John S. Rabe, Frank Romero, and Ana Serrano, explores the myriad interpretations of natural, urban, and hybrid environments. Directing their attention to landscapes, each artist brings to life spaces – real and imagined – with an abundance of grit, romance, fantasy, and desire inciting the question: Which side is Eden?

Through his photography, John S. Rabe mirrors his broadcast style and offers a take on Los Angeles never seen before. These images can only be described as psychedelic, despite the artist never doing acid. Through his unique perspective, the artist highlights and transforms the colors of the real world to find a parallel with the emotions of the scenes he photographs.

Emmanuel Crespo’s fantastical imaginings are dreamlike apparitions of his own personal journey. Through his body of work, the artist uncovers and interprets symbolic meanings and narratives in his life and the world around him. Each painting presents a cast of recurring characters created to uncover these narratives, which according to the artist, center on metaphysical themes.

The driving force behind Cody Norris’ poignant, atmospheric oil paintings of endangered landscapes in America is questioning what gets lost along the way of life – in progress and in transition.

Ana Serrano is inspired by the dual cultural contexts of her upbringing. Utilizing various media, including acrylic, paper, collage, and cardboard, Serrano’s artworks capture – with fantastic realism – our everyday environments, mirroring well-known Los Angeles neighborhoods such as Boyle Heights, Downey, East Los Angeles, and Highland Park.

Josh Patterson’s photographic material often leaves people asking, “How did he get that shot?” – the mist burning off the forest floor, the haunted cabin, the elusive Mustang. Naturally, as spectators enraptured by his innate skills, we can sense Patterson by our side on that trip, guiding us to his discoveries.

He explores the astounding colors of nature’s landscapes – deserts, forests, star-filled skies – from an azure horizon to a fiery thunderstorm. As usual, Patterson is at the right place at the right time.

Carlos Almaraz and Frank Romero – two sides of the same coin – have been inexorably linked since their pioneering days as founding members of the seminal art group Los Four. Nearly five decades since their groundbreaking exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum Art, both artists have succeeded in developing an artistic language that resonates, today. Ever the romantic, Almaraz’s sceneries are lush, impressionistic, and moody. While Romero displays his bravado with bold, contrasting, rhythmic strokes of paint and color until an absolute coalescence and harmony is reached.

Uniquely and distinctly, each work within This Side of Eden encapsulates and illustrates the very essence of a much-longed-for place that is as ever elusive as it is right at our very fingertips. For a time and a place that conveys paradise, delight, bliss, and contentment is often found to lie at the heart of one’s present state of mind.