100 Artists, 100 Years: Celebrating San Diego Art at OMA

The Oceanside Museum of Art is exhibiting works from artists who belong(ed) to The San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild. The time span is 100 years and 100 artists have been honored.

One of those artists, Mark-Elliott Lugo, selected the works included in this exhibit, drawing on his extensive experience in curating art exhibits in San Diego as well as being an artist and an art writer. 

Lugo admits to have a fascination with the dark - whether as darkness in color/luminance or in thematic content. That edgy quality is evident in his selection of Holly Weston's (below). 

Mark-Elliott Lugo noted that "This is the largest exhibition ever staged by OMA and as far as we know the largest featuring San Diego-area artists."

Joe Nalven:  I've been involved in many exhibitions, but not nearly as many as you have. Was there anything special about this one?

Mark-Elliott Lugo:  Putting this exhibition together in such a short amount of time (roughly three months) took everything I had in terms of physical stamina, knowledge about art and the art community, organizational skills, connections, installation experience, and judgment ("eye") as an artist." 

Daniel Foster, Director at OMA, noted that this exhibit builds on recent exhibits focusing on San Diego artists. Looking to the future, Robert L. Pincus will be jurying Artist Alliance at the Museum, 2015, July 11 - October 25, from submissions by OMA's member affiliate group Artist Alliance.

Pincus will also be co-curating History as it Happened: San Diego Art Seen Through the Critical Writings of Robert L. Pincus, Novemvber 21, 2015 - Mid April, 2016, with Tara Centybear and Executive Director Daniel Foster.

Mark-Elliott Lugo / Working on the exhibit presentation (Upper) / Displayed art include: 
Rhoda LeBlanc Lopez / Large Tree-Sized Planter, c.1960, Stoneware ceramic, 24 x 20 in., Collection of Gerald L. Thiebolt
Jackson Woolley, Bonus / 1967, Polyester resin and paint on wood, 19 ½ x 40 x 4 in., Collection of Courtney Cutter and Marc Sagal
Erik Gronborg / VØLUND, 1962, Bandsaw-carved wood timbers and black paint, 40 x 33 in
Portrait of the artist (Lower)

Holly Weston / Solace, 1998

I wondered how this project evolved and continues to evolve. I asked Angelika Villagrana and Jody Abssy, two of the coordinators of this project, about this exhibit and the book (forthcoming).

Angelika Villagrana:  When we started this project about 5 years ago, our objective was to publish a book celebrating 100 important Guild artists since its inception in 1915.  It took us a long time discovering and going through all the membership rosters and judging artists against a set of criteria for inclusion in this book.  Last Fall, Daniel Foster approached us with the idea of having an exhibition at the Oceanside Museum of Art for the 100 Artists whom we had identified.  All of a sudden there was very little time to meet with artists, families of deceased artists, collectors, galleries, institutions, etc. to get them to loan us the work. We had to put the book project on the back burner.  Now that the OMA exhibition is up, we will start working on the book project again and hope to get it published by the Fall.

Jody Abssy: There are 100 artists in the exhibition with about 125 objects on display. The number of architects who were Guild members surprised us. All 10 will appear on a video/ loop/ power point. When some of the pioneer artists' work was not available we were able to include some more contemporary artists. Our original intent was to publish a book which would bring the Guild's past into sharper focus for the public now and in the future.

Richard Becker / The Tot (Follow Your Dreams: Hanging Heart Spot Companion) 
Casts: 1 of 8 and Artist Proof 3, 2015, Stainless steel, 32 x 11 x 11 in.

Oceanside Museum of Art   704 Pier View Way, Oceanside, CA 92054   www.oma-online.org   100 Artists, 100 Years Exhibition: 1915-2015   April 18 - July 26, 2015   Opening Reception:    Saturday, April 25, 2015, from 6:00- 8:00pm   Curator's Walk:    Wednesday, May 27, 2015   Complimentary for OMA members, $10 for nonmembers   Contact:  Raziah Roushan for exhibit information                     raziah@oma-online.org

Pasha Turley / Inside-Out from The Pollution Series, intaglio (c. 1975), 32 x 40 inches (Left); 
Renata Spiazzi / Relationship, 16 x 7 ¾ x 3 ½ in., Memorial, 9 ¾ x 12 ½ x 5 ½ in., and Family, 13 x 7 x 7 in.,
all from the “Perfect Union Series," 1970, Polyurethane foam (Right)

Joe Nyiri, Bridges of Chicago No. 2, 1975, Aluminum, copper, and bronze 48 x 75 1/2 x 28 in.,
and Bridges of Chicago No. 1, 1974, Aluminum, copper, and bronze, 55 1/2 x 39 x 39 in.

William Gambini, Peg, 2002, Wood, canvas, and paint, 16 x 21 in. (Left) 
William Gambini, Untitled, 1999, Wood and paint, 50 x 8 ¾ x 8 ¾ in. (Right) 
 Both from the collection of Mark-Elliott Lugo

The 100 Artists

Martha Alf, Eleanor Antin, Anni Baldaugh, John Baldessari, Russell Baldwin, Belle Baranceanu, Richard Becker, Harry Bertoia, Carroll Parrott Blue, Leon Durand Bonnet, Rex Brandt, Maurice Braun, Capt. James Brown, Manuelita Brown, Charles Cristadoro, Joyce Cutler-Shaw, Dan Dickey, Phil Dike, John Dirks, Manny Farber, Arline Fisch, Jane Fletcher, Lorenzo Foncerrada, Russell Forester, Faiya Fredman, Charles Fries, William Gambini, Henry Lord Gay, Ken Goldman, Ethel Greene, Harold Gregor, Erik Gronborg, Thomas Grondona, Ruth Hayward, Fred Holle, Donal Hord, James Hubbell, Marjorie Hyde, Everett Gee Jackson, Frank Jones, Kwan Yee Jung, Bill Kelly, Dong Kingman, Sheldon Kirby, Alice Klauber, Doug Knutsen, Emil Kosa, Jr., Arthur Lavine, Leslie Lee, Beatrice Levy, Monty Lewis, Paul Lingren, Martha Longenecker, Rhoda Lopez, Mark-Elliott Lugo, Kathleen Marshall, Cliff McReynolds, Ivan Messenger, Alfred Mitchell, Hiroshi Miyazaki, Richard Allen Morris, Joe Nyiri, Christine Oatman, Robert Perine, James Tank Porter, Wilhelmina Pulsifer, Rob Wellington Quigley, Svetozar Radakovich, Barney Reid, Charles Reiffel, Richard Requa, Gail Roberts, Margaret Rocle, John Rogers, Ilse Ruocco, Lloyd Ruocco, Lyne T. “Bud” Shackelford, Lenore Simon, Robert W. Snyder, Renata Spiazzi, Harry Sternberg, Jean Swiggett, Mario Torero, Elliot Torrey, Sherman Trease, Raúl Trejo, G. Pasha Turley, Herbert B. Turner, Albert R. Valentien, Anna Valentien, Holly Weston, Michael Wheelden, Eileen Whitaker, Frederic Whitaker, Kay Whitcomb, Olaf Wieghorst, Guy Williams, Walter Haase Wojtyla, Ellamarie Woolley, Jackson Woolley

Postscript: The 101st Artist/Commentary on art in digital media - a personal perspective
While the 100 Artists from SDMAAG have been selected, and while a rewarding exhibition has been installed, I would like to add a flight of fancy about what might be included at some point. This postscript is not intended to argue with the selection of this exhibit, but to point the way to including the revolution in technology infusing almost every point of our lives -- from transportation, to communication, to health, to agriculture and industry and, yes, even to art. Several of the artists in SDMAAG have done well in making the 100 year history of the organization meaningful in the 21st century.

Notably, there are two artists who have drawn on new digital technology in this exhibit:  Guy Williams' untitled piece from the "Blueprint" series (1991) and Faiya Fredman's piece "Yellow Tulip 2" (2007) which was created when the artist was in her mid-eighties.

Perhaps it is possible to further expand on this connection to the digital revolution - after all, artists frequently love to consume the new. Here are some further examples in this vein.

Dennis Paul Batt, one-time Trustee of the San Diego Museum of Art and one-time President of SDMAAG, instituted a democratic selection of Best in Show. 

Greg Klamt, a digital artist - or a fantasy artist working in digital media, had his work, An Instant Past, voted in this new process as Best in Show (2002, SDMAAG Juried Exhibition). Klamt's music is an excellent companion to his fantasy imagery. 

Although Renata Spiazzi, selected as one of the 100 Artists/100 Years exhibit, is a self-described digital artist, her work selected is a part of her long trajectory in the arts - in this case, sculptural work rather than the fractal imagery she has been working in for the past two decades.

Both Klamt and Spiazzi were featured in separate chapters in Going Digital: The Practice and Vision of Digital Art (2005, Thompson, now Cengage Press). 

Digital art (or contemporary art in digital media) may be considered 'just a toolset' that encompasses photography, print, painting, and now sculpture (3D printing). All of these digital media can be conceived and implemented in non-digital media; however, fractals -- while appearing as painting or print -- is a mathematical algorithm that is exploited in often fantastical imagery. The practice is generally at a computer placing oneself at a distance from the actual object being created. The ability to work rapidly with the ability to undo previous steps resembles a miracle to those working in non-digital media. The collage/montage sensibility is quite natural in a layered and blended digital file. I expect that the last sentence is totally meaningless to those unfamiliar with digital media - which is like explaining sight to the  unsighted. So, 'just a toolset' is a very imperfect description of what art is in digital media - except when it is reduced in activities such as airbrushing photographs for commercial advertising.

As SDMAAG continues exhibiting, hopefully the members who are practicing in digital media are more fully incorporated with equal delight with their digital work as the 100 Artists in this exhibit.