CERASOLI : LeBasse Presents Blender

CERASOLI : LeBASSE GALLERY present Inaugural Exhibition: ‘Blender’: Young Fresh Contemporary Art for the Stylish Collector Gallery One Vincent Hui, Melissa Haslam, Ryuichi Ogino, Deth P Sun & Mari Inukai Gallery Two Jennifer Davis & Suzanne Sattler October 11 - November 1, 2008 Opening Reception: Saturday October 11, 7 - 10pm *guest dj and open bar Located at 8530-b Washington Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232 / 310 558 0911 / http://www.cerasoli-lebasse.com The Cerasoli : LeBasse Gallery Opens its Doors in the Culver City Arts District October 11, 2008 Los Angeles, CA - Two major Culver City Galleries have merged to become the Cerasoli : leBasse Gallery and will launch their inaugural show October 11, 2008. Over the past six years, both galleries have brought the most exciting, cutting edge contemporary artists to the Los Angeles art world. As a united partnership, Cerasoli : leBasse Gallery will both broaden and focus their vision into a single, dynamic entity with a central goal to be the leading edge in showcasing the most talented and significant artists today. Launched as a merger between Project: and The Cerasoli Gallery (formerly The Lab101), the partnership combines the strongest artists from both galleries’ rosters. Cerasoli : leBasse Gallery will be owned and operated by Beau Basse and Freddi Cerasoli, with over twenty years of combined experience in the fine art world. The Cerasoli Gallery has a history of being the home of some of the most in-demand urban and contemporary artists, while Project: has established itself as the launch point for some of the most highly-talked about young talent. Basse and Cerasoli made the decision to merge in order to create a platform for advanced growth and future expansion. With a shared vision, the new Cerasoli : leBasse Gallery will be focused on developing the careers of a select group of domestic and international contemporary artists. The new lineup will be showcased in one of the most stylish venues in Los Angeles’ internationally recognized Culver City Arts District. The gallery space has been divided into two unique rooms; Gallery I and Gallery II. The selection of artists in Gallery I reflects the second wave of emerging Asian influenced painters. Hailing from Japan, China and Australia these artists are exploring the juxtaposition of cultures both in their daily lives and artwork. The five artists represent all ends of the artistic spectrum – from Mari Inukai’s classic-styled oil paintings depicting young girls frolicking with nymph-like characters, to Vincent Hui’s dark and emotion filled illustrations of cultural ambiguity. The viewer can sense the obvious irony in Deth P Sun’s comical characters, while Ryuichi Ogino’s abstract and technically driven paintings allow us to make our own determinations of the influences and meaning behind the work. Australian Melissa Haslam leaves us wanting to know more of the story as she depicts her own fairytale like worlds of young women surrounded by intricately painted foliage and animals. As a whole the group tests the boundaries of eastern and western influence by showing us vastly different techniques and approaches to crossing the cultural divide. In Gallery II, the work of Jennifer Davis and Suzanne Sattler will be presented, two artists whose intimate, graphic works’ apparent whimsy belies a dark side in the relationship between nature and mankind. Jennifer Davis’ Fruitstripe-hued acrylic and graphite on panel pieces are breezy with a sparse purity to their folksy scenes. Pussy willows bloom and dissipate. Bunnies conspire in striped sweaters, whispering tales of predatory doom. A sadness lurks beneath Davis’ dreamlike imagery, the melancholy of evaporating daydreams and the inevitable passage of time. Suzanne Sattler’s drawings explore the symbiotic and at times parasitic relationships that exist between animals and human beings. Hummingbirds sip from a trail of blood that oozes from a drowsing man’s nose. A girl weeps, despite her seeming culpability, over the body of a flayed creature as shredded tendrils of its spirit waft up and away. Softly rendered in pencil on paper, Sattler’s humans are passive subordinates, resigned to a fate inextricably entwined with nature’s consummate atrophy.