Exhibition opens with public reception July 8th, 2023, at AGCC
Media Contact:
Cecelia Koger, 310-519-0936
cecelia@angelsgateart.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 15, 2023
San Pedro, CA – Angels Gate Cultural Center (AGCC) is pleased to present a new exhibition, Solace/Sublime, on view July 8th – September 9th, 2023. Curated by Molly Enholm Velazco, this group exhibition explores the elemental forces of nature to find moments of hope and solace, perhaps even reaching the sublime.
Solace/Sublime opens with a free public reception at Angels Gate Cultural Center located at 3601 S. Gaffey Street, San Pedro, on Saturday, July 8th, from 3 – 5pm.
Solace/Sublime is a group exhibition featuring the work of artists who look to the phenomenon of the natural world as a primary source of inspiration. Historically, portrayals of the natural world were often cast as attempts to conjure the aesthetics of the sublime. Accordingly, paintings of land, sea, and sky would emphasize the grandeur of nature and its epic scale and power to conjure emotions of awe, and even terror, within the viewer. In this exhibition, the works of contemporary Southern Californian artists Samantha Fields, Megan Frances, Yvette Gellis, Virginia Katz, R. Nelson Parrish, and Molly Enholm Velazco seek to explore a contrasting notion through the very elements often associated with the sublime experience. They aim to conjure a view of an endless horizon, towering mountains, or the unfettered power of raw nature to offer moments of hope and solace, as opposed to existential dread. Through exploring these elemental forces of nature, these artists embrace the dichotomies of the natural world: the minute and overwhelming, the eternal and the ephemeral, the solace and the sublime.
Gallery Conversations, AGCC’s onsite artist talk series, will feature the curator and several artists of Solace/Sublime in a live conversation and Q&A in the gallery on Saturday, August 19th, at 3pm.
“We hope our visitors can find a moment of reprieve from our current chaotic world within Solace/Sublime, and be encouraged to thoughtfully look outward–in new appreciation for our natural environment encouraging us to be better stewards of this planet.” – Cecelia Koger, Director of Exhibitions.
Molly Enholm Velazco is a Los Angeles-based artist, art historian, and curator. Since 2008, she has covered the Los Angeles art scene through various editorial projects, including a decade as managing editor at art ltd. magazine (ceased publication in 2017), and as a contributor to several publications including Fabrik, Hi-Fructose, and The Art Story. In addition to writing, Molly has taught Art History since 2012 at California State University Northridge (CSUN) and other local colleges, including Moorpark College and the Laguna College of Art + Design. In 2019, she curated the solo exhibition, Yvette Gellis: Omnipresence or Chance at the West Gallery at CSUN. More recently, she has returned to her studio practice, where she explores ideas relating to personal memory and the natural environment. Her work can be found in private collections in the United States and Canada.
Angels Gate Cultural Center, 3601 S. Gaffey St. San Pedro, CA 90731
310.519.0936 | www.angelsgateart.org
Solace/Sublime will be on view in the AGCC galleries from July 8th to September 9th, 2023, with open gallery hours on Thursdays to Saturdays from 10 am to 4 pm. More information about the exhibition and programming events can be found at angelsgateart.org.
This exhibition is supported by the Pasadena Art Alliance. Funding is also provided by the California Natural Resources Agency for the Museum Grant Program under the California Cultural and Historical Endowment. Additional support for the AGCC exhibitions program is provided by the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, The Ahmanson Foundation, Norris Foundation, the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, and the Perenchio Foundation.
About Angels Gate Cultural Center
Angels Gate Cultural Center (AGCC) emerged from a group of San Pedro artists in the 1970s who created art studios and exhibition space within the WWII-era army barracks of Angels Gate Park near the Port of Los Angeles. Today, AGCC hosts over 50 artist studios in addition to a variety of programs to engage the diverse communities of the Los Angeles Harbor region, including arts education in local schools, community classes, cultural events, and exhibitions of contemporary art.
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Press kit with images, artist biographies available for download: Dropbox link