Cynthia Luján

In Situ , 2020

60" x 48"
$2400

I’ve spent the last 8 years with an obsession for public spaces and street signage. For the piece “In Situ” I wanted to paint three workers against the patterned bright striped chevron to emphasize the lack of visibility at representing and respecting individual day labor workers at the forefront of immense as well as rudimentary transit and engineering projects. At CSULB I was skillfully trained by amazing South Bay painters in both figurative and abstract painting. At times, I’ve found it exploitative to depict the human form but in this project I identified my intent to represent day labor workers felt empowering and uplifting and its not often you see them represented in this light in paintings or art history. The words at the bottom read “It’s also very important because it’s a community altar” and over that another layer of words says “(foreign language)”. The closed captioning at the bottom originally does not relate to the imagery in the painting, but I decided to overlay it to speak to the times were language can often be a social barrier to connecting with someone, and how the social conditioning of rejecting diversity promotes layers of fragmentation and disconnection. It’s morally challenging for me to choose to repurpose the image of a day labor worker, because their bodies are often more than not already exploited. However, the visibility of them in action, is vital and needs to be recorded and represented in an archived object for history and public viewing.

Jason Keam

Changes , 2020

36"x48"x1"
$2000

The world is changing and so are we. We are constantly on the go, but we have no idea where we are going or what we are becoming. But the only thing we are sure of is we are going to enjoy ourselves on the way.

Jorge Mujica

Despondent in time of Corona , 2020

$2500

Inspired by Gabriel Garcia Marquez´s book “Love in the time of Cholera” Mujica looks at the status quo of our pandemic by mimicking the daily anxiety of the unknown. Each side of the freestanding painting is treated with color schemes evoking day and night while the background is eternally referencing the rise and fall of the sun. In this light the installation seeks to inform the viewer that fear of the unknown is an ever present challenge rivaled by the perpetuity of the sun throughout our lifetimes. The challenge of the misunderstood is universal, and the symptom of existence, purposes, self, are daily challenges without definitive conclusions a reference which the freestanding painting seeks to encourage through abstract cultural references.

Marianna Jamadi

Melting Pot , 2020

Printed on archival photo paper with a satin finish
28" x 35"
$750

Mer Young

Coming to Light , 2020

Acrylic on canvas
24" x 36"
$1200

“COMING TO LIGHT” is a 24×36 acrylic painting that was inspired by the 2020 pandemic event. It is the based on human resilience and perceive the beauty that our natural world brings. The concept is circled around the previous fast pace world we once lived into one that has been slowed down with an opportunity to realize nature at its best. The figure is looking up into the heavens and is surrounded by poppies, which symbolize peace and sage which symbolize protection and healing. There is beam of light extending from the mind into the infinite possibilities that cast are into space. A golden sun is haloed and is representation of light and life.

Nat Iosbaker

Oil , 2020

Aerosol, enamel, gold leaf, oil on wood panel
24" x 36"
$1500

This work speaks to the themes of emergence and repetition like tides on the sand. Its build up of material and messages become a representation of perseverance over time. The enamel is painted in a multiple day process of undercoats and top coats before any decoration can even be done. The lettering and, in turn, traditional sign painting bar practice is then layered above a menu that hung in a local shop. A still life of kitchen and household objects sits in the bottom corner serving as a reference to stay-at-home orders during the pandemic. l hope for “OIL” to be an engaging and fertile diary entry through an uneasy time.

Ms. Yellow

Becoming , 2020

Acrylic on Canvas
24" x 18"
$800

The emergence of self in a natural state. Intertwining with the elements of the Earth to create a new reality in the face of isolation.

Olga Lah

Lucent Shifts , 2020

Reflective Plastic
Variable
$6500

Lucent Shifts is an art installation made from discarded material. Sheets of reflective plastic are attached together to create a glistening presence, its surface constantly transforming to mirror its active and moving surroundings. The work’s free form is ambiguous and places significance on an intuitive encounter of the work.

The piece is about a progression of emerging transcendence that interrupts ordinary space. The installation aims to alter the context of its site in order to invite a chance moment of reflection. It creates a sense of thaumazein, or wonder, a Greek philosophical term that engages with how the experience with astonishment points to greater truths about the everyday. The encounter with this work intends to explore how an experience can bring about an unfolding of perspectives.

Steve Martinez

Rebirth , 2020

Acrylic on canvas
18" x 24"
$1500

An aging lotus blossom is silhouetted by the full moon. Within this circle of light, a grasshopper alights on a seed pod. All three subjects—moon, flower, and grasshopper—are caught in a moment of alignment. And yet, there is something not quite right. The glitch, or cross-sectional disruption in the lotus blossom, conveys the unprecedented cultural disruption of COVID-19—as it visually shifts aspects of life that previously felt so solid. Yet, this reordering is but a brief irregularity. This disturbance will only last a moment. Nature will persist, and overcome. After all, the lotus is a symbol of rebirth, and the inclusion of linear geometric forms around it—the diagonal strike of pink, a hovering rectangle of yellow, followed by a square of green—make visible something so often invisible: by hinting at the underlying mathematical patterns of the natural world as the key force in its persistence.

Tidawhitney Lek

Lights Off , 2020

Acrylic and Oil on canvas
72" x 48"

I wanted to capture the beauty of home and romanticized about the sunset that falls in the family’s backyard and house. Rose bushes are buttressed against a doorway and silhouette of palm trees are in the distance. It invites the viewer to tread from an interior living space to the open landscape beyond when incandescent lights aren’t wanted. With times like these, home has been a place and space for one to reflect on.