AROUND THE GALLERIES
By Holly Myers
Special to The Times
August 18, 2006

Differing views on the L.A. landscape

Laura Ricci and Jennifer Celio, both showing at Bandini Art, approach the same general subject — the L.A. landscape — from distinctly different angles.

Ricci, who was born in the Midwest and professes in her statement to have "an admittedly uneasy relationship with habitation in Los Angeles," is the skeptic. Motivated by "the general political climate, looming prospects of cataclysmic earthquakes" and her intuition that nature is getting angry, she envisions in her paintings a sort of revenge: trees crushing freeways, binding up automobiles and stretching their limbs across vast empty spaces. Loose and whimsical, the works — acrylic, ink and pencil on paper — have a storybook charm.

Celio, born in Burbank, is considerably more sympathetic, viewing the city's roads and freeways not as spaces of absence but as windows into her own history. Her beautifully articulated graphite drawings, executed on large gesso-covered boards, present snapshot glimpses of roadside landscapes floating in fields of white. The scenes are banal at a glance but rendered with such affection and care that they come to feel almost hallowed.

About Ashley McLean Emenegger:
Ashley McLean Emenegger has juried and curated scores of fine art and video exhibitions throughout Los Angeles. Her exhibitions have been reviewed in the Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, the LA Business Journal, and Artweek. She also serves as curator and art advisor to numerous nonprofit groups and charity events. As the former Executive Director of Gallery 825/LAAA, a nonprofit supporting emerging Southern Californian artists, she presented hundreds of critically recognized exhibitions and programs. She founded McLean Fine Art in September 2004.

Contact:
Ashley McLean Emenegger, McLean Fine Art
626.798.3136
ashley@mcleanfineart.com