Curious Compendium is a collection of “books” created by the the Bite Art Collective.

Opening reception August 4, 3-6pm
Closing reception August 25, 3-6pm
on view by appointment

Shoebox Projects
660 South Avenue 21 #3
Los Angeles Ca 90031
https://shoeboxprojects.com/

https://www.biteartcollective.com/

Beginning with the idea of a book, each artist created a ‘base’ – expressing her idea of what a book might be. Some started with a more traditional notion of a book while others devised more conceptual suggestions. Whether traditional or non-traditional, you certainly can’t judge a book by its cover with this collection. Though some may have started with a conventional approach, that was simply a point of departure. Among this compendium are a cookbook with a recipe for disaster, a children’s book with its pages torn out and replaced with phases of the moon, a bible that is sealed shut with embroidery thread, and a pop up book with a gateway to a garden. Among the less traditional books, we have slabs of steel, planks of wood, canvases, an animal spine, an installation including a typewriter, and a collection of photographs expressing patterns and shadows. Moving from artist to artist the original base developed its own aesthetic character through its cumulative materiality and conceptual development, the artwork’s developing a sometimes contemplative attitude, sometimes humorous, sometimes polemical, sometimes sweet – sometimes savage.

The Bite Art Collective is a collaborative composed of a shifting group of artists who work in an “exquisite corpse” or round robin method. Beginning with a theme, each artist creates a “base” and the piece then moves from artist to artist, developing its own aesthetic character over time. Each finished piece contains artwork that is the culmination of a series of creative steps taken by the artists in the group over the course of several years. The collective includes a wide range of disciplines (fiber, glass, collage, painting, photography and sculpture) all of which is incorporated into each project. An exhibition is the final step and allows the work to be viewed both individually and as a group.

BITE is a collaborative group composed of numerous artists. Members from this project include: Young An, Stephanie Bartron, Janet Girard, Beatrice Gonzales, Susan Joseph, Stacy Kiel, Jonna Lee, Ann

Mitchell, Linda Parnell, Danielle Pangborn, Robin Parsons, Regina Rioux, Suzanne Rioux and Laurel Rhoads.

Catalog

Young An: Patterns and Shadows

Stephanie Barton: The story of the hand delivered mysterious photograph and the unfriended friend.

Janet Girarc: Recipes for Odd Occasions

Beatrice Gonzales: Canvasing

Susan Joseph: Sing Down the Moon

Stacy Kiel: Skeletal Remains

Jonna Lee: Pop-Up Theory

Ann Mitchell: Vintage Album Journey

Linda Parnell: Slabs of steel – thoughts so weighty they are inscribed in steel.

Danielle Pangborn: Puzzled

Robin Parsons: Gift Boxes

Regina Rioux: Street Gang Scrapbook

Suzanne Rioux: Interconnected Spaces (Jewelry Box)

Laurel Rhoads: Planked and Wooden

Group at large: Redacted Bible

Khang Bao Nguyen
Artist-in-Residence

July 8 to July 28
Reception July 28, 3-6pm

Shoebox Projects
660 South Avenue 21 #3
LA Ca 90031
https://shoeboxprojects.com/

http://www.intuitiveformation.com

Trans-Spatiotemporal Manifestation of Being

This series of paintings investigate the nature of trans-spatiotemporal manifestation of being in each moment, which includes but is not limited to the perception of linear time. The nonduality of being-time is actualized not just in terms of continuity but more fundamentally in terms of discontinuity. The perception of phenomenal existence does not simply occur in and as an uninterrupted succession of ‘nows’. There is space between what appears to be a seamless stream of time in which each present moment proceeds from a previous moment and flows to the next. In Eihei Dogen’s view, each phenomenal expression is actualized in and as a discontinuous continuity of moments in the absolute now. The arising of a moment in the absolute now is discontinuous in the sense that is not dependent on the past or future and comes into being from the trans-spatiotemporal field of primordial awareness (buddha-nature).

Dogen says, “Firewood becomes ash, and it does not become firewood again. Yet, do not suppose that firewood is before and ash after. You should understand that firewood abides in the dharma-position of firewood which fully includes past and future and is independent of past and future. Ash abides in the dharma-position of ash which fully includes future and past and is independent of past and future.”

From this trans-spatiotemporal perspective, each phenomenal expression (dharma-position) is a moment actualized by the field of primordial awareness in the absolute now, and as such is independent of the past and future. That is, the arising of moments in the absolute now are discontinuous and discrete. And from a relative perspective, phenomena exist in and as a continuity of past, present, and future moments. The continuous and dependent relationship between moments of being-time is not denied by Dogen. His view includes but is not restricted to a conception of time based on the idea the spatiotemporal continuity. His intention is to point to a more basic relationship between phenomenal existence and primordial awareness (buddha-nature) that is overlooked in ordinary perception. For Dogen, the unity or nonduality of the trans-spatiotemporality of primordial awareness and spatiotemporal causation actualize being-time as a discontinuous continuity of moments in the absolute now.

Furthermore, Dogen sees that the absolute now is distinct from the relative present moment. Each phenomenal expression is already complete in the absolute now, containing entire time. Dogen writes,

“Birth is an expression complete this moment. Death is an expression complete this moment. They are like winter and spring. You do not call winter the beginning of spring, nor summer the end of spring.”

The relative present moment is constituted in terms of its relation to the past and future, whereas a moment in the absolute now is a trans-spatiotemporal arising from the unmanifest realm of the field of primordial awareness. The relative present moment is understood as a continuous progression toward an end in the future, whereas a moment in the absolute now is a discontinuous arising, already consummate in the immediacy of the present. Existence in and as the relative present moment strives for consummation in the future. Phenomenal expression in and as a moment of the absolute now is already complete all at once.

Bio:

I am a visual artist and PhD student in Eastern and Western philosophies at Claremont Graduate University. To be more specific, I study the nondual tradition in the East, as well as the dialectical tradition and postmodern philosophy in the West. I want to bridge these distinct traditions by showing their commonality, but at the same time respect their irreducible differences. The philosophical and spiritual insights attained from my investigation are integrated into visual art.

Before Language is an installation and performative narrative telling the story of adapting to a new environment and thought faced with the limitations of language and appropriation.

On view in person or via live stream 12-6pm Tuesday through Sunday.
Closing reception Sunday July 7th 3PM – 6PM

Shoebox Projects
660 South Avenue 21 #3
LA Ca 90031
https://shoeboxprojects.com/

Amanda Maciel Antunes will be in residency at Shoebox Projects (shoeboxprojects.com) to perform and install this durational work during a time frame of three weeks June 17th – July 7th. The work will be broadcast live on social media platforms throughout my residency.

Link to follow live stream:
https://www.pscp.tv/damadesign/follow

All are welcome to visit the gallery during this residency, open to public hours are 12-6pm Tuesday thru Sunday while performance and installation unfolds. You may or may not be asked to participate. Tasks will be offered to those online watching and those who come see it in person.

About Before Language:
This work takes into consideration the system of language and behavior, combined with interpretation and intervention, and reconstitutes the room the artist occupies. It’s a continuation of a previous project titled Autopsychography where the artist translated the poem Autopsicografia by Fernando Pessoa in five different languages, and it was re-translated back to its original, Portuguese. This new iteration of the work adds twenty-four new language translations of a poem, along with a period of substantial study of the continuity of anthropological investigation of the man before language and communication. The artist uses her perception of the definition of language as myth, and the facts of the mind that manifest itself into matter.

The installation includes but not limited to: video, sound, movement, assemblage, drawing and sculpture.

About Shoebox Projects:
Shoebox Projects is an alternative art space located at the Brewery Artist Community near DTLA.

You can find more about the work and upcoming projects in the current Art & Cake Profile by Genie Davis: https://artandcakela.com/2019/05/16/artist-profile-amanda-maciel-antunes/

Andrea Bersaglieri
Artist-in-residence

May 27 to June 16
Reception June 16, 3-6pm

Shoebox Projects
660 South Avenue 21 #3
LA Ca 90031

https://shoeboxprojects.com/
https://www.abersaglieri.com/

te(r)ra desideratum

We have a predetermined aesthetic preference for nature. It is an evolutionary remnant. It helped preserve our species. As a resident of the heart of the Los Angeles suburbs, the context in which I experience nature seems to amplify its importance. The mundane frameworks within which nature manages to exists here concentrates its beauty and power; I can’t take my eyes off of it.

I’m using the term “nature” loosely here. The trees, the shrubs and grasses, were nearly all planted here by someone in an attempt to simulate the ideal savannah. We know that, but their presence still stirs our ingrained unshakable appreciation of the aesthetic. They have become our “substitute nature”.

This formal, conceptual, emotional relationship between urbanites and nature is fraught with contradictions. These contradictions are the source for my work. The visual contrast, obviously, but also conceptual entanglements: It is in our nature to find plants beautiful but our evolution is literally squeezing them out of our environment and won’t this evolution eventually make them obsolete? Will nature’s tenaciousness prevail? Which plants will thrive around us as the environment struggles? Will the plants that we now consider weeds become our new cultivars? How does the dirt beneath us feed into and contain these dichotomies?

I look to my immediate surroundings in urban/suburban Los Angeles as the source for my investigation. Going from tree to plant to weed to soil looking for, looking at, trying to understand. I use traditional observational drawing methods in an effort to record this evolution and understand it.

BIO
Andrea Bersaglieri was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay area and came to Southern California to attend California State University, Long Beach where she earned an MFA in Drawing and Painting in 1991. She has lived, worked and studied in Florence, Rome, and Philadelphia. Andrea teaches Drawing and Painting at Cerritos College and California State University, Long Beach. Her most recent work deals with our earnest, often misguided attempt to encourage, yet control nature in suburban Los Angeles. Her work has been exhibited locally, nationally and internationally.

Kayla Cloonan
“Peripheral Nerve”

Artist in Residence

Shoebox Projects
660 South Avenue 21 #3
LA Ca 90031

https://shoeboxprojects.com/
https://kaylalcloonan.com/

Memory. Loss. Trauma. Pain. Love. Anger. Thrill. Anxiety. Obsession. Seeking Connectivity. Constructing Consciousness. I am a compilation of knowledge, experiences and beliefs being constantly broken up and rearranged throughout life’s unexpected turns. Everything that is now is what is past accumulated. A visual exploration of moments from my life, manifested through a visceral \ exploration of surface and material. The work explores the rhythm of my body moving in space, flailing in frustration, searching for meaning in past memories; information fragmented and compiled from the past to inform the present and fantasize of the future. The sensation of being in my body, of being aware of my breathing, of feeling the weight of existence on my chest. The beautiful chaos of it all: analyzed, deconstructed, reconsidered. A fascination with human inconsistencies and peripheral remnants of materials, marks and stains carrying bits of unspoken stories. Material has meaning. Bedsheets carry an element of intimacy. Shower curtains a moment of privacy, vulnerability. Wood a structural integrity. Fabric an ephemerality. There is a history on the surface. An impression; an interaction of space, with both the potential and limitation of the body. I am a specimen up for consideration. “Insecurity is the illusion that this is only happening to you.”

BIO
Kayla Cloonan was born in South Florida, bouncing between the urban city-center of Miami and the suburban small town of Port Charlotte. Frequent moving around – changing schools and meeting new people – shaped her curious mind. Always eager to learn from a young age, Kayla studied orchestral music, discovered narrative writing, developed an eye for photography and an obsession with psychology and philosophy.

Continuing on to higher education, Kayla’s original intention was to pursue photography. Having focused on B&W film photography in her high school years, Kayla started at Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia with a major in photography. After a couple quarters in the program, she realized the inherent commercial focus of the major. Longing to create more expressive and tactile works, Kayla left school. She spent the summer in New Hampshire with extended family, interning at The Currier Museum of Art. This was a turning point as Kayla realized her calling in fine art. She returned to school in the fall with a major in painting, having little experience with either drawing or painting; simply with the knowledge that the major allowed for experimentation and conceptual development.

She received her B.F.A. in Painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2013. Combining years of curiosity and varying perspectives from writing to photography, Kayla has developed further into interdisciplinary studio work. Her paintings, drawings, collages, performances and installations come together in an experimentation of materials, surfaces, colors and open-ended narratives. Kayla’s work seeks to challenge the viewers perspective, offering raw personal experiences in the public space. Previous representation at EN EM Art Space in Sacramento. Kayla lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.

Cat Chiu Phillips
“Hung Up”

Opening May 25, 3-6pm
Second Reception May June 16, 3-6pm
On view by appointment only

In The Closet in Shoebox Projects
660 South Avenue 21 #3
LA Ca 90031

https://shoeboxprojects.com/
http://www.catchiuphillips.com/

“Hung Up” is an installation art project that is created entirely from discarded and outdated telephone parts. Rotary phones, landline, payphones, answering machines, and other outmoded devices for telecommunication have been casted off and found in scrap piles, second hand stores or even the landfill. “Hung Up” is a project that transforms these obsolete materials into a playful and imaginative work but offers a perspective of its foreseeable hopeless existence. This upcycled project juxtaposes the handmade to the machine-made and junk into an aesthetic entity. It initiates a dialogue regarding abundance, electronic waste, and frivolity of advanced technology.

Cat Chiu Phillips creates installation work in public spaces often using traditional handicraft methods while encouraging collaborations within the community. By using various found materials, discarded items became an interest because of its contextual value. Inevitably this has inspired her to create installation and public art projects using various recycled products. Her public art commissions include the San Diego International Airport, Nashville International Airport, Riverside Art Museum, Westfield Horton Plaza and UTC in San Diego, City of Pasadena, City of Vista, City of Solana Beach, Las Vegas Arts and Culture Commission, Amelia Island (FL) Travel Commission, and Atlanta Beltline Project. Phillips has received awards from the California Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. She has been an educator in the public schools for over 17 years.