UNLOCKING WONDERLAND
AN EXHIBIT CURATED BY TRACY BLACK
​
C A L I F O R N I A C E N T E R F O R T H E A R T S
​
Highlight Reel:
Museum marquette
Museum
Tracy Black
Museum marquette
Artists, in alphabetical order, included:
Preston Adell - Murrieta, CA
Red Queen, 2009
oil on wood
Originally Born in Sacramento California Preston Adell is a self-taught artist currently based out of Murrieta. Working mainly in oils Preston enjoys painting images that describe deep emotions in man, and other social issues that matter to him.
Michelle Agin - Philadelphia, PA
The Hatter, 2012
oil on canvas
Michelle Agin’s work is rooted in the tradition of realism. A huge fan of the Masters; she prefers to work in oil. The absence of color makes her work unique while still capturing the moment through light and shadow. Inspired by high fashion; this piece took 12 months to create; layer upon layer yet very minimal brush strokes are visible. The large oversized hat made this slightly odd composition a fitting addition to the ‘Unlocking Wonderland’ show.
“If all I do is help to bring back the true ‘craft’ that is painting, I’ll be happy.” Michelle Agin
Ron Brillantes - Carlsbad, CA
Washed Away in Wonderland, 2016
acrylic on canvas
Ron Brillantes is a San Diego-based IT “geek” who enjoys exercising his right-brain to balance his life by also being a self-taught artist. His love of technology fuels his passion for art as he strives to balance the technical & creative aspects of painting. His works are inspired by raw emotion, nature’s beauty, science & technology, and the works of abstract expressionism greats such as Jackson Pollack, Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell, and Hans Hoffman.
“My goal is to produce creative artwork that heightens imagination of the individual or community but also makes a difference to both. It's one of the reasons I work at Rady Children's Hospital and also why I volunteer my time to bring arts to elementary school kids with www.thefoxcollaborative.com. I likewise donate a portion of each sale to charity so it's a privilege to participate in 'Unlocking Wonderland" and support the Global Medical Relief Fund (GMRF) mission of helping children in need."
Alvaro Buendia - Irvine, CA
Alice, 2016
Caterpillar, 2016
digital painting print
Alvaro Buendia is a digital artist currently working at Blizzard entertainment, where he has been working at since 2007, he worked as a character artist up until 2013 and currently works as a 3d concept artist/sculptor in the creative development department, during this time he’s worked on the cinematics for titles such as world of Warcraft, Starcraft2, Diablo3 and Overwatch. Before Blizzard, he briefly worked at The Orphanage in San Francisco as a 3d artist, and before that he graduated from Vancouver film school. He also recently had the chance to work on 3d concepts for the Warcraft feature film coming up this summer.
Dee Chavez - Los Angeles, CA
No Time for a Cup of Alice, 2016
acrylic on wood
Denise 'Dee' Chavez draws upon inspiration from a mixture of craft and pop culture, nature and urban life. Applying acrylics to wood or canvas, her work has a very colorful palette that evokes a feeling of curiosity and playfulness that has introduced a cavalcade of creatures. As the creator of the Facebook famed - HAMCAT, the environments, scenarios and characters she creates, draw upon her own experiences and interactions with the outside world.
She attended California Institute of the Arts and graduated with a BFA in Character Animation. She has worked for various Animation Studios such as Dreamworks, Nickelodeon, South Park and Titmouse, designing and painting characters and background environments for reputable TV animated shows. Her paintings have been displayed throughout several international gallery shows (Japan, France and Thailand) but the bulk of her work is displayed throughout various galleries in both Northern and Southern California.
She currently is a Background Designer at Dreamworks TV Animation on a show called HOME: Adventures of Tip and Oh.
She paints and lives in Los Angeles with her husband Tom.
Sean Dietrich - Anacortes, WA
The Mad Hatter’s Absinthe Party, 2016
acrylic and ink on canvas
I paint live in front of over 2 million people per year at various festivals, nightclubs, charity events and gallery openings--that is the essence of my art. I'm not running naked through the desert like the Burning Man set, but I'm also not the artist that feels the need to create a 75 word title for their art because the painting itself didn't reflect the artist's confidence in relaying the message. It's created for the intelligent and energetic, the questioning and for those who leave little burden for others to carry. I help to carry the flame of Gonzo art, as well as make sure that the generations that fought in the Great Wars aren't forgotten, and that those still alive and haunted by what they had to do have an ally on the home front. My art is not there to make sure the couch and the drapes look good together, it's there to stimulate conversation, and to solidify the art buying experience into something that makes the buyer proud and not confused, or stuck following trends. We would all love to have that amazing piece of art that really reflects who we are and what we can accomplish, and that's where I come in. Art is a luxury in the realm of what is necessary for survival, but it's a necessity in order for civilization to thrive, and I believe the artists ability to hold themselves accountable for what they produce, especially in an environment where money is being spent on it, should be as important as the ability to manipulate paint or pencil. My artwork reflects the energy of the times, as well as the residual of past worlds and lives. I believe in the edict of respecting your elders, learning from your past, pushing the limits of what you create, and continuing to work in the space other artists fear to tread.
Ivonne Escoto - Los Angeles, CA
Cheshire Cat, 2016
sculpture
Ivonne has been working in the special effects industry full time for over a decade. She's worked on big projects such as Spider-man 2, TRON Legacy, and was a contestant in the Jim Henson Creature Shop Challenge. Also, she had the amazing opportunity to become a builder/fabricator in several projects involving suits, puppets and props.
Nicole Filiatrault - Los Angeles, CA
Down the Rabbit Hole, 2016
mixed media
The work of Los Angeles based artist Nicole Filiatrault falls somewhere between introspection and irreverence. A staple of her work has been depicting animals as gentlefolk from bygone eras. It is easy to get the impression that the subjects of her work are about to say some scathing bon mot as the best devotee to the great Oscar Wilde. To this end it was only natural that the iconic White Rabbit from Alice and Wonderland would join her ever growing menagerie. By incorporating elements from the Lewis Carroll's stories into the portrait of the rabbit it helps give a sense of the frenetic world he inhabits and that Alice fell into. Nicole also considers the framing of the piece to be an essential part of the overall composition. In this case an antique distressed gilded frame add to the impression of a gilded age on the edge of ruin.
Stephen Fishwick - San Diego, CA
Wicked Heart
acrylic on canvas
Stephen’s first accolades were earned in High School from his amazing ability to communicate raw emotions and life on canvas. With the persistence of his high school art teacher, he enrolled at the Art Institute of Pittsburg. Less than a year later, he started working as a professional artist, drawing portraits, caricatures and illustrations.
Stephen began expanding his artistic education by studying traditional drawing and painting under Jeff Watts at the Watts Atelier of the Arts in Southern California. Influenced by a wide range of renowned painters, from Norman Rockwell to Salvador Dali, John Singer Sargent to J.C. Leyendecker, Stephen has created a style all his own. “Every day I fall in love with drawing the human face and form,” he says. “My sketchbooks are filled with drawings of life, from people to animals.”
In a career that has spanned over two decades, Stephen has earned widespread acclaim, but what makes him most proud are his philanthropic endeavors that have raised over $1 million for different charities. He’s also produced artwork for corporate America, with professional clients that include The National Football League, Microsoft, Apple, Coca-Cola, Volkswagen, Honda, Anheuser-Busch, Disney, Busch Gardens Florida, San Diego Padres and National Geographic.
David Van Gough - Julian, CA
Whatever happened to Alice?, 2016
oil on canvas
Inherently more narrative than the artists usual work, this piece of dark whimsy portraying Alice, inevitably incarcerated in an Asylum, for her colorful fancies, contains an even darker subtext. It's one which through archetypes and symbols, references the Occult undercurrents of Lewis Carroll's opus, his own Neoplatonist leanings, and the stories corruption as a manifesto for the practice of mind-control within alleged Monarch programming for MK Ultra.
A self-proclaimed "Necrorealist", David Van Gough is an artist, using allegory chronicling a heightened sense of mortality, and the madness of the minds subterranean fathoms.
Raised in Liverpool England, in a terraced house overlooking a cemetery, his early years were colored by a tableau of EC Horror comics, 70’s occultism and Catholic guilt.
An Honoree Artist of 2010 at the San Diego Art Institute, his work has been hosted in a succession of solo and featured showcases on both sides of the Atlantic, including major exhibits at the Oceanside Museum of Art, Stephen Romano gallery, Bash Contemporary and Hyaena gallery, as well as being represented by the prestigious London based gallery, Macabre.
More recently, his exhibit 'Man/son and the haunting of the American Madonna', has been featured as part of the critically acclaimed documentary Serial Killer Culture by John Borowski, now streaming on Netflix.
Currently he works and exhibits from Studio V at La Bodega gallery in Chicano park, San Diego.
Peter Han - San Diego, CA
White Rabbit, 2016
ink
I graduated as an Illustration student from the Art Center College of Design at the end of 2004, and I have been working professionally for the last 10 years in the entertainment industry. I have worked for such studios as Technicolor, Bottle Rocket Studios, Trion Worlds, Sony San Diego, Nexus Productions, and several more. I have been able to use my skills of sketching and problem solving in many other fields in the creative industry. Currently I freelance for entertainment projects, showing artwork for galleries, and have taken up more of a passion in teaching the foundations of sketching and design.
April Hernandez - Carlsbad, CA
Untime Time Management, 2016
Queen Steam, 2016
Psychedelic Purrs, 2016
ceramic, glass, wood
April Hernandez was born and raised in Southern California. “My discovery of ceramics cane while in I was in college”. In 2006, she moved across the country to Kansas City, where she earned her BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute. She went on to complete a year of post- baccalaureate studies, and serve as an artist in residence, at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.
Ms. Hernandez uses a variety of layering-mark making techniques, to create patterns and imagery seen on her work. Furthermore, all designs are originally created for the specific form. Although, formally trained as a potter, her works are a combination thrown, altered and hand built ceramics pieces.
Currently, April is an Instructional Associate for a local college, and a showing artist. Ms. Hernandez owns and operates a ceramic business called “Handled”, where she teaches private lesson, takes on commissions and holds ceramic workshops. The shop is located in Carlsbad, CA.
Eddie Holly - San Diego, CA
Alice, 2016
digital painting print
Born and raised in San Diego, California where I grew up with a passion for the Arts and Entertainment. It's both a Hobby and Career that consumes most of my time but I feel very blessed to be working as a Professional Artist doing what I love. I have over 10 years of experience in Apparel/licensing as a Graphic Designer/illustrator and have done work in both the Animation and Video Gaming Industries.
Erika San Luis Holly - San Diego, CA
Queen of Hearts Ballgown, 2016
fresh flowers and mixed media
Erika Holly created a Queen of Hearts inspired dress made of fresh flowers that are pleasing to the senses with its rich colors and enticing scents. A vintage style floral ballgown composed of the Queen's favorite flowers, Red Roses, with creamy white Carnations and Phalaenopsis Orchids. Over 1500 blooms were delicately attached to a costume ensemble of a corset, ballgown petticoat and taffeta draping. Erika's floral fashion creations are very unique and also wearable- it's a real garden in a dress.
Queen’s Armor Dress, 2016
mixed media
Erika Holly took a literal approach in designing her Queen of Hearts dress by using playing cards shaped like spearheads and shields. In contrast to her signature fresh floral fashion, Erika has created a strong and sharp-edged art piece that represents the Queen's savage and domineering traits. This dress is the Queen's most stylish and clever mode of defense, wearing her entire card army in her dress!
_edited_edited.jpg)
Dan Mac Isaac - San Diego, CA
We Are All Mad Here, 2016
ink and gauche
Dan Mac Isaac’s venture into madness has brought a muchness to his work. Using flowing, sweeping lines, he has sought to create a sense of wondrous life, vitality, and elegance. With Vivid gouache colors he has envisioned a feeling of carefree sincerity in the madness that is Wonderland. He has played with scale and perspective he has insinuated a feeling of mesmerizing disorientation. He draws wonderment form such exquisite artists as James Jean, and Simone Bianchi. Some relax, and enjoy this mad mad world that exists in so many fantabulous ways.
Daniel Jaimes - San Diego, CA
Hatter, 2016, acrylic on canvas
Queen of Hearts, 2016, acrylic on canvas
Down the Rabbit Hole, 2016, acrylic on canvas
Daniel Jaimes was born and raised in San Diego, CA. The second youngest of 10 children, he often used his art to escape the adversities of the real world by creating an imaginary one of his own. Daniel got his start by drawing spaceships, battle scenes, and characters from a little known movie called 'Star Wars' at the age of 10 and continued through high school, and into his early twenties as a hobby but didn’t take his talent seriously until the passing of his father in 2006. Daniel wanted to give his grieving mother something special which began as a self-portrait and ended up as a life collage of fond memories. From that point forward, he re-learned and re-trained his drawing and cartooning skills as it vastly improved with the help of better tools, materials, hundreds of hours of non-stop practice. He then experimented with a pixilating or pointillist technique using small dots of color to create patterns that form a larger image. His style continues to evolve and he can be seen creating live art in coffee shops, wineries, galleries, hotels, concert halls, charity events, and San Diego Comic Con.
Dean MacAdam - San Diego, CA
Mac Wonderland, 2016
canvas giclee
Dean MacAdam is an illustrator based in San Diego, California and has been professionally illustrating for 25 years. During the course of his career, while living in the US and Sweden, he's worked with some renowned advertising agencies, magazines, publishers and toy companies. Some notable assignments have included creating exclusive branding and character designs for Purina, Hasbro and Burger King. From 2003-2007, he was a monthly-featured contributing artist for Disney publications and more recently, Dean collaborated with a Seattle based firm (Game Collage), and a New York Times technology editor, in which they created an interactive educational app experience that gained critical acclaim worldwide and the prestigious 2012 Apple Design award among others.
Client's include:
Purina, Burger King, Wendy's, Taco Bell, Chili's, Kraft, Little Debbie, Smuckers, Quaker Oats, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Mattel, Fisher-Price, Hasbro, Disney, Toys R Us, Nickelodeon, Scholastic, WWE, National Geographic, Time Magazine for Kids, Ravensburger, Sports Illustrated for Kids, Village Voice.
Armando Medrano - San Diego, CA
Reflected Images, 2016, coffee and ink on board
Trumped, coffee and ink on board
Armando A. Medrano is the offspring of a Wonderland Encounter between a Wolf and Screaming Banshee Queen. His pictures depict the Reflection of Ones inner being as it looks upon all of life's temptations and actions either taken or regretfully denied....Either way oneself is bound to plummet down a "Rabbit Hole" at some point and time... "What's life, without a Curious Pulse?" These "Mandofied Wonderland Creations" were inspired by the original renderings found in Lewis Carroll's pic novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland/ Through the Looking Glass. And remember: "How Long is Forever? Sometimes Just One Second!"
Rod Mojica - San Diego, CA
Alice, 2016
oil on canvas
"Playa Picasso, Padrino de Amor" BA in fine art and worked in the video game, comic book, animation, t-shirt design industries. Not feeling that Art Directors have any creativity, Playa branched off on his own. After his trip to Brasil, it inspired him to focus and paint the backside of beautiful Latina women. Rod only paints for his own pleasures, but occasionally will participate in local art exhibits created by The Muse.
Adam Kyron Murillo - San Diego, CA
Helping Hands that Hinder, 2016
mixed media sculpture, recycled and found materials
Born and raised in San Diego California, Adam Kyron Murillo began creating works of art from any materials he could get his hands on at an early age. Completely self-taught, he has dedicated his life to constantly learning and trying different techniques in traditional drawing, painting, and sculpting.
His style leans more toward realism, drawing inspiration from nature and old world masters which fascinated him growing up. A lover of special effects and the intense work involved in making movies, his passion for recreating things he saw on the big screen at home quickly became an obsession. Soon he was creating all kinds of costumes, props, and even sets at home, all while studying learning and enjoying the craft.
Adam owns and runs Kyronart, a San Diego Based business focused mainly on his artwork where he takes all kinds of commissioned work, big and small. Working behind the scenes to bring to life works that can be seen all over, that include Disney, Nickelodeon, Paramount, and Universal. His sculptural and mural works can be seen all over San Diego, including the O.B. Noodlehouse 1 and 2 in Ocean Beach made famous by the Guy Fieri "Diners Drive-ins & Dives".
Neville Page - Los Angeles, CA
Black Rabbit, 2016
3D print
As with many young boys in the late 70s, “Star Wars” had such a profound impact that it inspired Neville to pursue the field of entertainment. He wanted to be in sci-fi movies and at the time he did not even know that design existed. At 17, Neville packed up the car and drove cross-country to Hollywood to pursue the infamous dream.
After completing two years of acting school, waiting tables, performing stand-up comedy, and a few bit parts in soap operas, he realized his true calling was design. He graduated with honors from Art Center College of Design in 1990 and immediately started a design consultancy with his roommate, who would eventually become his best friend and studio partner, Scott Robertson.
Together he and Scott developed a wide range of products from durable medical goods to action figures. Eventually, they found themselves teaching at the Art Center campus in Switzerland until its unfortunate closure in 1996. Upon returning to Los Angeles, Neville resumed teaching at Art Center and took on the position as Assistant Chair of Product Design. Additionally, he teaches at the Otis College of Art and Design and also at The Gnomon School of Visual Effects.
Page’s growing portfolio includes the feature films “Minority Report,” “Planet of the Apes”, “X-Men 2 & 3”, “The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe”, “Avatar”, “Cloverfield”, “The Watchmen”, “The Hulk”, “Star Trek”, “Tron“, “Star Trek Into Darkness.”
Mark Richmond - Miami, FL
Johnny & Tim, 2016
Giclee on wood
Born in 1969 in Pasadena, CA, Mark Richmond’s unique style combines the use of ink, acrylic and spray paint, on either wood or traditional large canvases. He describes his work as a “modernistic approach to ancient Japanese style”, although the subject matter in the paintings take on a more worldly thematic sequence.
Upon graduating with a Fine Arts degree from SDSU in 1992, Richmond has created his own successful clothing line held in stores like Hot Topic, Macy’s, and the Navy Exchange. He also worked developing characters and game design in the video game industry. Today he has his own art studio in Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands, with his wife and two sons.
Richmond’s well known piece was commissioned by the San Diego International Airport, a 25ft Koi and Egret piece located in Terminal One / United Airlines check-in center.
Currently, Richmond is working on various tropical themed paintings in his trademark style, showing in Hawaii, San Diego, Scottsdale, and Miami.
Grisha Smirnov - Moscow, Russia
Rabbynthe, 2012
If a Rabbit Like Me Went Down a Hole, 2016
Oil on Canvas, and Digital painting print
​
Greg Smirnov (Girish) was born in 1977 in New Delhi, India, finished high school in New York and would graduate from Kutztown University (PA, USA) majoring in Communication Graphics Design and Illustration in 1999. He lives and works in Moscow, Russia. After participating in international juried art competition and exhibition 'Alienation Art' in 2007, Greg takes active part in art projects and exhibitions in Russia and abroad. One of such endeavors was the Tvak Residency-Studio Cooperation that resulted in a solo art show at the Sheth C. N. Vidyavihar of Fine Arts in Ambawadi, Ahmedabad (India) and evolved into an ongoing international project involving all genres of creativity.
Greg is a member of the International Art Fund at the Moscow Association of a Artists since 2003, a group of artists called, 'ReceptART' (www.receptart.ru/smirnov) and a member of the Society for Cultural and Business Cooperation with India in Russia (russia-india.com). A “Wonderland” statement? We love statements, don't we? I am on my own art quest... searching for themes, means and reasons to create something or to refrain from doing so - all for a better cause hopefully!
Michael Striler - Carlsbad, CA
Garden Party, 2016
Drink Me, 2016
acrylic and ink
Michael Striler (AKA Bokasmo) is a resident artist at The New Village Arts Foundry in Carlsbad. He studied Fine Art & Painting at SDSU and then started a career in Graphic Design and Media Production.
His acrylic works are outlined and inked lending to his unique lowbrow and comical styling. He believes life is a dream we don’t awake from and he and his cat go through fits of imagination daily.
Bokasmo has a great excuse for creating art. Once, as a child, he grabbed frayed wires that caused a large amount of electrical current to flow through his body: he was likely dead for a moment. An out-of-body experience might be something life changing for an adult - what about a child?
A causality, an explanation for his unquenchable thirst to approximate or equalize the god-eye perspective he obtained. It seems, to him, to depict the abstract, the things behind the figurative, the complex behind the simple, becomes a dance. His experience returning from the dead alive - the huge vision: the structures, lights, calmness and sense of infinite space lends itself to his affiliation with stars, sun, planet, colors, frequencies, patterns. With all this, his urge to find himself back in the world, and/or back out, delivers path companions, sun-gods, ancient symbols and architecture, aliens. His new found grounding: the love for landscapes, plants, animals, people.
Unintended side effect: he was there and shows you. Windows on his journeys of memory, mind and soul. Canvas embedded meditative and psychedelic experiences. Great stuff. The stuff of gods.
Drink Me! Reality is a linguistic construct, imbibe in the elixir of possibilities. Let the spell be cast.
Garden Party! Sip some tea with this buzzing bee and believe in life where chains are freed and nature grows from healthy seed.
Steven Van - Menifee, CA
Vorpal Alice, 2016
acrylic and epoxy resin on wood
The fine lines between the reverie and the tangible, a rooted fascination with the visual luxuries of ancient Suessian and a commanding hunger to explore the native charm within the disciplines of the real and unreal cultures are all at work for Southern California based artist Steven Van. His meticulous craftsmanship and articulation in executing hallucinatory perspective and line contribute to the timeless quality of his visual discourse. Sometimes occupying in surreal surroundings, sometimes poised in a soundless lagoon of negative space, his compositions dictate a distinctive presence wakening the royal breeze of a new Renaissance-era. These finely-drawn works communicate a sacred, time-honored juncture. Devoted to authentic, creative intuition and infusing a native, urban taste into his work, Van's work is grounded in a diverse range of foundations from Renaissance pen and ink, Surrealism landscapes married with contemporary graffiti and platinum age comic books.
Steven Van was born in Fallbrook CA in 1986, and is entirely self-taught. For the last ten years, Van's work has been exhibited at commercial, private collections, galleries and museums in California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. Van lives and works in Southern California.
Arnaud de Vallois - Berlin, Germany
Without Alice
digital print
Arnaud de Vallois was born in 1983 in Miami, Florida and currently lives and works in Berlin, Germany. He draws most of his inspiration from life experiences, and holds a personal interest in the darker side of life. “I’m not obsessed or anything,” he says, “it’s just more fun to work with.” Arnaud does most of his work digitally, but also has a love for traditional media; his paintings usually begin as graphite and charcoal sketches. When not creating art, Arnaud spends his time playing music and admiring other artists’ work.
Danelle Vierkant - Los Angeles, CA
Alice in Chains, 2016
mixed media
Danelle is the daughter of a seamstress/artist and a carpenter. She grew up around many projects, with access to abundant materials to foster her creativity. Her interest in animals, art and creatures of the natural and imaginary world sprang from a childhood exploring the outdoors of Central Minnesota, and many hours watching movies. These interests led to her first paid work as a wildlife artist at the age of 16. After high school, she went on to study fine arts, as well as receive an advertising degree. During this time through St. Cloud State University she met her mentor TyRuben Ellingson. He inspired her to set her sights on California. She trained in multiple artistic disciplines both in Minnesota and California. Through her work experience, she has gained and understanding of the production process from storyboard to completed shot. Her past projects, with their unique challenges, have given her hands-on knowledge of animal species and their behavior. Artistic influences include Phill Tippett, Ray Harryhausen, Brian Froud, and William Stout. As a designer and builder, she enjoys creating believable life-like creatures that are ready to move and that can function anatomically as a character in whatever role they’re needed, providing essential realism. www.WRELM.com
Sam Wallace (Sammy Mayhem) San Diego, CA
Hat Hair, 2016
A once in a while artist, with a once in a while style and a professional blueberry. I grew up in San Diego, fascinated with art from a young age. (It feels weird writing these things, right? Am I the only one?). I went from comic art to more traditional art, then left the trade for a long while as I was growing up. Getting back into it more and more I feel that much more joy from art. (Did you look at the painting? I bet you looked at it.) Shout out to Bill Murray. I hope you all enjoy the piece and enjoy the show!
