Artists see the world in a different way: To them, up may be down and left may be right. It is from this perpetually altered perspective that ¡Dyslexia! was born.
Opening Saturday, November 7 at 7 p.m., the works of four Downtown artists — Terrell Moore, J.W. Pippen, Emmeric James Konrad and Dan Evans — will hang and glow from the walls of Imperial Gallery, 683 S. Santa Fe Avenue, at the Imperial Art Studios. Curated by Faye Konrad, the show runs through Saturday, November 21. RSVP on Facebook!
Situated in the gentrifying Arts District, an increasingly ironic name as the artists, themselves, are becoming priced out of their homes, ¡Dyslexia! gives the public a chance to spy the kind of talent that long predates the area’s $12 smoothies and $7 lattes.
“Supporting this show, and buying the art, helps to keep art alive in Downtown,” said Evans, a journalist who tapped into his love for making neon art in 2014, after taking veteran artist Lili Lakich’s class on Traction Avenue.
Konrad, a painter who started drawing at age 3 and hasn’t stopped in the decades that followed, believes a show like ¡Dyslexia! underscores the diversity of Los Angeles’ culture, as well as the ever expanding pool of artistic talent living in and moving to Downtown. In fact, he sees parallels to New York and Paris.
“There’s something going on here. There’s a rawness, a fun craziness that’s happening in Downtown that New York [no longer] can duplicate,” he said, noting the Central City “tastes like home but feels like something from the Old Country.”
Saturday’s event runs from 7-10 p.m. and is free and open to the public. The opening features electronic music by Grammy Governor Robin Nixon. Gallery hours are Thursday through Saturday, 1-4 p.m. or by appointment (for access, please call property manager Julio Hechavarria, Jr. at (310) 435-1051).
ARTIST BIOS
Terrell Moore is depth in layers. Viscosity, autobiography, a void embellished: pathos and necessity reverberate in the dialogue between the willing, the reluctant and row artist.
J.W. Pippen’s contemporary paintings and sculptures draw influence from roots set deep in Japanese motif, tradition and allegory. Kinetic and decisive strokes analogous to Kanji convey the dichotomy between chaos and precision in nature.
Emmeric James Konrad prods the fissures of our collective morals and desires. Cracks in the armor are not only revealed, but presented to us as skin.
Dan Evans works with gas and electricity to illuminate aspects of the past that are at once jarring and soothing, helping to light where we are heading.
–written and submitted by contributor Donna Huffaker Evans, DTLA journalist, writer, urban explorer, and Arts District resident. Follow @DonnaDowntown on Twitter.