changes: winter collection 2008

Opening Reception, Laguna Beach ArtWalk, Thursday, December 4th from 6-9 pm
Location: JoAnneArtman Gallery, 326 N. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, Ca. 92651

Fulfilling a dream ... Laguna-based JoAnne Artman of SpaceOnSpurgeon in Santa Ana opens her new gallery on North Coast Highway. Mixing it up and bringing a Santa Ana attitude to an exciting show featuring the works of Patrick Maisano, Louis Longi, Laura Ross-Paul, David Limrite, Bill Agee, James Strombotne, Patti Didiomete, Pat Sparkuhl, Gregg Stone, Daggi Wallace & Bardene Allen.

An eclectic mix of media from photographs and pastels to watercolors, acrylics and Sculpture. All artists are award-winning, and their works have been shown and collected in museums and private collections in Southern California, around the country and internationally.

Adult myths take hold in a fantastical display of image, color, and delight from the art of Patrick Maisano. His work was featured in the film MEET THE FOCKERS. Maisano bridges religious, social, and psychological iconography, inviting the viewer to interpret, grapple, and delight in pure imagination.

Iridescent visuals amaze your eyes from master craftsman Bill Agee. Artistry and intellect collide in photographs seeped in lush and vibrant imagery.

When you step into Gregg Stone's vibrant vision of Hispanic/Latino culture, life and art come together at an emotional crossroad. Through the eyes of the figures, a calm and resilient facade belie a restless spirit; an instinct for survival. Exterior and interior views shift between foreground and background, bathed in bold colors. Engaging characters and activity in provocative interplay.

REVOLUTIONARY ... Experience the powerful sculptural art of Louis Longi unleashed! Longi captures the purity of the figurative form as it melts into soulful bronze magnificence. His works are shown in prestigious galleries and private collections around the country. His large-scale public sculptures can be viewed in Las Vegas, Laguna Beach, Los Angeles, and Ventura.

To feel Longi's passionate energy is electrifying. Meet the artist and you meet the visceral and visual intensity of someone who has created a unique method of casting bronze into one-of-a-kind, truly original works of art. No series. No editions. You will see how sketch turns into evocative sculptural form. How the metal has a mind of its own and transforms space and time.

Greg Stacy writes in OCWeekly about James Strombotne ... has had a very long, respectable career. He had his first solo show in 1956 at the Studio 44 gallery in San Francisco, and in the years since, he's piled up the accolades. His work has been showcased in 75 solo shows and 12 retrospectives and been featured in two Whitney Biennials. His art is now in the permanent collection of big-deal museums such as New York's Museum of Modern Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Jack Nicholson is a big fan, and you can't beat that.

Roberta Carasso writes ... I would like you to meet Laura Ross-Paul, a recognized watercolor and oil painter whose work is at once figurative, symbolic, and abstract. Ross-Paul's paintings are emotion-based as she searches to portray how the connection of all life forms reveals clues to our individual existence. Nature and human experience are her models in her portrayal of the spiritual expressed through the physical. In her body of work, Paul seeks to reveal how every day challenges we confront lead to daily transcendent experiences.

Recognizable imagery ... a vehicle for emotional expression ... Haunting ... Unnerving ... Solitary ... Expressive Beauty ... Androgynous ... Celebration of the Human condition and the spiritual in its nature ... Creative ... at the same time destructive ... Masculine & Powerful ... all describe the new works presented by David Limrite!

Pat Sparkuhl's mixed media assemblages mix everything and anything to integrate various compositions, often evoking unusual and often controversial artistic commentary! Sparkuhl's provocative works are skillfully crafted, reflecting relationships to issues of passion and relevance. Bardene Allen brings her fanciful works to life in vibrant color! International artists include Patrizia Didiomete, born in Italy and working in Canada. Didiomete's art moves with exuberant whimsy.

Discover German artist Daggi Wallace's realistic pastels, inspired by light and shadow; mood and atmosphere.

These artists will inspire, provoke, engage, and mesmerize. With visual perceptions always changing, peek behind the stories told and you're sure to find the right artistic expression!