On Saturday (June 22) the Cella Gallery, a contemporary art space located in the North Hollywood Arts District, opens the new show, LAdies. The exhibition features work by The Stuff, a CalArts alumni art collective, with pieces by Samir “Evol” Argandiwall (Film/Video BFA 06), Jeremy Bernstein (Film/Video BFA 03), Dave Creek (Film/Video BFA 05), former faculty member Jon Gomez (Film/Video BFA 07), Seong “Nick” Jeong (Film/Video BFA 04), Morgan Kelly (Film/Video BFA 03), Jimmy Thompson (Film/Video BFA 04) and Chris Wood (Film/Video 02).
From the Cella Gallery:
The diversity of the work that has been selected for this exhibit reflects perfectly the duplicitous nature of the title itself. Curators, Evol and Thompson of the The Stuff, made the decision early on to leave the interpretation of the title LAdies ambiguous to both the artists and the viewers. This enabled the artists, and fellow founding members, to play with and explore their own ideas about The City, The Ladies and the impermanence of both. The viewer is challenged to interpret.
The Stuff is named as an homage to the late CalArts faculty member Michael E. Mitchell, who often motivated his students with the catchphrase: ‘That’s the stuff!'” The collective says that Mitchell pushed creative boundaries and was a master of recognizing and nurturing talent.
The collective grew out of relationships formed at CalArts, as the Cella Gallery continues:
Evol, Thompson and all of the founding members of The Stuff, met while attending CalArts nearly 10 years ago. [They] both graduated from the CalArts Character Animation department and immediately went to work in the entertainment industry. Evol in character design and story board art and Thompson in video production and new media creation. As time passed they began to realize how much their time at CalArts had enriched their lives, informed their professional pursuits and helped to forge their most lasting friendships. The Stuff grew gradually and naturally from the bonds and shared experiences found at CalArts.
When not curating shows, Evol is the art director for a clothing line and a graffiti artist and Thompson is the Co-Founder and Creative Director of the design outfit, Brainbow. Read an earlier 24700 Q&A with Thompson about Brainbow.
The opening reception for LAdies is Saturday from 7-11 pm with the artists in attendance. The exhibition runs through July 12.