September 28th - October 20th, 2024
Monte Vista Projects is pleased to present Ode to an Honest Mirror, a two-person show that delves into profound themes of transformation and awakening through the compelling works of Sebastian Loo and Zoe Alameda.
Sebastian’s artwork invites viewers into a journey of inner awakening. His delicate rice paper creations exude a tangible sense of decay and ephemerality, where each mark and layer encourages introspection. His pieces explore deep themes of loss, rebirth, and the desire to reconnect with one’s inner child. The fragile medium and thoughtful composition highlight the transient nature of these personal reflections, urging viewers to ponder their own experiences and transformations.
In stark contrast, Zoe’s art captures an external kind of awakening, reflecting the relentless pace of the digital landscape. Her work is characterized by high-frequency, brain rot imagery that mirrors the overwhelming flow of digital information whilst also employing visual senses of ephemerality. Employing a stark, monochromatic palette, Zoe’s pieces evoke the transient nature of cultural moments and human experiences in the modern era. Her work, set against the ever-changing backdrop of Los Angeles, emphasizes the fleeting and often overwhelming nature of our current digital lives.
Together, Sebastian and Zoe’s artworks create a compelling dialogue between internal and external worlds. Their distinct approaches meld seamlessly, offering a narrative that challenges traditional boundaries and beautifully merges the physical with the digital - internal with the physical. The exhibition is a testament to the tension between vibrancy and decay, permanence and impermanence.
Through their interwoven narratives, Sebastian and Zoe encourage viewers to embark on a journey of self-discovery, seeing themselves through their works, the collective resonance of both motifs highlighting an interconnectedness. Their art invites us to explore the delicate balance between our inner and outer realities, urging a deeper understanding and reflection on how these elements shape our experiences. This exhibition stands as a statement on the nature of transformation and the continuous interplay between our internal thoughts and the external world.
Zoe Alameda (b. 2000) is a multidisciplinary artist sitting and scrolling in Los Angeles. Through a combination of painting, collage, and sculpture, Alameda’s work embodies desires for connection and presentness in navigating our digitally saturated world. Her work lends interest in the overwhelming nature of internet-sourced imagery and the urban decay of Los Angeles. Alameda seeks to create material portraits of her anxieties, leaning on texture but also flatness to express the complexity of being truly open and vulnerable.
Sebastian Loo (b. 1996) is an LA-based painter working with ink and colors on rice paper. His technique engages in pointillism, paper cut-out and collage approaches to join personal symbols with aesthetics from science, mythology, and spirituality. For him, pointillism is a vehicle of transport to the eternal space of interconnectedness: where all things such as matter, icon, and system are unbound by category and suspended within a field of unconditional relationship. Within this space of joining isolated subjects, he attempts to recover the suffocated humanist wisdom buried deep beneath dogmatic truths, canonized icons, and cemented institutions.
2024 Open Call - Material Manipulations
September 20th, 2024
MATERIAL MANIPULATIONS
Monte Vista Projects presents our fourth annual open call exhibition, Material Manipulations. This exhibition features the work of eleven California-based artists working in a variety of media. The nature of an open call precludes a single overarching theme, and is the result of chance, the unexpected, and the discovery of surprising links. The constellation of works selected for this exhibition push the boundaries of materiality to invite viewers to see the familiar with fresh eyes. Material Manipulations highlights how everyday objects can be reimagined into compelling forms that challenge notions of labor, history, ancestral mythologies, technology, and the body. The works in Material Manipulations demand viewers’ curiosity with a gravitas that is sure to be carried by viewers beyond the gallery walls.
As a collective, Monte Vista Projects is committed to providing an artist-run venue that is not beholden to any market forces in order to show work we support and believe in. We have much appreciation for the many applicants to the open call, all of whom we hope will continue to be part of our growing network.
Participating Artists
Taylor Caliz
Debbie Carlson
Franco Castilla
Kevin Clancy
Paloma Dooley
April Ford
Juan Gomez
Christine Hudson
Hung Viet Nguyen
Liam O'Connor
Katie Shapiro
Image Christine Hudson, I Prefer Your Love, 2023