‘New In Town’

A Group Exhibition By Blake Whitaker - Ricardo Rodriguez Cosme - Amy Dury - Dana Kohlmann - Lesley Oldaker

 

Blake Whitaker

Blake Whitaker is a Los Angeles based multidisciplinary visual artist with a primary focus on painting. Blake grew up in Seattle Washington where he received his BA in interdisciplinary visual art from The University of Washington in 2006. Blake eventually relocated to southern California where he attended Calarts and graduated in 2017 with a MFA in experimental animation. Since graduating he has had a career as a professional muralist, working on numerous projects throughout the greater Los Angeles area. As well as murals Blake has created a collection of 40 scenic backdrops for Schmidli Backdrops which have been featured in commercial projects, including music videos and advertisements.

Blake has made a shift from commercial art to a serious focus on his personal studio practice. Currently he is working on his series of landscape paintings inspired by 19th century classical art and surrealism.

 

Ricardo Rodriguez Cosme

Ricardo Rodriguez Cosme was born and raised in Valencia (Spain) where he completed his education in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage studies at the Valencia Polytechnic University followed by Accademia di Belle Arti in Naples. Rodriguez received an opportunity to then work at the first center of modern art created in Spain - Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno. Rodriguez has taken part in many exhibitions around Spain and internationally since 2017.

Ricardo quickly decided to open his first art studio in Valencia and solely focus on creating art. Ricardo said ”My first big experience was that year ( April 2017) with an exhibition I made in Milan at Italian celebrity Riccardo Pozzoli. This gave me a huge impulse to decide to open my studio and trust my work.” Over the years he has created varieties of series which come from a wide range of his interests. The most recent series is inspired by masterpieces such as Gruppo del Laocoonte or Madonass.

 

Amy Dury

Amy Dury (b. 1971 London, UK) studied BA Printmaking at Glasgow School of Art (1993–97) and an MA Fine Art at University of Brighton(2000–02). She works in oil and acrylic paint, alongside drawing and mixed media.

“My subject matter is mostly figurative, I am naturally drawn to imagery from the past, especially the 70’s and 80’s, and the work of British social documentary photographers. The activity of choosing imagery and selecting composition is key to the final outcome. Looking back into our recent past is an act of remembering and nostalgic mis-remembering, with photographs becoming the memory which constructs stories about ourselves. I am also drawn to the times gone past which seem less self conscious, more free and full ofwhat we were becoming.”

 

Dana Kolhmann

Dana is a visual artist, painting expressive botanicals with bright colors and small details being hallmarks of her style, she creates with the intention to bring joy, to heal and to connect. Dana is a first generation Filipino-American, whose perspective has been shaped by the paradox of existing in both of these worlds.

From a young age, Dana had planned to move away from her small hometown in Washington State to the big city, and in 2005 moved to New York for her undergrad education. She holds an AAS in Exhibition Design and a BFA in Packaging Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology. She lived in NYC for 13 years, working as a multi-disciplinary designer. Her work has crossed over a wide range of professions in the visual world; working with luxury brands throughout her career, from installing windows, designing store displays and product merchandising for Tiffany and Co. and Saks Fifth Avenue’s flagship stores, to packaging and graphic design for Starbucks. Dana’s broad professional background has influenced her emphasis on detailed presentation and has guided her in approaching her art as a career.

 

Lesley Oldaker

Lesley Oldaker is a British artist who grew up and has since returned to live and work near Bath, UK. Lesley initially studied and qualified as a Fellow of the Institute of Biomedical Scientists, working in hospital pathology departments around the country for many years.

Lesley’s work is all about how we see ourselves and others within society. She has developed her style to successfully express her interpretations of the complex interactions of people in our continually changing urban environments. Inspiration and ideas evolve from events seen in the media and in society in general that evoke strong emotional responses within the artist. Her perceptive observations of human behaviour, together with her own personal experiences, enhance the emotive narratives of her paintings and often communicate a common sense of displacement, a question of belonging and relevance within all our shared spaces. Her paintings aim to connect to the viewers’ personal lived experiences and encourage them to explore and question their own inner emotions and reactions, which hopefully will engage them to feel that they are part of the life within the painting.