Conceptualist Greg Colson Puts His Faith in Intuition

FACES

“I try to work pretty intuitively and not think too much when I do my works,” said artist Greg Colson, whose new conceptually based pieces constructed of wood and metal go on view Friday at Santa Monica’s Angles Gallery. “I figure that if something strikes me intuitively, without thought, then there’s probably something crucial there and there’s probably a reason for it.”

Colson’s works deal with “systems we have for organizing our lives,” such as the basic food groups, baseball stadium seating charts, city maps, sewing patterns and the like.

“I try to put things together with some sort of logic, but so it’s still somehow inappropriate or arbitrary,” said the boyish, 34-year-old artist, referring to such works as “The Food Groups,” in which various food items are painted on two adjoining mailboxes and a similarly shaped adjoining lunch box.

In addition, Colson likes to let the processes of making his work show through. Construction elements, such as bolts and wall mounts, often project obtrusively from his pieces; eraser marks are left where first sketches were later changed, and pieces of collaged paper appear at random to cover holes which were drilled for bolts but never used.

“I like allowing that trail of activity to come out; to leave a record of that process of making the art,” said Colson, whose works have been included in international group shows in Leningrad, Paris and Yugoslavia. “That way you can still see where the work’s been even though you have a facade sort of covering it.”

THE SCENE

More than 2,500 people showed up last Sunday for the opening of UCLA Wight Art Gallery’s mammoth exhibition “Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation, 1965-1985.” It took five years to organize the exhibition of 130 works by more than 90 artists, but Sunday’s eager audience still had to wait to see the show, which opened three hours late and with one of its installations still incomplete.

A few angry attendees gave up waiting for the gallery to open and left the day’s festivities--which included Aztec dancers, performances by a Chicano music group and a lengthy speech by theater director Luis Valdez. But most of the audience hung on, and the 1,800 people who went through the exhibition seemed to agree with a gallery spokeswoman’s attitude that “when you’ve been waiting for something like this for five years, what’s a couple more hours?”

Melrose Avenue’s Zero One Gallery is known for being a bit on the funky and bizarre side, and invitations that were sent out for the current show’s opening should help perpetuate that reputation.

The show is titled “Can You Spare Any Change?” and the card featured a mug shot of artist Mark Heresy with the message: “In the six years I have been existing as an artist, I have often had to go without adequate clothing, food, materials or even a place to live. It is up to you to help. Please come to the Zero One Gallery and give generously so I may continue my very important work.”

Artist Rika Ohara will present her interdisciplinary outdoor art event, “Shelter Phase IV (& 1/2): The Last Supper,” tonight at 10 on Vignes Street between 1st and 2nd streets (in front of the downtown L.A. Fringe Theatre).

The piece, commissioned by the Los Angeles Center for Photographic Studies, is inspired by the artist’s dream of awaiting nuclear destruction in a huge, greenhouse-like space. The event incorporates dance and theater performance into an artist-designed environment created through slide projections of painted and photographically manipulated images.

Works resulting from the recent “Dialogue: Prague/Los Angeles” exchange in which Czechoslovakian artists were brought to Los Angeles, go on view Monday at the Pasadena City College Art Gallery.

Included in the show are 21 monotypes made by Czech and L.A. artists during a July retreat to the Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts. After the show closes Oct. 12, the works are scheduled to travel to a number of university and community galleries across the country.

L.A. Municipal Art Gallery has begun a series of free Saturday workshops for high school students focusing on the gallery’s current “Aqui y Alla” exhibition which presents works by artists from Mexico City and L.A.-based Chicano artists.

Called “The Art Exchange,” the workshops begin at 1 p.m. each week and continue through Nov. 3. They are aimed at helping students explore through art and poetry the issues arising from the exhibit, such as cultural identity, borders, tradition and change and the urban experience. Information: (213) 485-4581.

OVERHEARD

“This is so L.A.! I love this! It’s soooo L.A.,” said a wide-eyed, hip-looking 30-ish man in a sport coat to his similarly clad companion at a recent Santa Monica opening where attendees included several entertainment industry types.

“And it’s not even L.A., it’s Santa Monica,” replied his grinning friend, raising his champagne glass in a toast.

DEBUTS

Painter-turned photographer Victor Burgin has his first one-person show in Los Angeles at Santa Monica’s Karl Bornstein Gallery through Oct. 6. In the ‘70s, Burgin was known for his theory-laden and politically-based photo texts. The Bornstein show features diptychs from 1986 to the present called “family romance . . . and other works.”

Recent UCLA MFA graduate Caryl Davis has her first solo show at La Brea’s Richard/Bennett Gallery through Oct. 13. Davis uses her work to question women’s position in society and the way many are raised to take on the position of a mere object.

HAPPENING

“Celebrating American Arts and Crafts,” a weekend symposium of lectures and exhibitions at the L.A. County Museum of Art, the Huntington Library and USC’s Gamble House, will be held Friday through next Sunday. Tickets are $75. Information: (213) 857-6528.

The Social and Public Art Resource Center will lead a tour today from noon-4 p.m. of murals in downtown and East Los Angeles by leading Mexican-American artists including Willie Herron, Paul Botello, Yreina Cervantez, George Yepes and Roberto Delgado. Cost is $15. Information: (213) 822-9560.

A van tour of several West Hollywood and Hollywood galleries including Asher/Faure, Stuart Regen, Margo Leavin, Newspace, Fahey/Klein and Jan Baum will be held on Saturday from 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Cost is $40 and paid reservations are required. Information: (213) 474-7497.

Works by several homeless artists will be exhibited at Larchmont Boulevard’s Gene Sinser Gallery on Friday along with a show of paintings by J. A. Ross. Admission for the 5:30-8 p.m. event is $15, with proceeds going to the Homeless Outreach Program. Information: (213) 464-2383.

The Orange County Center for Contemporary Art is holding its 10th Anniversary Celebration Auction next Sunday from 5-9 p.m. The works to be auctioned will be on view at the Center Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m.-4 p.m.