Paradox California: Two Artists, One State of Mind
at Launch LA (through March 23)
Reviewed by Genie Davis
If California is in many ways a state of mind, as well as a state in the western continental U.S., Paradox California exemplifies its mystique. The California dream depicted in this lush and burnished exhibition from photographic artist Osceola Refetoff and mixed-media artist Chelsea Dean is desiccated by desert heat, burnished gold and amber and brown by desert sun, and crested by dry blue skies as vivid as a Mojave wildflower.
Now at Launch LA, the paradox presented here is two-fold. It is the disconnect between the paradise of opportunity California purports to offer, the “California Dreamin’ on such a winter’s day” mythology; and the harsher realities of survival here, whether due to financial struggles or the terrain of the desert where so many dreamers drift. The Golden State still shines, but some of that patina is fool’s gold.
The two artists are well paired: despite their disparate mediums, they both frequently work with images culled from desert horizons and habitats. Whether depicting the ruins of civilizations conjured and spent or the glorious clarity of a desert sky, both artists’ works are filled with an inchoate longing; they are evocative, spare, harsh, and as wonderful as the desert both love.
Refetoff’s thoughtful, lush images convey both man’s intrusion on nature and a richly cinematic beauty that sweeps the viewer into the raw light of the desert. His expansive view of the western landscape includes images of misbegotten dreams and haunting vistas. Some glitter, some soften, but his eye and his photographs are always sharp and prescient.
Dean’s mixed media work often combines drawing, found objects, printmaking, photography, and collage. The layered and dimensional qualities of her work make for a physical embodiment of the images she depicts, and her fascination with the dichotomy between order and stasis. Focusing on abandoned homes in the Wonder Valley area of the Mojave desert, many of her images fit seamlessly, geographically speaking, with Refetoff’s. Often including found elements from abandoned properties, she adds delicate touches of gold, intricate and delicate patterns, and an illuminated and elevated depiction of even the most elemental of architectural sites, adding poetry and grace to even a lost desert cabin. It is often the elements of transition and transformation, of decay and a non-linear form of rebirth, that seems to fascinate Dean.
The two artists’ works compliment each other, and in one case, merge. Their mixed media titular piece, “Paradox California” combines a selected image of Refetoff’s from his Framing the Desert series with a lustrous turquoise background etching of Dean’s and a layered collage of metallic foil on top of the image from Dean as well. The gold appears to be found beneath the peeling wallpaper in the image captured in Refetoff’s photograph.
The piece is a depiction of the wide-open possibilities, dreams, losses, and overwhelming spiritual quality of desert, as well as the magnetic desire of humans to live in this strange, raw land; it depicts the golden light and search for literal and figurative gold that brings so many to California.
According to Refetoff, as fortuitous as the collaboration between these two artists is, it was not something either artist had long planned. . .
To read the rest of this review, go to Riot Material magazine: https://www.riotmaterial.com/paradox-california-two-artists-one-state-mind/
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