Los Angeles curator Lisa Derrick is pleased to announce the grand opening of her new art gallery LISA DERRICK FINE ARTS, a commercial art gallery on historic Chung King Road in Los Angeles’ Chinatown. The venture will focus on California contemporary art outside of the mainstream, emphasizing Derrick’s flair and success for finding talent in subcultures overlooked by standard and traditional barometers.
The gallery, located under the iconic Black Dragon Wu-Shu Kung Fu sign at 961 Chung King Road, will open its doors to the public on Saturday night January 26 at 7 PM with two solo shows by Los Angeles area Chinese American contemporary artists, Gary Wong and Ginger Lai.
“ALLEGORY AND CYPHER” features retrospective and prospective works by Los Angeles artist Gary Wong. The work represents Wong’s transition from images of seeming biographical and political import to an intrinsic aesthetic quality of the actual materials themselves —ink, paper, paint, canvas — so that the energy of the image informs the viewer, rather than the image itself telling a story.
Mixed Media Painting by Gary Wong will be featured in ALLEGORY AND CYPHER Opening January 26 at Lisa Derrick Fine Arts
About Gary Wong: Greatly influenced by his 21st Street upbringing, as well as studying with Matsumi Kanemitsu and Emerson Woelffer at the storied Chouinard School of Art, Wong is most lately notorious as one of the original California Locos, an art collective founded by Dave Tourje, whose shared conviction is that being raised in this sprawling metropolis fundamentally and distinctively informs and guides their art.
Wong’s work has been included in exhibitions at the Chouinard Foundation Gallery, Eastern Projects, Royal-T, Art at the Rendon, and Oceanside Museum of Art.
“NEW ENERGY” is a survey of recent paintings by Ginger Lai. With a foundation in classic Asian Sumi painting, Lai has created a synergy grounded in the compositional approaches of Western Abstract Expressionism. Her bravura on canvas creates a dramatic reassessment of the role spontaneity plays in recording the presence of energy in an artist’s process.
About Ginger Lai: Born in Taiwan and now residing in Los Angeles, Ginger Lai rose to prominence in the Chinese American community when her liberated brushwork and broad color pallette delivered an accessible take on abstraction. Her first solo museum show at the Inland Empire Museum of Art will open in the Spring of 2019.
Oil Painting by Ginger Lai will be featured in NEW ENERGY Opening January 26 at Lisa Derrick Fine Arts
Look also for a casual group exhibition of artists the gallery will be featuring in coming months, among them Ron Athey, Anthony Ausgang, Katherine Brannock, Gogol, Randi Matushevitz, and Melinda R. Smith. The gallery’s regular business hours will be Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 1-6 PM and by appointment.
About Lisa Derrick: Lisa Derrick began her curatorial career in 2014 at Coagula Curatorial with “Two Johns and a Whore,” which included John Fleck, John Roecker, Anthony Ausgang, and Leafar Seyer. She has since curated or co-curated over a dozen shows, including “Dark Progressivism: The Built Environment” at the Museum of Art & History (MOAH) in Lancaster. Her most recent curation, “CoutureMash” at Mash Gallery in the DTLA Arts District, was the first fine art show featured on the cover of California Apparel News. She co-produced the award- winning documentary, Dark Progressivism, and is a journalist whose work has appeared in the LA Weekly, the Huffington Post, and other national magazines.
About the art galleries of Chung King Road: 2019 marks the twentieth anniversary of Chinatown’s historic Chung King Road being home to international contemporary art galleries.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Lisa Derrick Fine Arts • 961 Chung King Road • Los Angeles CA 90012 lisaderrickfinearts@gmail. com • www. lisaderrick. com • (424) 835-2793
