The Human Element

Artworks by Laura Hipke, Farzad Kohan and Lois Ramirez

Opening Reception: Saturday, December 1st

Photos available in the photo archive.

Laura Hipke (Glendale, CA) is a self-taught artist whose preferred medium is oil on stretched linen. Her work, always figural, starts with an old photograph—often a portrait—that she studies and sketches. Her paintings seek to expose the human story hidden in the photograph. To do so she uses color and an expressiveness reminiscent of the German Expressionist painters of the early 20th century. In her own words, she “explores the concept of an invisible thread” connecting the subject’s current circumstances to the past or future. In some works, the subject faces a decision whose ramifications have yet to play out, in others the decay of the subject is clear and the viewer is invited to contemplate the causal events that resulted in current circumstances. Hipke has most recently exhibited at the University Art Museum at California State University, Long Beach, and the Pharmaka Gallery in Los Angeles. To learn more about Laura Hipke’s work visit www.laurahipke.com	Laura Hipke White Orchid 20” x 18”, oil on linen
Farzad Kohan (Glendale, CA) is an active member of the Iranian-American community in Los Angeles. Kohan’s experience of living and working on several contintents informs his work in which he strives to explore the common ground shared by human beings everywhere. His delicate, featureless figures, braided from a mixture of clay, wood chips, and string laid over a wire frame, clearly represent our human core, free of gender, race, and culture. Each figure, whether displayed in a group or confined to act out a small drama in a black painted box, expresses fundamental aspects of human nature, including the desire for both kinship and individuality. In this exhibition, Kohan will also debut the River of Life installation piece, comprised of hundreds of paper boats made expressly for the exhibition by contributors from around the world. Kohan has most recently shown his work at Seyhoun Gallery, West Hollywood, Phantom Galleries, Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery. To learn more about Farzad Kohan’s work visit www.farzadkohan.com	Farzad Kohan Puppeteers 10-12”, mixed media
Lois Ramirez (Burbank, CA), an active board member of the Los Angeles-based Collage Artists of America, has been creating her layered and textured collages and exhibiting them since the mid-1990s. Using discarded or found objects, including old photographs, letters, and maps, Ramirez creates fictional narratives that speak compellingly of another time and place. These delicate creations are miniature tales and the viewer reads the intricate imagery the same way they might read words on a page. Ramirez creates art with spontaneity and according to instinct. When she feels a work is complete she gives it a name. For Ramirez, “this name is like a cane that the viewer can lean on to linger and share the essence of the work.” She has exhibited widely in Southern California and her work has been reviewed in numerous publications, including Artscene and the Los Angeles Times. To learn more about Lois Ramirez's work visit www.loisramirez.	Lois Ramirez Number 34 10” x 10”, mixed media

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