urban-scape

Christopher Martin Hoff, Formwork 13 , 2007, oil & blur graphite on canvas

Richard Amend, Palace Detail #4 , 2008,oil on canvas

Painters Richard Amend and Christopher Martin Hoff share a gift for telling a story by capturing the narrative essence of a place. Each building, landscape and interior emanate an artistic frequency that feeds the viewer with fact and fiction. Amend's dramatic palette roars to life with equal attention to structure and light while negative space, structural harmony and external constructs, such as street signs and roadways, powerfully complement the realization of Hoff's urban tales.

Please join us for the opening reception of these exceptional solo shows on Saturday, October 18, 2008 , 6 – 10 pm .

Lawrence Asher Gallery is located at 5820 Wilshire Boulevard , Los Angeles , across the street from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and adjacent to the Craft and Folk Art Museum . Free parking is available on Wilshire Blvd. and behind 5858 Wilshire Boulevard . Enter on Stanley Ave. For more information, please call 323.935.9100

Richard Amend's recent paintings and drawings have evolved concurrently with his work as a production designer in the film industry. Accepted on scholarship to the California Institute of the Arts Graduate Program as a conceptual artist in 1971, Richard promptly changed course to concentrate on painting. Expressionistic pattern painting based loosely on mathematical grid systems was Richard's focus during the seventies. In the eighties, his career in film led to extensive travel and location scouting. In the process of photographing sites for various projects, he found a new opportunity for painting.

Designing sets required visualization and rendering which, in turn, rekindled his original joy in drawing. Site location photos became the raw material for sketches of pastel drawings. Places as diverse as the baroque movie palaces of downtown Los Angeles and the austere Salt Flats of Utah led to an enriched and varied subject matter, filtered by personal experience. But urban and country remain realities in his life. Crossings and points of passage are somewhat thematic; windows, doorways, road crossings, openings in the forest are recurrent elements. There is stillness, the capturing of a singular moment, and a particular quality of light that challenge Richard in his process. Using the camera permits him to use a cool eye when choosing the image. The camera also makes decisions.

These are not nostalgic landscapes. They are architectural and luminous at the same time. Though painters like Winslow Homer and Maynard Dixon inspire him, there is no attempt to mimic a style. His swift and skillful use of materials delivers images captured at the moment, before or after action. There is no hero. These are intensely observed yet detached views of moments in psychological time.

Christopher Martin Hoff - Thinking about the word “Structure” triggers an endless list of associations, from the enormous projects we construct to the molecular arrangements from which we are built. As an urban “plein-air” landscape painter, I have explored how everyday structures influence us. The roads we travel, the buildings we occupy and the signs we read all serve as both background and performer. Hidden within a cracked section of pavement, a rust-stained dumpster or colorful graffiti are stories. By peeling back some of the extraneous layers of this urban fabric, my series of paintings invite the viewer to become a creative collaborator in assembling these stories. – CMH