Located across the street from the Orange Metrolink station at 167 N. Atchison Street, Orange, CA, 92866 in Old Towne Orange
Closing Day Celebration and Paint/Sculpt-Out
On Location in Malibu 2021 is a triennial exhibition now in its eighth presentation since 1999.
“On Location in Malibu” triennial at Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art at Pepperdine is one of my absolute favorite exhibitions. From the very first show in 2002 I had a privilege to be part of it. Ever since this show was special for me. I loved the space, I loved the light, I loved the way Michael Zakian curated it and, above all, I loved Michael's phenomenal eye for art. For every show I would do one, sometimes two or even three new paintings. I love work on larger sizes and the space shows larger size works very well. I loved the way my works looked in that space. Twice Michael selected my works for the museum banner, few times on catalog covers and invitations. Every time I wanted to paint something special for Michael, for his unfailing eye.
Michael's passing was a huge loss for the entire representational art world. It was a huge loss for me as an artist. We lost a great expert, a great champion and a great friend. Since his so untimely and unfathomable passing I was thinking about Michael a lot and for this show I decided to paint again for his eye and in his memory.
I had an idea of what I wanted to paint and even an old study that was reflecting this idea. I started working on it only to realize that I needed to go to the location and find there what I was looking for. After few days of scouting the shoreline I found it when I climbed one of the rocks at Leo Carillo.
Here it was, just as I envisioned the glowing late afternoon sun, the rock formations, the boiling foam of the breaking surf and the gusts that were almost ripping me from my perch. My vantage point of looking down, forward and to the right gave an interesting sight pattern that emphasized movement through distance and space. What I was seeing and feeling was at the same time real, raw and ethereal.
I do not know what Michael would have said about my painting, but I painted it for him.