COVILANDROS 103
During the summer of 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, the couple Benaim+Berti went on a road trip across the Southern Californian coast. During this journey of over two months, they were voyeurs of a gloomy and lonely atmosphere and found themselves surrounded by unavoidable stillness and slow motion ghostly towns. It was a drive among 7 Elevens, Motels, fast food joints, cigarettes and face masks.
They registered their days with photos of the strangeness around them, and especially of the time spent inside hotel rooms from where the “outside” world seemed more evidently cold and distant. Room 103 is a very intimate portrait of the couple while they shielded away from the complex times and were able to find a positive environment within the uncertain and unexpected times. It is a photo series conformed by ten c-print photos they selected from out of many, in which the anecdotic shared complicity and enthusiasm are protagonists.
Almost 30 years ago, a photographer crossed the line between pornography and art, between good taste and bad, and staged the celebration of a relationship in an 80’s magazine porn mag style. The series was called Made in Heaven, by Jeff Koons. The aesthetics of Room 103 in Covilandros lacks the glam kitsch of Koon’s photos yet it is also a celebration of passion against all odds. Our sophisticated contemporary audiences perhaps will appreciate this minimalistic and unadorned version of artistic obscenity and romance, and will engage in a conversation in regards to the possibilities of happiness even under the shadow of decay.
Kime Buzzelli is an artist working in Yucca Valley, CA. Her work is invested in a vocabulary of dreams, storytelling and voyeurism utilizing found photos and images. Working with blurred memories, mixing reality and abstraction. “More is more” mixed media pieces, often on printing papers to show layers of overlapping colorful fantasies. Found objects and fabric installations create spaces born out of a need to create order out of clutter, beauty out of chaos and otherworldly dreamscapes as an escape from the mundane, monochromatic cult of minimalism. Buzzelli studied painting and fashion illustration, receiving a BFA and BAE from OSU and has created art installations and paintings for gallery shows in Japan, LA, NYC, Miami & others. She has worked extensively in fashion, as a costume designer and as the owner/curator of the “art-to-wear” boutique The End (Yucca Valley, CA). Her passion for creating characters and spaces is found in her paintings and extends to her costume and retail projects. Her artwork has been featured in various magazines including Juxtapoz, Flaunt, Beautiful Decay, Swindle, Lula, Nylon, W, The Face, Paper, and Bust.
B&W self-portrait, clay, honey, ombré braids
(11"x17" Framed) SOLD
Sepia self-portrait, clay, honey, ombré braids
(11"x17 Framed) $150
Robin Hercia is a high desert transplant and multi-disciplinary designer and artist living in Joshua Tree CA. Observing and exploring geography, nature, materials and human space, she creates illustrative ethereal scenes and portraits amidst collections of colors, patterns, and materials. Working in graphic, surface and textile design, fine art provides Robin a means to traverse psychological and surrealistic realms as a storyteller and acts as a venue to explore methods of making.Of Eastern Canadian origin and after significant exploration Robin found home in this desert. The space and strangeness provide endless inspiration, motivation and healthy circadian sleep schedules with which to maintain a productive creative work life.
Raquel Bell began painting channeled meditations while she was a young artist in New York City. Since then she has performed and exhibited work internationally. Bell considers La Matadora Gallery in Joshua Tree her favorite gallery in the world and is thrilled to be included in this exhibition. More of Bell’s work can be seen at www.raquelbell.com
Danielle Kinoshita is a cheerleader for love, light, and color. This is reflected in her stained glass work through vibrant color play and energetic symbolism.As a resident of Joshua tree, she is constantly inspired by the deserts subtle changing beauty, her stained glass pieces establish a link between the landscape’s reality and that imagined by its conceiver. Moments of supreme
color and radiance, her pieces offer the viewer a moment of joy, happiness, and self reflection.