Inspiration in Fragments: Geyer’s Quake-and-Brake Sculpture

FACES

“I’m intrigued with the process of random occurrence,” says George Geyer, who often uses his seemingly favorite phrase in the titles of his works, such as “Architectural Fragment of Random Occurrence.” Fifteen of his new pieces, including architecturally and geologically inspired works composed of broken glass and granite, are on view through Nov. 4 at Costa Mesa’s Works Gallery South.

“Your brain can only go so far,” says the artist, who randomly breaks his materials with a hammer before gluing them back together into finished pieces. “If you can remain calm enough to go with that process of random occurrence, to go with whatever happens, then maybe you can come up with something innovative, more interesting and . . . more human.”

Geyer, 55, a trained ceramist who is also currently featured in USC’s “Forbidden Entry” exhibition with his “Floating Corridor of Forbidden Entry” installation, says the ideas for his new works came about as a result of the earthquake that rocked Southern California in October, 1987.

“I lost three pieces in that earthquake,” says Geyer, who was showing at the time in the Works Gallery’s Long Beach space. “They crashed and were destroyed, and I was devastated, but I thought, rather than just putting them in the dumpster, why not just use this and put them back together all broken? So I did, and they were more beautiful and interesting than when they weren’t broken. . . . And they sold immediately.”

Geyer says he likes not having any control over how the fragmented works come out, but noted that he throws away probably 70% of the glass he works with.

Not all of Geyer’s works are broken, however. Some, such as “Double Jeopardy,” which has two thin, ceiling-high panes of fan-blown moving and bendable glass, only appear as if they are about to break.

“I like danger and risk,” says Geyer, who also uses art-historical references in his work. One such piece is “Floating Red Square on Fragment,” in which a streaked red clay image is painted onto broken glass. Geyer did the work, he says, as a nod to three of his favorite artists: Marcel Duchamp, Josef Albers and Kazimir Malevich.

THE SCENE

The swelling local gallery scene gets an important addition on Wednesday when Benedicte Saxe Gallery opens at 434 N. Bedford Drive in Beverly Hills with “A Tribute to 45 Years of Maeght Graphics.”

The gallery is the first U.S. venture for art collector and dealer Adrien Maeght, president of France’s celebrated Maeght Foundation.Parisian Benedicte Saxe will run the gallery and represent the publishing house in California.

Maeght underscored L.A.’s coup in attracting the gallery, saying, “Los Angeles was chosen rather than New York because we are more geographically isolated from the West Coast. More importantly, the timing was right . . . as Los Angeles is quickly developing into a major international art center.”

The inaugural show will include limited edition art books illustrated by Georges Braque and Alexander Calder, and the premiere U.S. showing of two rare ceramic plates by Braque that were commissioned in 1960.

After that show closes Dec. 1, the gallery will present a changing exhibition schedule featuring contemporary and modern artists from the Galeries Maeght in Paris. The first in the series, “Joan Miro, Engraver,” will run Dec. 5 through Jan. 12.

Another addition to the local scene is Lace Fine Arts at 657 N. La Cienega Blvd.

Formerly the Ankrum Gallery, the space has undergone several months of construction and opened last week with an introductory show of a 10-year body of work by British landscape painter Richard Beck.

Future shows planned for the gallery include works by Ankrum’s New York-based artist Bob Kane, and new paintings and watercolors by Morris Broderson.

Santa Monica Boulevard’s Space Gallery has expanded into a temporary 13,000-square-foot, two-floor space adjoining the gallery for a special show, “Some Recent Sculpture,” which opens Saturday and runs to Nov. 24.

The extensive exhibition, curated by Josine Ianco-Starrels, features 40 large-scale works by 16 sculptors from five states.

OVERHEARD

“It’s huge! “ exclaimed an elderly woman in black-and-white chiffon, commenting on the L.A. County Museum of Art’s 175-piece “The Fauve Landscape,” during its recent black-tie opening. “I thought the Annenberg show (featuring 54 Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings, watercolors and drawings) was supposed to be THE big show. But this puts that one to shame! “

DEBUTS

A number of artists have their debut shows in Los Angeles-area galleries this week.

Among them is the first major gallery show for acclaimed photo-assemblage artists Doug and Mike Starn, whose new large-scale works go on view at Santa Monica’s Fred Hoffman Gallery Friday. The show runs through Nov. 17 and is presented concurrently with their first full-scale museum survey at the Contemporary Arts Center of Cincinnati.

Other artists showing here for the first time include L.A.-based abstract painters Jennifer Breeze and Bob Swan, whose two-person show at downtown’s American Gallery runs today through Nov. 4.; Santa Fe-based painter and sculptor Zara Kriegstein, whose works are at Santa Monica’s B-1 Gallery through Nov. 5; and French conceptual artist Marie Bourget, whose works combining photography, sculpture, painting and architecture are on view through Nov. 10 at Asher/Faure Gallery on Almont Drive.

Others include the first solo exhibition for Texas-born painter David Hines, whose “Nightscapes” are on view in Santa Monica at Koplin Gallery through Nov. 10; the first U.S. gallery showing for Spanish abstract reductivist painter Prudencio Irazabal, also at Koplin through Nov. 10; the first commercial gallery exhibition for Lake Elsinore-based artist Craig Deines (in a show with Bruce Rod) at Santa Monica’s John Thomas Gallery Friday through Nov. 17; and the introduction of Bay Area clay sculptor Mary Parisi at Beverly Boulevard’s Daniel Saxon Gallery through Nov. 3.

Still others debuting artists include Los Angeles’ Michael Bernbaum who is in a group show with Raymond Pettibon, Nick Gadbois and Rafael Serrano at Venice’s Marquardt Gallery through Nov. 14; and New York-based sculptors Rosemarie Castoro and Livio Saganic, who are in a three-person show (with Joe Fay) at La Brea Avenue’s Jan Baum Gallery, through Nov. 10.

HAPPENING

UCLA Extension is offering a two-session course centered on the Wight Art Gallery’s mammoth exhibition “Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation, 1965-1985.”

An introductory lecture and guided exhibition tour will be held today from 3:30-6:30 p.m., and visits to the studios of several of the artists featured in the show will be held next Sunday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

The fee is $155. Information: (213) 206-8503.

Dealer, curator and artist Candace Lee returns to her former gallery for the first session of her six-class series exploring aspects of contemporary art in Los Angeles, on Saturday from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Daniel Saxon Gallery on Beverly Boulevard.

Additional sessions will be held at locations including artists’ studios, art foundations and the L.A. art fair, on Oct. 27, Nov. 3, Nov. 10, Dec. 1 and Dec. 8.

The fee is $125; advance registration is required. Information: (213) 250-3099.

The Southern California Women’s Caucus for Art is holding a two-day conference at UCLA on Saturday and next Sunday examining the effect of cultural diversity and feminism on art.

Speakers scheduled for “Finding a Common Ground” include anthropologist Sondra Hale; art historians Joan Hugo and Emily Hicks; and artists Judy Baca, Daniel J. Martinez, Ann Page, Alan Sekula and Eva Cockcroft. The conference fee is $60; $45 for one day only. Information: (213) 838-2711.