Gallery Exhibit Emphasizes the Spiritual

Scott Canty was sounding evasive. He’s the art curator for the municipal satellite galleries, and so it’s long been his job to organize and talk up the sort of group exhibitions of known and emerging artists common at the Artspace Gallery in Woodland Hills. But for “Of the Spirit,” opening Monday, Canty preferred to remain vague.

“We’re kind of keeping it low-key to just get people curious,” he said.

The exhibit is a collection of work by celebrated muralist Kent Twitchell, painters Dan Callas and Michael Schrauzer and sculptor Roger Feldman that follows a theme of spiritualism, or something that Canty describes as “art that transcends into the realm of angels and truth.”

It’s not religious art, Canty quickly cautioned, but rather a somehow deeper expression of these local artists’ core feelings about spirituality. As an example, he pointed to Feldman’s stark, minimal sculptures of metal and wood, which reflect on the forces of gravity in connection with the spiritual world. Three new large sculptures were created by Feldman especially for the show.

“Of the Spirit,” Canty said, avoids work that is overtly religious or only vaguely spiritual, and focuses instead on pieces that express an artist’s own individual beliefs. The resulting presentation, he said, is one of the gallery’s better shows.

All four of the exhibit artists teach or have taught art at Biola University, a Christian institution in La Mirada, where Twitchell recently unveiled a 30-foot-high mural of Christ. A 10-foot-long, full-color study of the new mural will be included in “Of the Spirit,” as well as a Twitchell self-portrait. Both works reflect the sharp realism he’s employed since 1970, when he abandoned abstract Expressionism.

Although Twitchell, 48, said he sees himself more as a street artist than one known for gallery shows, he was intrigued by the Artspace exhibition, in part for the quality of the other works shown, and also for the opportunity to express the sort of spiritual beliefs that are not commonly seen or heard on the contemporary art scene.

“Mostly, artists have tended to go the hip route, a more bashing-type humor,” Twitchell said earlier this week. “I’m talking about modernism. It’s a departure from the foundation of Western art, which goes back to Michelangelo.

“The four artists in this show are on another track from modernism,” he continued. “We don’t believe the universe was created by accident. It was created by God. That is our world view and that takes precedence in our art.”

“Of the Spirit” is also an example of Canty’s use of the municipal galleries to showcase emerging artists among their better-known brethren. Twitchell’s work has been displayed at galleries throughout Los Angeles, while his giant murals painted on buildings, freeway walls and other structures have given his art an extremely high profile. And Feldman was the subject of several one-man exhibitions in his original home of Seattle, with some of his individual works becoming part of a decade’s worth of group exhibitions along the West Coast. By contrast, both Callas and Schrauzer are still in the early stages of their public art careers.

It is Canty’s hope that by combining the art of established artists with newer talents in the same gallery, the public will be exposed to and accept the efforts of emerging artists. “It’s kind of a support system that I’m trying to create for the artists.”

On Oct. 27, all four of the “Of the Spirit” artists will participate in a “Conversations with the Artists” program beginning at 1:30 p.m. in the gallery. And the Artspace will break with some tradition at the show’s opening reception from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday by bringing in a gospel group to perform as an accompaniment to the spiritual artwork.

“I wanted something different from the usual string quartet,” Canty said. “I think the show has a lot of energy. It’s very exciting to me, and what other music could you put in a spiritual show?”

“Of the Spirit,” a group show of spiritual art by Kent Twitchell, Michael Schrauzer, Roger Feldman and Dan Callas, runs Monday through Dec. 1 at the Artspace Gallery, 21800 Oxnard St., Woodland Hills. Hours are noon to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. For more information, call (818) 716-2786 or (213) 237-1373.