Artist Finds Beauty, Symbolism in the Small Things in Life

It is the little details of life that absorb painter Nicholette Kominos: The beauty inherent in the simple form of a spoon or cup. The charm of a faucet handle that resembles a flower. The sweetness in life as represented by a muffin.

“People are more likely to overlook the simple things we do each day and how important they are,” Kominos said. “I’ve noticed the lovely quality that many everyday objects have. I make discoveries through tiny details and simple observations.”

Using sculptural concepts and materials, and the bounty of an abandoned foundry in City Terrace where her husband, sculptor Kristan Marvell, has his studio, Kominos has created about a dozen mixed-media paintings that reflect some of her recent observations and discoveries. They are on view at Newspace gallery in the show “The Language Orphans.”

“Sculpture is an important aspect to me in the evolution of these paintings,” said Kominos, who took part in two sculpture workshops in the late 1980s that heightened her awareness of forms and their relation to the space they occupy.

“The form and line of sculpture is important, but not the three-dimensionality of it. I work flat because I’m interested in the idea, not in making something an object.”

Kominos has drawn and painted images of common objects upon variously shaded white textural patterns composed from drywall compound or plaster. “I like white because it is devoid of the strong associations of colors like red or blue,” she said. “It makes it easier to focus in on the forms, and it is meditative and calming.

“These paintings are about psychological uncoverings. They’re not easily explained. You can’t make direct literary references,” she said. “They evolved through my work with a therapist, my learning to uncover layers. They are kernels of ideas; the objects give spark to make an association. They are very personal, but I hope people can make some connections.”

The series is also a result of her ruminations on aspects of femininity and sensuality. Each painting is split down the middle by a line, indicating her quest for a “balance between opposite ways of being,” she said.

While No. 3 in “The Language Orphans” series presents the sweet muffin in the middle of the work and a honeycomb patterned texture on one side, the painting calls up the not-so-sweet side of emotions as well.

“I am trying to be human--to accept my limitations, accept what is heavy,” she said. “To find a way to exist that is authentic, I found it necessary to work on delicate states of everyday life.”

In “The Language Orphans 6,” she drew a cup and cast a spoon in wax because she liked the objects’ shapes, and because “the act of eating can be a great part of life,” she said.

Two small wooden objects that she came upon in the former foundry--now her husband’s studio--serve as refined faucet handles in her depiction of a sink in “The Language Orphans 4.” “Sometimes we value things that are aggressive and stoic, yet the other side of humanness comes out in funny ways,” she said. “The foundry represents machoism and big machines, yet men there also carved by hand and made beautiful delicate things.”

In “Reliable Foundry Series 1,” Kominos has alternated pieces of a large wooden wheel (from the foundry) with foam rubber, and placed cast wax plates in the center of the work, giving it the appearance of a flower. “It is obvious what the different elements are. Coming together, they make something more than what they are independently,” she said. “I like the flower image because it is so feminine.”

PACKAGE DEAL: There is no end to the unusual ways artists find to express themselves. June T. Schnitzer has recycled things she has collected--some of them old, battered and rusted; others genteel and pretty--piecing them into a series of life-affirming “Packages.”

These 18 assemblages, all the same size, each one bound with a simple bow, line the walls of the L. A. Art Assn.’s Helen Wurdemann Gallery, much like gift wrap samples hang in a department store gift wrap section.

Unlike ephemeral gift wrap, the outer contents of Schnitzer’s packages are firmly connected to her life experiences.

“I chose to make packages because they have an aura of mystery which I like in my work. These packages are also autobiographical, a way of sharing part of my life, loves and travels. Each of the packages expresses my mood and feelings about the ‘things’ themselves,” Schnitzer said in her artist’s statement.

First in the series is “Stamped.” Covered with a colorful variety of postage stamps, it symbolizes the delight we take in receiving packages from afar, expected or not, whose contents might add some excitement to our lives.

But Schnitzer also is willing to remind us of life’s frustrations. Last in the series is “Damaged Package.”

In between, we find that ironing is obviously not Schnitzer’s favorite activity. “Burnt Offering” gathers a homey patchwork of old materials, but they have been burned with an iron. A rusted iron rest comes with the package.

Doing crossword puzzles is obviously a more agreeable pastime for her as illustrated in “Puzzle Package.” And “Hooked” indicates that fishing holds some interest as well.

“Marriage” presents a pleasant patchwork of old materials, a ring and a picture of the happy couple. In contrast, bent wires jut out of “Bundle of Nerves,” providing a frenzied counterbalance to an orderly anatomical drawing of nerve paths.

A ‘20s TOUR: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Freeman House, one of his three textile-block houses in the Hollywood area, is now open to the public for tours at 4 p.m. Saturdays.

The house was designed in 1923 and completed in 1925, for the original owners, Sam and Harriet Freeman, who lived in it until their deaths in 1981 and 1986 respectively. USC’s School of Architecture received the house as a gift in 1985, and needs to raise $1.6 million to restore it.

The Freemans bought the land on which the house was built on Glencoe Way, just above Franklin and Highland avenues, from Sam’s father for $10. There were no other houses on the street at that time; they had a clear view of the mountains to the east and the ocean to the west. A booming Hollywood Boulevard was only a few blocks away.

Unlike most tours of architectural landmarks, where rooms have been roped off and guests are asked not to touch, tour guide Frederick Alden invites everyone to sit in the living room and make themselves comfortable while he details the history of the house and its Bohemian occupants.

Although it is unmistakably a Frank Lloyd Wright house, another great Los Angeles architect has also left a significant mark on it. For some, the human drama of the Freeman House will prove more interesting than the information on Wright’s design.

The Freemans--she a dancer, he a jeweler until he made money in stocks and became a man of leisure--counted among their circles of friends architects R. M. Schindler and Richard Neutra, as well as actors, artists and writers of the day. Friends were often welcome to stay in the house for days and even months at a time.

Dissatisfied with Wright’s furniture arrangements, which were not conducive to socializing, they brought in R. M. Schindler--who had originally come here from Vienna to work for Wright--to design furniture for the house. Wright, who was already estranged from Schindler, was infuriated when he saw what Schindler had done. He never spoke to him again.