Crossing Cultural Borders

With the current duet of exhibitions at the CSUN Art Dome, an underlying theme is cross-Atlantic cross-talk. “A Matter of Life and Death” is an L.A.-meets-London printmaking group show, jointly organized by the renowned, grass-roots organization Self-Help Graphics in Los Angeles and the Assn. for Cultural Advancement through Visual Art in London.

In another corner of the gallery is “Textures of the Night,” a collection of moody nocturnal photographs by James E. Sefton, some of which were recently shown in a group exhibit in Berlin, called “My L.A./My Berlin.”

A cultural exchange attitude is in the house, which makes for intriguing points of comparison, as well as affirming the notion that art is a language that crosses borders easily.

In the group show, artists’ work is interwoven, but we recognize many of the local angles and scenes, as in Roberto Gutierrez’ loose, affectionate portrait, “The Fruit Vendor Knows the Secrets of Echo Park Lake.” Frank Romero, the local art hero from East Los Angeles, shows a simple, vibrantly hued aerial view of that L.A. landmark, winding roadways. But in Romero’s charmed piece, the road appears as a playful avenue rather than an angst-seized public space.

Sociopolitical concerns enter into some of the British work, as in Tony Beers’ “Meltdown Reflection,” a laser print full of loaded images--a melting globe, hands in chains, a photo of a burning Buddhist.

These images serve to inflame and alter the more innocent imagery. A Christmas pudding, for instance, suddenly seems like a toxic heap. Such is the power of suggestion by proximity.

Denise Bryan’s rayographs suggest X-rays, like conceptual, probing inquiries into physical and mental states. For example, “The Hair I Have Lost Since I Lost My Mum” reflects on mortality in a personal yet artfully cool way.

Religious questioning enters the picture in Linda Arreola’s conceptual works, such as “Whose Millennium Is It Anyway?” The visual scheme involves dizzy, echoing imagery and icons, including juxtaposed images of Christ and an empty chair in the “Buddhist version” of the series.

Holly Tempo and Victor Raphael lean more toward abstraction with the medium-specific air of detachment that comes with printmaking, compared with the hands-on textures of painting.

Marcello Price’s photographic prints are disarming portraits from the neck up, with faces wrapped in identity-obscuring cellophane or fabric.

“Sleeping Unborn” by Sarah Sharfield looks like a colorful, dreamy artist’s rendition of an ultrasound image, and Sojin Jim’s “Chunking Road, North Toward the Court” depicts the flickering, impressionistic illumination of Chinatown by night.

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Speaking of which, Sefton’s “Textures of the Night,” is about the strange charm of streetscapes, usually shot from across the way as though from a voyeur’s perspective. Lighted signs and the glowing halo of street lights assume unexpected importance.

He shoots in Cambria, San Francisco, Virginia and even here in Hollywood, intriguing our metaphor-hungry eye by juxtaposing the Golden Arches and the “Believe It or Not” museum. Desolate Americana rears its head in “Last Picture Show,” with its darkened movie marquee in Paso Robles, outshined by an all-night gas station.

In these pictures, he affects both a film noir-ish suavity, glamorizing things that might go bump in the night, and an artistic tendency to celebrate the commonplace.

We ultimately realize that the things he’s capturing--storefronts, decaying marquees, lonely unpeopled visions--just sit there, doing anything but going bump.

BE THERE

“A Matter of Life and Death” and “Textures of the Night,” through March 18 at CSUN Art Dome, 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge. Gallery hours: Monday and Saturday, noon-4; Tuesday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. (818) 677-2226.