Artists to bend perception at upcoming exhibit in Burbank
The aim of an upcoming art exhibit at the Betsy Lueke Creative Arts Center in Burbank is to turn people’s perception of reality on its head.
From May 3 through 23, the Collage Artists of America will host an art exhibit at the local gallery titled “Reality is Highly Overrated,” in which mixed-media, assemblage and digital-collage artists will have their pieces on display.
Some of the artwork is highly abstract, a sentiment that rings true for Burbank artist Lois Ramirez, whose piece “Second Thoughts” is among the pieces chosen for the exhibit.
Ramirez, who mainly creates abstract art on canvas, created a collage of different pieces of torn sheer and opaque paper painted and stacked on top of one another.
She said she came up with the concept for her artwork after she tried to fix a piece of paper she had placed on a canvas because she didn’t like its placement.
As a self-proclaimed artist who likes to solve problems, she decided to use another piece of sheer paper to cover it up. She ended up with what the late PBS artist Bob Ross called a “happy little accident.”
“I just covered it up, and I liked what I saw,” Ramirez said. “It ended up working with the design.”
Ramirez said she loved working within the parameters of the exhibit, adding that she is not much of a fan of realism artwork anymore after she started dabbling in abstract art.
Additionally, she said it was fun putting together the collage because it allowed her to use more organic and jagged shapes, which is different from her usual abstract paintings that have more structure.
“It’s like controlled chaos,” Ramirez said about her collage.
Another Burbank artist, Marian Devney, will have four pieces — two collages and two assemblages — in the exhibit.
One of those pieces is called “Under the Boardwalk,” a collage created by using various materials that tell a story about a day at a boardwalk.
The art piece mainly has dark tones of red, black and tan, but the right side of the collage has a bright magenta statue of what appears to be a woman.
“I like the viewer to look at my work and see what they come up with,” Devney said. “My aim is to engage people and amuse them. If they do look closely at my work, I hope they do become delighted, interested and intrigued.”
The Betsy Lueke Creative Arts Center is located at 1100 W. Clark Ave., Burbank. For hours and more information, call (818) 238-5397.
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