Exhibition Dates: May 10 - June 1, 2008
Opening Reception: Saturday May 10, 2008, 8PM - Midnight
(Carmichael Gallery of Contemporary Art is exhibiting Caleb Neelon is Working on It, a solo exhibition of artist, writer and educator extraordinaire, Caleb Neelon. In addition to a sculptural centerpiece, more than 15 new acrylic and gouache paintings will be on display at the gallery. This will be Neelon’s first solo exhibition on the West Coast. In conjunction with his site-specific gallery installation, Neelon will execute a landmark mural on La Brea Avenue near the Carmichael Gallery, unifying his exhibition in the public realm.

Dream-like characters, rickety towers, and maritime scenes are frequent subjects of both Neelon’s street and gallery art. For this exhibition however, the New England native introduces a new visual theme leaves. In many of these works, leaves, which represent those from beech trees, consume the visual plane in a frenzy of vibrant color. For Neelon, they are an image of strength and hope. Beech leaves are naturally acidic and as they fall in Autumn and cover the ground, they prevent anything but their kind from sprouting through the earth. “The leaves, even in their deaths, are acting to preserve their own to come and keep that hope of the future going.”

In Paper 1, leaves in cool hues hover in a restless cluster against a crystal blue sky, seemingly suspended mid-season (perhaps waiting for a change of season), while in Fallout, the leaves evolve into a dense whirlwind of activity. In Belief Mountain, Neelon incorporates boats sinking into a sea of leaves while anamorphic towers erupt from the chaos, leaves exploding from their tips. The works are playful and spontaneous, utilizing the same vibrant colors found in Neelon’s public mural workthroughout the world. Perhaps it is his work as a street artist and role as educator that allows Neelon’s vision to remain accessible both on an immediate and abstract level. Although the pieces mark the artist’s personal exploration of the passage of time, change, death and rebirth, there is also a universal thread within each composition. “The leaf paintings mark a new direction for me in that they exchange my recent work’s emphasis on narrative for one which is more open ended.”

Born in 1976 in Boston and based in neighboring Cambridge, Caleb Neelon is an artist, writer, and educator. His paintings and installation artwork have appeared in exhibitions, books, magazines and public places throughout Kathmandu, Reykjavik, Bermuda, Calcutta, Sao Paulo, Europe and America. He is co-author of the Thames and Hudson book Graffiti Brasil and Street World from Thames and Hudson, Abrams and other international co-editions, author and illustrator of the children’s book, Lilman Makes a Name for Himself, and a collaborator on nearly a dozen other books. He is an editor at the popular culture hardbound bi-monthly Swindle, and a contributing writer to Print, Juxtapoz, and many other magazines and journals. Neelon has lectured at several international conferences and festivals, as well as Harvard Law School, Bates College, Northeastern University, and the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he received his Master’s in Education. Caleb Neelon’s Book of Awesome, is being published by Ginko Press and will be released this year.

Carmichael Gallery
1257 N. La Brea Avenue,
SW corner of La Brea and Fountain,
West Hollywood, CA 90038.
Gallery hours are Tuesday through Sunday,
2 p.m. to 7.m., and by appointment.

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