by Bona Hong

Friday, Feb. 12th, was opening night to Damon Soule’s “Modus Alone,” solo exhibit and “Fresh,” a group show, both at Thinkspace Gallery. After enduring an excruciating hour and forty-eight minutes on the 105, 110 and 101 freeways (Damn you, Friday-evening-rush-hour traffic!), I arrived at my destination: 4210 Santa Monica Boulevard in the fine city of Silverlake. It was a chilly night, but Little Spoons Desserts and John Park (one of the exhibiting artists and designated live-painter for the evening) were both outside, representing.

Inside, I encountered an eight-legged horse named Sleipnir. Very interesting creature – lots of wisdom to share with the world. Seems to have endured quite a bit more than my 108 minutes of hell on the freeways. He told me to go reflect on his creator’s (Damon Soule) work and that he’d like it very much if we could discuss what I thought afterward. So I did.

I wondered what kind of discussion Sleipnir and I could have about art. After all, I’m no art connoisseur. I don’t really know how to discuss art beyond, “Hey, this is cool. Pretty colors.” You know, I keep it brief. And what if it didn’t impress me? What if I was not moved and nary an emotion was stirred? Would I offend him? Would he tell Damon? Would I be banned from all future shows? So then I got nervous. Luckily, the work was interesting. The colors WERE pretty and there were a lot of cool components to each piece that I connected to.

Usually, the connections end there – in my head. Usually, I don’t “get” a lot of art. I mean, often I am touched and have an emotional reaction to someone’s work. I can tell you what that feeling is, but usually, the artist’s inspirations and intentions elude me. Usually, it doesn’t matter that I don’t “get it” because usually, I don’t get to embarrass myself by sharing my thoughts about the piece with the artist. Oh, but that Friday night was a night unlike any other in the history of my experience of opening receptions. That night, something special happened. I got to embarrass myself like I’ve never embarrassed myself before! I spoke to the artist, Damon Soule, and shared my thoughts about his work. No, seriously. I did.

I think (I hope) it was kind of accidental. We were introduced because I wanted to take a photo of him with his work. We exchanged the usual pleasantries, “Hello. Nice to meet you. Very cool work.” “Thank you. Nice to meet you as well.” THEN, I pointed to his self-portrait, “Portrait Of The Artist As A Square,” my mouth opened and THIS came out, “You know what that little owl reminds me of? The mechanical owl in ‘The Clash of the Titans’ – do you know this movie? Do you know what owl I speak of?” to which Damon replied, “Of course I know that movie! I love that movie! It’s one of my favorites. Yeah, I see what you mean. It does look like that owl.” Damon goes on to tell me about the significance of the owl and the other cartoony details on the self-portrait. He also reveals that the title of the piece is inspired by the James Joyce novel of a similar name and points out that it is the squares of color that make up his face and his girlfriend’s face in the portrait. You have to stand waaaaay back away from it or squint your eyes like with those 3-D optical illusion posters (or just take a picture of the painting and look at it in the LCD in the reduced size) to see the faces. Which I could see!

This must have excited and encouraged me to continue with my pointless babbling, because then I pointed to the piece entitled, “Two Halves Make a Hole” and said, “Do you know what THAT reminds me of?” (like he gives a flying you-know-what) and before he could answer, I continue, “The Creation of Adam” by Michelangelo. Is that weird?” And do you know what he says? He tells me that it’s NOT weird because “The Creation of Adam” by Michelangelo WAS part of what influenced and inspired that painting!!! Crazy, right? I didn’t just connect in my head. I “GOT IT.” Then he gets all excited about a story he was recently turned-on to about the brain on the Sistine Chapel – one of the anatomical theories about Michelangelo’s composition of God bestowing life on Adam. We both agree that it must mean that Michelangelo was saying that God is a creation of Man’s brain (and if it doesn’t mean that, I’m clearly going to hell). Damon rattled off a bunch of other factoids about Michelangelo and we could probably have prattled on for at least another half hour, but someone else needed him for a photo (or maybe someone recognized his “Rescue Me” look and just said that to intercede) and he excused himself…and I swaggered back over to Sleipnir and shared my thoughts about Damon’s work.

Both “Modus Alone” and “Fresh” are running at Thinkspace Gallery until March 5th, so you still have a little time to go have a chat with Sleipnir yourself.

Thinkspace Art Gallery
4210 Santa Monica Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90029
323.913.3375
Open Thu – Sun, 1- 6pm or by appointment
www.thinkspacegallery.com
contact@sourharvest.com
www.damonsoule.com