The Vista

Looking across Los Angeles, one can see the direct connection between the work of many of the city’s abstract painters and the vista that is the City of Angels. Living and working here influences everything in an artist’s work: conceptual underpinnings, color, and scale are all connected to L.A.

The paintings presented in The Vista reflect a duality in scale, reflecting the vista that surrounds them in Southern California — vast, yet intimate. We know the size of the city but we recognize it as small hamlets. Artists in The Vista produce both large and small works that mimic this contrast: large scale works that trace the street plan for understanding, and small works that reach out to touch the street corners and alleyways we know as home.

When Schuster and Presneill were introduced to each other’s work, they found a mutual interest with memory, city life, the diffusion of experience and the gritty reality of personal interactions. Those shared themes and approaches unite other powerful abstract L.A.-based painters — a central tenet to this exhibition.