Past Exhibition

Laura Krifka

First Blush

February 26 – March 25, 2012
Artist Reception: Sunday, February 26, 5 – 7 p.m.
Artist talk: Sunday, March 18, 3 p.m.

CB1 Gallery is pleased to present the LA solo exhibition debut of the work of artist Laura Krifka. The exhibition, titled First Blush, explores the artist’s interest in the creation of American mythology and the role visual language has played in its construction. The show opens on February 26, 2012 and closes on March 25, 2012. A reception for the artist will be held at the gallery on Sunday, February 26, 2012, 5 - 7 p.m.

Laura Krifka makes paintings, sculptures and videos that dissect common fantasies of power and identity. Her sculptures grew out of her paintings, which led to her work in animation, with all mediums now informing one another. Her work is both gorgeous and terrifying often dealing with fantasies of beauty and nobility, myth, power, identity, seduction and the American dream. The work in the exhibition explores the relationship of light and dark through a range of influences from art history to fairyland all with a post-modernist twist.

From a personal perspective, Laura Krifka writes that her work “explores the way my world- view was shaped during my formative years. This exploration has brought me into areas of cinema that impacted me as a child, such as MGM musicals and horror films, as well as history lessons and stories of my ancestry. In my work, I incorporate these influences to create a world that assumes everything I was taught, as a child, is true. My investigation reveals a landscape where fantasies and clichés of the western world can combine and breed, creating a sublime and sinister world that reflects the oddity of our own.”

Laura Krifa received her MFA from UC Santa Barbara in 2010 and her BFA from California Ploytechnic University San Luis Obisbo in 2008, following earlier studies at Newbold College in England and Avondale College in Australia. She was born in Los Angeles before moving to Ventura County where she now also resides. Her work has been shown in a group show at Beacon Arts, Inglewood, and most recently in a solo exhibition titled Milk and Honey at the Atkinson Gallery at Santa Barbara City College, where she now teaches.