Carole Garland

Splash

2022

The young African boy is wearing native Zimbabwean dress to reflect the historic clothing of village life. Carole Garland captures the questioning look of the boy and his wonder why are these visitors here? The colorful burnt red stencils enhance the trim design of his costume. Carole Garland has shown in many Southern California venues, most recently at TAG Gallery, Bergamot Station; realART Gallery, Agoura Hills; West Los Angeles Art Gallery; the Rose Cafe; the Santa Paula...

"A Girl and Her Dog" A summer day in the South Bay in SO CAL and a girl and her dog pause for a moment. Fine artist Carole Garland seems attracted by the special bond that develops b...

This contemporary figurative oil painting explores themes of politics and culture. Deborah Root’s dynamic colourful compositions tell an intimate story about her experience during s...

The medium of choice for Do Byung-Kyu, born in Cheonan, Korea, is dolls: they are both his conceptions and his physical expression. At the same time dolls are also the perfect tool for communicating the artist’s inner self. Expressing himself by means of dolls liberates Do from the restrictions of the mundane world. By embodying in the form of dolls his actions and thoughts, dreams and desires, and even the instincts lying in the depths of the subconscious, he transcends the secular boundaries. Dolls are his alter ego, his other self that he can construct precisely the way he wants. Sublimating the experiences and memories from his youth into various subjects of desire, Do uses dolls to paint a descriptive picture of the ambiguous feelings of contradictions from his childhood when he would abuse and kill a plaything, for example a frog, then bury the body in solemn mourning over its death. These sexual or violent games from his childhood are not likely to be limited to Do’s experiences alone. Most of us can vaguely remember indulging in sadistic acts of sexual love against a doll. Rising above a child’s simple curiosity, it is an intuitive game of the senses we play by ourselves. In a number of Do’s paintings, sticky liquid can be observed dripping down a doll’s face. This brings back recollections of the life inside our mothers’ womb where we were also enveloped by mucous waters, like the amniotic fluid. It refuses contact with the anything, and nothing wants to touch it either. The shape of such a mucous liquid is a protective layer sheltering the intrinsic identity and desires of man. It is also a substitution that satisfies the ego’s instincts otherwise suppressed by social norms. The dolls’ eyes...