The clarity of one is released in the other.
Elonda Billera & Janice Gomez
May 10th – June 14th, 2008
Opening Reception: Saturday, May 10th 6 – 9 PM
HIGH ENERGY CONSTRUCTS is pleased to present The clarity of one is released in the other - a site-specific installation by Los Angeles artists, Elonda Billera & Janice Gomez. Utilizing their individual styles in sculptural assemblage and approaching the gallery as a shared space, Billera & Gomez explore the economic, social, and material relationships found in the allure of the “live/work” environment.
Elonda Billera’s sculptural configurations bring together appropriated household items and peculiar found ephemera. Assembling the recognizable into piles and towers of destroyed and refigured layers, Billera’s painterly play with scale and montage consciously engages the constant tensions of form and function.
Janice Gomez builds physically challenging architectural structures that typically involve her, and the viewer, as active participants in the artwork. Responding to the architecture of the gallery, as well as the other artwork(s) in the exhibition, Gomez creates tableaus of uncomfortability and humor by challenging and antagonizing the traditional modes of viewing and presenting works of art.
Working improvisationally with one another, as well as fearlessly on their own, Billera & Gomez use the gallery as an interpretive place, wrestling with the dichotomy of interior/exterior and the overlapping of domesticity and art making.
About the artists:
Elonda Billera received her MFA in Drawing and Installation from Claremont Graduate University and her BFA in Ceramics from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Elonda previously exhibited at High Energy Constructs in the “Time Machine” group show last spring. More recently, Elonda has exhibited in the inaugural two-person show at Coma in Los Angeles, as well as participating in LACE’s “18 Happenings in 6 parts.” Elonda lives and works in a house in El Sereno with Janice Gomez.
Janice Gomez was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawai’i. She currently lives and works in a house in El Sereno with Elonda Billera. Janice has studied/worked/played at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, San Francisco State University, and Claremont Graduate University where she earned her MFA in Photography and Installation. Janice’s work has recently been exhibited at Track 16, Santa Monica, CA; Doran Gallery, Boston, MA; and an installation will concurrently be on view at the Armory Center for the Arts (The Armory 2948), Pasadena, CA.
For more information on this exhibition please call 323.227.7920 or email info@highenergyconstructs.com
Gallery hours: Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, 11 AM – 6 PM, and by appointment.
Janice Gomez
Calculating Infinity (Bi-level), 2008
Polystyrene, styrofoam, polyethylene, glue, velcro, tissue paper
10 x 4 x 9 ¼ feet
(installation view)
Janice Gomez
Calculating Infinity (Act I, scene i), 2008
Metal, fabric, trim, cardboard, light
89 x 71 x 48 inches
(installation view)
Elonda Billera
“I sell the shadow to support the substance”, 2008
Dresser drawers, freestanding clothesline, cinderblock weight, hose clamp,
clothespins, fabric, Mason jar lids, a six pack ring, tape, paint, glass of water
10 x 10 ½ x 7 ¼ feet
(installation view)
Elonda Billera
After Will Have Been Before (No. 2), 2008
Napkin, cup hook, electric mixer beaters, twist ties, rubberband, marshmellow, fire
10 x 12 x 7 inches