By Desiree Lopez
East Los Angeles Vincent Price Art Museum is giving the opportunity for guests to meet and greet the artists of some of their exhibits.
The first two artists to walk through were Matt Merkel Hess whose pieces include, “Right Hand Sculpted,” “Knee Bowl,” and “Palm Bowl” and Julia Haft-Candell, creator of the sculpture “Toupee.”
Both Hess and Candell’s work are located in the first floor of VPAM in the small gallery titled, “Corporeal Impulse.”
During these events guests will get the opportunity to ask questions and learn more about some of the inspiration to the pieces, by the artists themselves.
Hess bases a lot of his art by his own body, the bookshelf holding his work measures his height, 6ft, and the width is the same length of his open arms.
Hess said, “I wanted dinnerware where I didn’t have to use my hands” leading him to use his head and created his piece “Head Plate.””
“Some of the work takes a lot of time, some things happen very quickly where you just try to kind of take an idea and make it difficult,” said Hess after talking about his “Palm Bowl” piece, something he created by pressing on to his hand giving it the shape of a small bowl.
Haft-Candell’s work is made out of fabric such as old clothing, silk and wood. Some of her inspirations include landscape, people and subconscious thoughts, basing a lot of her work on body awareness.
Her sculpture, “Toupee” made out of terracotta, wood and linen is one of the creations in which body awareness was projected. The infinity symbol “a cue to bodily function” and the toupee placed on top of the sculpture was a way to “add humor to the work,” Haft-Candell said.
The VPAM will be holding walkthroughs with artist Kathleen Ryan and Bari Ziperstein, March 19 at 7:30 p.m., and Macha Suzuki and curator Grace Kook-Anderson March 1 at 2 p.m. Admission is free for all attendees.