Everyone knows that Carpinteria is an amazing haven for beachcombing, beer, and burgers at The Spot. What they may not know is that the place now harbors and nurtures a lively community of contemporary artists, several of whom are currently being featured in the show South Coast Sampler: Eight Carpinteria Artists at the Arts Fund Gallery. While the shared zip code may be all that links these artists on paper, their work is connected by a certain laid-back confidence and a nuanced quirkiness that make them, like their hometown, distinctive.
But while these chilled-out and self-assured pieces were brought together by an accident of geography, making a through line from artist to artist is both pointless and limiting to the art itself. The fun of this show is in seeing how much difference can be crammed into one room. The diversity of theme and subject, medium and message, become a visual conversation that feels neither exclusive nor overly intellectual — just downright fascinating. It’s like eavesdropping on the group of artists as they gossip over a pint of beer at Island Brew.
Take Stuart Carey’s larger-than-real-life rhythmic depiction of a figure. In “It’s Just a Gender Difference,” Carey is clearly commenting on the current transgender culture war. The gigantic size, too, makes the figure into an overarching presence, nearly eclipsing many of the subtler pieces in the room. This is fitting. Gender, like the piece, is the forever elephant in the room. All around us, we are confronted by what makes us man or woman, but rarely do we have the chance to engage these myriad issues in a funny, daring, interesting way.