In spite of the dark and evil forces busily at work in the world (and the White House), cultural respite and festivity still comes home to roost for the holidays. That friendlier, “lightness of being” brand of spirit has landed in Sullivan Goss, which has been dubbed Santa Barbara’s premier art salon (okay, I said that, a long time ago. But it’s still true).
Like calendar clockwork, the annual (since 2009) 100 Grand exhibition takes up the front gallery space in time for Christmastime, a win-win tradition of the gallery, showcasing a broad swath of artists (working in a Lilliputian scale and selling everything for less than $1,000) and the “price is an object” art buyers.
Deeper into the gallery compound, flowers cometh, in varying shades and contexts. Irresistible: Flowers & and Their Admirers, curated by Jeremy Tessmer, celebrates a timeless turf and genre, with contemporary twists attached. The art here ranges from the relatively “straight” still life–ish stuff of Hank Pitcher’s earthy “Flowers from Our Garden” and John Nava’s pristine, vase-based “Callas” to the abstracting tacks of Yassi Mazandi’s squint-visioned “Black Orchid” and sculptor Ken Bortolazzo’s stainless-steel floral riffs. A strange delight emanates from the steely sheen of Bortolazzo’s mobile “Wisteria” and the flower arrangement-like (or “derangement-like”) “Lotus 3.”