A RETROSPECTIVE OF DIMENSIONS BY ARTIST L by JoAnn Fites-Kaufman, A Guest Reviewer

Tucked away in a nice neighborhood in Santa Monica is the Five Car Garage Gallery  (https://emmagrayhq.com/). A multidimensional exhibit, A.S.T.R.A.L.O.R.A.C.L.E.S. by the artist L is currently on display (http://888666444222000111333555777999.info/ao_3). L is an up and coming artist who started his artistic career in Utah where he has had solo exhibitions at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art. His work as been shown at galleries in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Dublin, Bucharest. L’s work has been reviewed and written about in Frieze Magazine Artforum, New Yorker Magazine, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times among many others.

The exhibit occupies the entire space with a colorful, meticulously created space that envelopes ones senses with representations of multiple dimensions. An entire wall displays painted sections with anodized aluminum plates engraved with symbols representing the elevation of one’s inner being and all of combined spirituality and energy from one to nine dimensions. According to L, subatomic, waveform energy is the unifying basis of all dimensions represented by colors and symbols in the exhibit, the encompassing waveform energy described as quantum mechanics (physics).

Adjacent walls contain large mirrors with engraved radiating lines and intricate geometric designs that represent the multiple dimensions and reflect the colored walls and each other.

The symbolism of multiple dimensions and associated colors is repeated in different forms on the last wall and center of the floor. Opposite of the painted wall is a low bench with a progression of colored vinyl window films. On one bench are a series of colored anodized containers with individually created, uniquely scented perfumes created by a perfumer to match his impression of each dimension. The other bench contains tea vessels arrayed to hold specially designed teas by another artist. There are collaborations with artists and crafts persons on different aspects of the exhibit, embodying another aspect of multiple dimensions through human interactions.

In the center there is a seven pointed star with each point painted colors to match the wall. At the point of each star is a large vessel containing tinted mineral oil and a number of marbles that represent each dimension. Crystals in the jars represent the combination of multiple dimensions. The description is complex and multidimensional and so is the exhibit. The scale of each portion is based upon the dimensions of L, the artist, the distance from the ground to the tips of his upraised hands—similar to the Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci.

While the underlying concepts of multidimensionality that L portrays may be beyond the grasp of the average person, when a person walks into the gallery space, there is a sense of color, light and beauty. It feels like you are in a different dimension, of multiple senses. L has created something that is both complex and intrinsically beautiful and mind opening. Maybe L stands for light, and all the many dimensions of light.