By P.J. Ramiro

Staff Writer

Plain and dull usually come to mind when describing the colors black and white, but not at the EC Art Gallery.

Creative paintings, sculpted models, illusions and neat texts, all in black and white, will be showcased at the EC Art Gallery from August 25 through Sept. 19.

The showcase features 10 outstanding artists from Southern California; Angie Bray, Marshall Astor, Mariona Barkus, Barbara Berk, Connor Everts, Craig Havens, Rico Lebrun, Pierre Picot and Patrick Merrill.

The artists address issues of the physical restraints of black and white and they also deal with concepts of extremity.

“The world is filled with different colors and many choices in life; black and white gets down to the basics,” Angie Bray, artist, said.

“Black absorbs all color and white reflects all color. When put together, black and white opens the imagination and can signify belief, sensation and emotion; light and dark are usually seen as good and evil, known and unknown, heaviness and lightness.”

Among some of the pieces at the art gallery are Bray’s, “Blind Faith 1 and 2.”

“That one right there is my favorite,” Alex Kilcullen, 22, business major, said. “It’s a lead motor that looks like a giant piece of chalk and it spins around.”

Kilcullen is a frequent visitor at the EC Art Gallery.

“I come here once in awhile to see if they changed anything,” Kilcullen said. “I came in here today and saw this black and white exhibition. It’s pretty cool.”

Bray’s pieces are actually motorized sticks that sway in the air back and forth.

When asked which one was his favorite, Keith Reynolds, 23 year-old business major picked out a drawing from Mariona Barkus.

“This one right here makes you think a little bit and analyze the drawings,” Reynolds said.

In her drawings, Barkus graphically spells out messages in black and white concerning some of society’s problems.

Among some of her messages are, “I am afraid” which symbolizes, among many things were domestic violence, and discontent with life.

“I like these because they make you figure out from your own interpretation what the phrases mean,” Reynolds said.

Another intriguing piece from Barkus was a sculpture of a man lining up in the airport.

It symbolizes heavy baggage while traveling; not only physically but mentally.

In the sculpture, the man is carrying lots of baggage while questions were written all over his body.

It serves as a representation of what people in America have to go through in airports just to travel.

“I really wish that the students come out to support and examine the beautiful work that these artists have done,” curator Suzanna Meiers, EC’s curator for the past 21 years said.

“These artists have worked hard on these pieces and we are very privileged that they are sharing them with us,” Meiers said.

The art gallery also features a video room where artist Barbara Beck uses her body in repetitive motion and becomes a vehicle for defining the center as it relates to the edge.

The exhibit is available to students and staff Mondays and Tuesdays 10 a.m. to 3 p.m, Wednesdays and Thurdays 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Fridays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

For more information, interested persons may call the Art Gallery at 310-660-3543 or visit www.elcamino.edu/commadv/artgallery/index.html.