Just for Show

Mother - Nurture us
Works by Isaias Crow
6/9 - 6/30
Cirello Gallery, North Park
cirellogallery.com

Womanhood and maternity, not to mention the birth of the artist’s third child in 2011, inspired Isaias Crow’s recent collection, Mother - Nurture Us. With a background in graffiti, Crow creates vibrant, evocative portraits of women and feminine energies that incorporate abstraction and Picasso-esque subtleties.

“It’s really going to focus on how we all view our mothers,” says Crow, “whether it’s our mother or Mother Earth, or even how males can be mothers to each other.”

Blitz
Works by James Verbicky
Onebyone
Works by Matt Devine
5/30 - 6/30
Madison Gallery, La Jolla
madisongalleries.com

Matt Devine is a metal sculptor whose non-representational sculptures look like a flurry of shrapnel frozen in time, creating a sense of controlled chaos.

Mixed-media painter James Verbicky’s work comprises strips of paper cut from vintage publications that are bound together to create abstract representations of the “essence of human culture,” as the artist puts it.

Both artists, who’ve sold and installed work around the world, will be showing simultaneously in this La Jolla gallery.

Santa Ana Condition
Works by John Valadez
6/10 - 9/2
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla
mcasd.org

Best known for murals he created in Los Angeles in the ‘70s and ‘80s, John Valadez is a skilled photographer, painter and pastel artist whose work portrays Chicano culture in Southern California.

“He shows the intersection of people living their regular lives, and then how those regular lives can be tinged with crazy, surreal qualities with hidden passions and energies,” says Musuem of Contemporary Art San Diego curator Kathryn Kanjo.

The Santa Ana Condition will include 35 years’ of Valadez’s work, showcasing the artist’s growth and use of various mediums.
-Patricia B. Dwyer