New works by Thomas Lee Bakofsky, Frieda Gossett, Pamela Henderson & Martha Rich

Curated by Alix Sloan

California Fresh is just that – an exhibition of emerging California-based artists who are already making a splash on the West Coast. The artists share a love of working with vivid colors and in a variety media. However, each artist’s work is uniquely his or her own. Influenced by pop culture and his West Texas roots, Thomas Lee Bakofsky mixes painting, collage, serigraphy, and wood block printing to create multi-layered compositions. From tooled leather, watercolor, graphite and paper, Frieda Gossett creates a world inhabited by sparkling dog coffins, Bindi-sporting Chihuahuas and a population of other quirky animals and misfit humans. Pamela Henderson (the only California Fresh artist who has shown at Aidan Savoy in the past) translates the dreams and experiences of her lonely, rural childhood into delicate, meticulously crafted paintings and sculptures that are at once optimistic, soulful and somber. And with eye-popping color combinations and razor sharp wit, Martha Rich brings together far flung references such as retro lingerie, bouffant wigs, angry lobsters and Donny Osmond into an engaging body of work that questions where the artist came from and where we are all heading. Thomas Lee Bakofsky, Frieda Gossett, Pamela Henderson & Martha Rich are all recent graduates of Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.