Contemporary Arts Matters is delighted to announce its upcoming exhibition, California Dreaming, a celebration of contemporary art from Los Angeles including work by: Heimir Björgúlfsson, Tomory Dodge, Rema Ghuloum, Michael Reafsnyder and Patrick Wilson. Through their individual vibrant painting styles, these artists reflect the diversity of the artist community and are inspired by the rich painting traditions of California painting. The exhibition will be on view from February 11 to March 28, 2025, with an opening reception on Tuesday, February 11 from 5-7 pm.

CAM owner and director Rebecca Ibel grew up in California and has worked with artists from Southern California and the Bay Area for the past 30 years. “I have a deep appreciation for the art community in California and remain committed to celebrating the artists who live and espouse the open and creative approach to life, art and nature,” says Ibel. As part of our commitment to supporting the recovery efforts from the recent fires, a portion of the proceeds from this exhibition will be donated to the LA Fire Relief Fund.

Heimir Björgúlfsson is represented with new works juxtaposing images of animals and abstract backgrounds, or nostalgic black and white photograph-inspired settings. He continues to question man’s relationship to nature, to our current and past understanding of the world. Björgúlfsson lives and works in Los Angeles, California. He received his MFA from the Sandberg Institute in 2003 and his BFA from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in 2001, both in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. In 1998 he graduated from the Sonology program at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, The Netherlands. His work has been exhibited widely in Europe and the United States in solo and group exhibitions.

In 2012 he was nominated for the Carnegie Art Award in Stockholm, Sweden, and in 2006 he was nominated for De Volkskrant Visual Art Prize in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Björgúlfsso’s work is included in museum collections including the 21c Museum, Louisville, KY; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston,TX; Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, OH; Reykjavík Art Museum, Reykjavík, Iceland and the Akureyri Art Museum, Akureyri, Iceland.

Tomory Dodge has a pair of new small abstract paintings in the show that demonstrate the playful and thoughtful nature of his work. He is known for his fascination with the act of painting. He is always exploring the canvas, how he can translate ideas from his physical experience in nature or deep knowledge of art history.  Dodge received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1998 from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI, and his Master of Fine Arts degree in 2004 from the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, CA. While at RISD, he completed their European Honors Program in Rome, Italy in 1997. In 2022, Dodge completed a residency by the Corporation of Yaddo in Saratoga Springs, NY.

His work is the subject of numerous gallery and museum shows across the United States and abroad, and may be found in the collections of the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA; Collezzione Marramotti, Reggio Emilia, Italy; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; and the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT, among others.

Rema Ghuloum is included with new works that reflect the ethereal, atmospheric and spiritual qualities that may have originated with American Abstract Expressionism, adding a nod to Eastern philosophies, her own ancestral history in the Middle East, with a big dose of the California spirit. As described in a recent Art Forum review by Annabel Osberg, “The artist’s meditative process of building up and sanding down layers of diaphanous glazes, stains, and brushstrokes is palpable in these intricate surfaces. Organic shapes and vestiges of representation emerge from misty swaths of pastel hues, then vanish, only to resurface later in slightly different configurations.” “The gradual revelations of Ghuloum’s uncannily unphotogenic paintings are refreshing foils to society’s profusion of slick, flashy images.” Ghuloum received her B.F.A. from California State University Long Beach and her M.F.A. from California College of the Arts. She has been widely exhibited in the U.S. with gallery shows in California, New York, Ohio, Arizona, Missouri, and abroad in Japan, Canada, and Russia.

Ghuloum has been the recipient of many grants and residencies including the Davyd Whaley Artist-Teacher Grant, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, Artist in Residence at the Joan Mitchell Center, and the Vermont Studio Center. Ghuloum has been a visiting artist lecturer within the California State University system, the California College of the Arts, and the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. Her work has been reviewed and featured in articles in Art Forum, Hyperallergic, The LA Times, and others.

Michael Reafsnyder’s paintings, born out of the American Abstract Expressionist tradition, and the artist himself, a smart, soft-spoken thoughtful person, belies the action, performance and physicality that goes into the process of making them.  Created in one sitting, the acrylic paint is applied, mixed, pulled across the canvas in a manner of pushing and dragging. His technique translates onto the surface a fresh, vibrant and direct style of painting, distilling the lessons of the past into a new vision. Though these works may not include the smiley faces seen in earlier works, this description by David Pagel in Bomb Magazine still applies. “For viewers, this simply means that Reafsnyder’s art is a pleasure—even a joy—to behold.” Reafsnyder received his Master of Fine Arts degree at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, CA in 1996 where he studied under Mike Kelley and Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe.

His work has been the subject of numerous exhibitions across the US and abroad and can be found in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA; Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH; Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; Las Vegas Art Museum, NV; Portland Art Museum, OR; Weisman Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; and the Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN, among others.

Patrick Wilson is included with a small painting in his trademark layered abstract style. Wilson is a second generation abstract painter with a very focused approach to making art. He toys with California Minimalism like a jazz musician might, layering ideas on top of each other, bringing atmospheric qualities and geometric shapes together. The results are symphonies of colors and form, inspired by the LA landscape. Wilson received his Master of Fine Arts from Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA and his Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Davis, CA. He has been the subject of numerous shows in LA, NY and across the US.

His work may be found in the collections of the Achenbach Collection, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA; Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH; Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Minnesota Museum of American Art, Saint Paul, MN; Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN; Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA; Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, OH; San José Museum of Art, San Jose, CA, and elsewhere.