Sampling from Justin Cole’s Studio Show
Justin blends figuration and abstraction into ethereal organics adapted by the elements. He paints layers of oil to achieve his grand scheme. First, he emphasizes the figuration, and then, he abstracts it away. This process repeats itself until the artwork is complete. Justin says, “once the painting starts hurting my eyes to look at, I know it’s close.”
Justin’s work is hard to explain, and that’s by design. He aims for his work to ask questions not provide answers. By prioritizing aesthetics to content, the narrative is left open ended for the viewer to fill in. It’s more about what he doesn’t paint than what he does. Faces, flowers and forms drift, burn and float away. His approach creates a timelessness prompting everyone to make up their own story about the work.
@art was invited inside the Los Angeles home of collector David Maxwell (@davidmaxwell ), where an impressively overwhelming constellation of artworks unfolds across nearly every wall, shelf, and hidden corner. The space reads less like a private residence and more like a living archive—dense, layered, and deeply personal—each work in conversation with the next. Maxwell’s collection reflects a sustained and thoughtful commitment to emerging artists, evident not only in his acquisitions but in the way he opens his home as a site of support and exchange. Through his five-week Flower Residency (@flowerresidency ), he hosts artists in an environment that encourages experimentation, dialogue, and community, extending his role beyond collector to active patron. The result is a home that functions as both sanctuary and incubator, where art is lived with, not merely displayed.
Self Portrait Show is up until January 4th
show catalogue and appointments available
It’s no surprise that I prefer figurative work. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy process, but I would rather story telling. The means should enhance the ends or at the very least not detract from them. The process itself shouldn’t become the purpose. Often when it does, no one can understand the piece without explanation. The piece should be the explanation. It should tell the story. When you care about the story, you care about perspective and therefore, the author. They say you should “write what you know.” There is nothing you know better than yourself. It should feed your work, and when it does, it’s a beautiful thing. I could make a lofty statement about self portraiture telling the most meaningful story, but haven’t I already?
Every artist who does the residency gifts a painting to me. The first resident, Angela Fang Zirbes, asked me what I wanted the painting to be, and I explained how I thought self portraits were the most revealing thing an artist could paint. So she painted a self portrait. Kevin Sabo, the next resident, saw her self portrait and made one as well. Then Juan Arango Palacios, then Alejandra Moros, then Tae Lee and most recently, Chloe West. You can see all these paintings hung in the residency at all times representing a visual history of the residents. Thus, the concept for Self Portrait Show was born.
Flower Residency grew out of my collection, which grew out of my personal taste. It aims to assist artists. But not just any artists. It aims to assist artists with a story to tell. Self Portrait Show is curated to highlight artists with a sense of self and a story. The show will benefit the residency and help support future artists. Story begets story.
