California is a place of courage, creativity and vision. It is home to some of the most influential artists in the world. We are celebrating the work of three incredible California-based artists that are inspiring a new generation of talent.
Bushra Gill is based in Oakland, California. She is inspired by Islamic geometric patterns and tesselates images from everyday life to create rich and complex surface structures in paint, print and wood collage. In this process, dimensions of her subjects are simultaneously revealed and concealed, allowing Bushra to explore ideas of which is present, but veiled – much like her hair which she covers with a scarf in public.
Los Angeles-based artist, Patrick Henry Johnson, is famed for his diverse artistic flair, from album cover illustration and graffiti art to mural painting and sculpture. His work has been featured in HBO and Amazon Prime specials and in the Hollywood blockbuster Creed III. He is working on a piece for Destination Crenshaw, which will be the largest Black public art project in the U.S. and possibly the world. He will pay homage to the legendary Black architect Paul Revere Williams, entitled: Paul Revere Williams, The Pawn Who Became King.
Elana Cooper is born and raised in San Francisco and is primarily known for her striking, large-scale abstract floral silhouettes which are inspired by the bounty of botanicals in California. She has created her famous silhouettes with ink, watercolour, acrylic and 3D wood sculptures. Her first solo exhibition, Flower Power, will be on view 11 January – 24 March 2024 at the San Francisco gallery of Creativity Explored.
