Los Angeles Art Association is proud to present its next group exhibition, Full Bodied, an all-media exploration of figurative artwork. In addition to FullBodied, LAAA will present solo exhibitions by Margaret Raab, Melissa Reischman and Peter Walker. The Opening reception is Saturday, March 2 (all shows run through March 29, 2019).

Full Bodied is juried by Erica Wall  - Erica Broussard Art and features artists Michele Benziman Miki, Tina Frugoli, Antoine Guilbaud, Chad Horn, Erin Kono, Linda Kosoff, Nancy Lawrence, Mercedes McDonald, Micheal Ochinero, Tom Pazderka, Marleene Rubenstein, Lyle Rushing, Same Source, Stephen Spiller, Joshua Tann,  Tracy Vera, Mary Warner and Darlyn Susan Yee.

Margaret Raab's new body of work Meandering Passages is comprised of pen and ink drawings inspired from nature. The close up view of the subject matter and the medium provide her with the perfect combination to draw representational organic forms and the freedom to explore abstract linear details within the images. The intimate view brings attention to often-unobserved details that contribute to our overall experience. Although the drawing is developed from a natural image, forms emerge from within the object. Developing these forms, lines and textures allows Raab to create a cohesive, visually unified work rich in detail. The result is an abstracted image with multiple interconnected forms, intricately detailed and loosely related to the inspirational object. The compositions invite the viewer to become visually engaged in the drawing. Raab's goal is to invite the viewer to enjoy the unique composition and explore the passages and details that contribute to the work.

Using only charcoal and paper, Melissa Reischman solo exhibit Portals,Vessels and the Metaphysical Landscape engages methods of application and reduction to create drawings that allude to natural elements, landscapes and still lifes. Light and dark serve as metaphor for transitional states, from belonging to estrangement, grief to joy and attachment to disconnect. By exploring light's forceful movement, the artist connects both the internal and external, inviting viewers to contemplate parallel possibilities beyond the physical realm.

Peter Walker's new series of drawings Modern Mythology: powers that be explores how myth helps explain the unexplainable and define the undefinable -- ultimately establishing communal belonging through shared experience, behavioral expectations and moral lessons. With that in mind, Walker posits a few questions for the viewer: What happens when the ties that bind are strained to breaking? What happens when the mythology of history, ideas or shared moral objectivity is no longer shared? The connections that formerly bound communities and countries together are shifting and being redefined, often not by coherent ideology or policy but by capricious whims of power, opportunism, narcissism, discontent or alienation. Alliances are realigning. Responding to current cultural and political circumstances, Walker is interested in creating a new mythology. Unlike the myths of yesteryear his work is not meant to discover some larger Jungian truth which will help universally explain the current unexplainable or establish a national identity. This is an exercise of personal catharsis trying to make sense of the nonsensical. This is a singular polytheistic pantheon where the individualistic ethos reigns.