New landscape paradigm

Southern California is bursting with a vibrant young art culture. It’s delving into exciting mixed-media projects and abstract experimental arts. Pop art is finding its way out of back-alley urban warehouse galleries and onto fashion runways. But in a scene dominated by alternative art styles, where are the traditional landscape artists?

Some would say Laguna Beach, where bucolic plein air prints of beach scenes are always in vogue. Ask Donna Sandrock, however, and she might direct you to galleries and artists throughout Southern California where she says there is a resurgence of contemporary landscapes. Then again, she might just invite you to the Golden West College Fine Arts Gallery, where she’s put together a show of six modern artists who each take their inspiration from the land.

Sandrock wasn’t willing to let the school’s “On Location” show be just any ordinary set of pretty pictures. Each of its components deals in some way with the border between human and nature. It’s a study of that nether-region that exists at the edges of urban and rural areas, where the line that separates the two becomes blurred.

By taking traditional landscape painting techniques and putting them together with a different subject, the exhibition gives visitors an art experience unique to the era.

“I wanted to give them a fresh look at how they see the landscape,” Sandrock, said.

From the depth in Gregory Martin’s portrayals of wilting desert palms to Darlene Campbell’s Dutch/Flemish-style paintings of suburban expansion, “On Location” takes apart the paradigm of what a landscape can, or should, be.

Sandrock, an artist and curator who has guided the college’s gallery shows for 14 years, says such paintings are still relevant, especially for the purpose of reflecting modern issues of land use.

The mission for Sandrock is to get Golden West’s students and community art lovers alike to actually take a look around them for artistic inspiration.

“There’s so much in the world to paint,” Sandrock said. “If one student becomes aware of their surroundings through landscapes, that means I’ve been successful.”

And students have been responsive. Chris Wolfe, an 18-year-old veterinary major and avid drawer, said he likes seeing the landscape he’s actually seen and can relate to on canvas. “It’s like looking out a window,” Wolfe said.

Seventeen-year-old Mike Williams is in his first college art class at Golden West and was so intrigued by the paintings, he took cellphone camera pictures to show his friends. He diligently studied the paintings, noting techniques he liked and a few he didn’t care for. Either way, Williams took the time to mull over a new take to an old art. He even hopes to bring his dad along to the gallery before the show ends.

“We get inspiration from each picture,” Williams said.

And for Sandrock, that’s mission accomplished.

IF YOU GO

What: “On Location, Contemporary Rural and Urban Paintings.”

When: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday.

Where: Golden West College Fine Arts Gallery, 15744 Goldenwest St.

Cost: Free

Info: (714) 892-7711, ext. 51032