Review: Hiraeth art exhibition

Hiraeth, the title of Tula Lotay“s recent art offering installed at the Nucleus gallery, doesn“t translate well into English. It can me a coming home of sorts, but it connotes more nostalgia than a simple homecoming. In its original (Welsh) context, Hiraeth signals a longing for home. Given the ever-present tensions between the fine arts and comic art, the notion of Lotay“s work longing for an art-gallery home invites a variety of compelling interpretive opportunities for this visually brilliant series of images and prints.

The Nucleus Gallery is a gem, an enclave for the celebration of visual artistry in all of its many contemporary manifestations. It is the first art gallery that I have encountered that takes seriously the aesthetic inclinations of contemporary popular visual art ”“ including anime and comics. Nucleus is a space that is architecturally open, but it is also artistically open ”“ by design. It“s not my job here to plug anything but I encourage readers of this review who are lovers of art in comics to visit their website for more information. www.gallerynucleus.com

Tula Lotay, ne Lisa Wood is a comic book artist based in the UK who has done work for a variety of publishers including Vertigo and Image. Wood is also the principle organizer of the UK“s most well-known con, Thought Bubble Festival. She is obviously a gifted visual artist whose work is in demand. By the time I arrived in Alhambra, CA to view the show in person, about three days after the opening, all of the original pieces of Lotay“s exhibition had already been sold. I wasn“t“ surprised by this at all after viewing the installation for even a few minutes.

Tula Lotay“s artistic eye centers women in ways that are difficult to detect in her comic book work, but always already present in it. In her solo exhibition this aesthetic attribute of her art is on full (and well-lit) display. Each piece of the exhibit features a woman or woman engaged in what might be considered quotidian acts from the perspective of Lotay“s comic book fan base. Women are putting on makeup, laying in bed, staring off or sometimes, staring right at you. Various forms of desire animate these stares, but figuring out discrete meanings behind any one particular image or visual does not seem to be the most productive way to experience Hiraeth. Each piece can be as impressionistic as it is realist ”“ as aesthetic as it is political. One piece in the exhibit ”“ “Safe Sex”“ ”“ features two women kissing. It is a simple image and it is nearly engaging enough that viewers can sometimes ignore the raging riot police that surround the women as they connect. 5/5!

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]