Philip Martin Gallery is proud to present, "A Certain Slant of Light," an exhibition of new and historic works by Carl Cheng, Holly Coulis, Tim Garwood, Sky Glabush, Pamela Jorden, David Korty, Aaron Morse, Hubert Schmalix, Sophie Treppendahl and Sung Jik Yang. In their respective bodies of work, these ten artists of different generations, geographies and backgrounds consider painting, sculpture and assemblage as means by which to interrogate interiority, personal vision and the nature of the art object today.
Since the late 1960s, Carl CHENG - working under the corporate moniker John Doe Co. - has merged sculpture, technology, and ecological systems to critique human manipulation of the natural world. Cheng's "Alternative TV" works of the mid-70s appeared in the landmark exhibition "Tableau" (1980) at LAICA alongside pieces by Chris Burden and are designed - per John Doe Co. literature - for "highest definition viewing of new peace channel." Carl Cheng's touring solo exhibition, "Nature Never Loses," opens at the Institute of Contemporary Art Los Angeles in September.
The paintings and gouache-on-paper works of Canadian-born, Athen-GA based artist Holly COULIS take a precise yet lush approach to still life with an eye towards both abstraction and spatial geometry. Coulis’s paintings feature overlapping forms such as pitchers, fruits and tables distilled into crisp, luminous planes of color. Her bright, vibrating outlines serve to isolate these objects while at the same time binding them into an intricate visual puzzle, one that pushes and pulls figure and ground, solid matter and empty space.
The works of British artist Tim GARWOOD approach media fluidly, utilizing not only drawing and painting, but also photography and sculpture. In his most recent abstract pictures, Tim Garwood uses a range of tools to apply paint in varying layers across finely-sanded wooded panels, building surface, image and atmosphere by way of color and texture, emotion and feeling. The gauzy pictorial spaces of Garwood's acrylic-on-birtch panel works are figured in flashes of intense color, rich linework and intricate networks of interconnected shape.
Ontario-based artist Sky GLABUSH makes paintings-on-paper that enlist art-making as a route for external observation and personal self-discovery. Sky Glabush's works offer viewers an opportunity to examine interiority through an encounter with exteriority as figured in the language of painting. The pieces featured in "A Certain Slant of Light" pull from Glabush’s recent trip to Arles and the hospital at St. Rémy-de-Provence, where Van Gogh lived from 1889-1890. Sky Glabush's work was recently included in group exhibtions at McMichael Canadian Art Collection (Kleinburg, ON) and National Gallery of Canada (Ottowa, ON).
Pamela JORDEN explores the physical properties of light, color, and optical perception through irregularly shaped canvases and fluid paint applications. By breaking away from the traditional rectangle, Jorden’s works interact directly with the gallery wall, creating shifting visual rhythms that alter as the viewer moves around them. Jorden's work highlights the multi-varied nature of visual experience.
The paintings of Los Angeles-based David KORTY are marked by a persistent, curious investigation into how images are constructed, dismantled, and experienced. Korty's new works, several of which are featured in "A Certain Slant of Light," consider the idioms of both landscape and abstraction, framing them together with an eye to the various ways in which pictorial tools like color and line, shape and pattern build motif.
Aaron MORSE's works pull from diverse influences, including 19th-century Romantic landscape painting, American frontier mythologies, Beat-era collage and nature illustration. Morse's work "Cloud World" (Cinder Cone)," features the rhyolite dome of Red Hill, a cinder cone volcano in the Coso Range, one of the most seismically active areas of the United States, a place rich with petroglyphs, at the southern end of the Owens Valley. Aaron Morse's work is the subject of a new book, published by Philip Martin Gallery, forthcoming in fall 2026.
The paintings of Austrian-born master Hubert SCHMALIX are characterized by a bold, Pop-inflected directness balanced by deliberate, expressive line work and flat areas of radiant color. Schmalix's paintings reduce figures and landscapes to essential, luminous shapes while at the same time evoking a timeless quality of memory and engagement. In the past two years, Hubert Schmalix's work has been featured in solo exhibitions at Stadtgalerie Klagenfurt (Klagenfurt, Austria); Linz Castle Museum (Linz, Austria); Neue Galerie (Graz, Austria) and Universalmuseum Joanneum (Graz, Austria).
Sophie TREPPENDAHL captures the warmth and emotional gravity of everyday domestic spaces. Intimately tuned to the behavior of light and shadow, Treppendahl paints lived-in interiors, sun-dappled tables, and quiet gatherings. Her expressive brushwork and rich palette transform ordinary, fleeting moments into generous visual meditations on intimacy, memory, and presence.
South Korean–born painter Sung Jik YANG creates evocative paintings that capture the quiet intimacy, psychological depth, and spontaneous energy of modern life. Working primarily in the alla prima (wet-on-wet) oil painting technique, Yang applies quick, decisive brushstrokes in a single sitting, channeling the fluid immediacy of figures like Édouard Manet.
"A Certain Slant of Light" will open Saturday, August 1 with a reception for the artists from 5-8pm. Philip Martin Gallery is open Wednesday - Saturday from 11-5. For additional images, or information please email info@philipmartingallery.com, or call 323-507-2037. Philip Martin Gallery is located at 3342 Verdugo Road, Los Angeles, CA 90065.
