Our Pick of the Week takes place downtown at CES Gallery. “The Wailing Sister” is a solo exhibition featuring Artist-In-Residence Maja Ruznic.

Here is more info about the event and residency program from the gallery: CES Gallery is pleased to present the inaugural CES Residency exhibition, The Wailing Sisters, a solo presentation by 2016 Artist-In-Residence Maja Ruznic.
POW-Sat-Aug13-2016-CESRESIDENCE-StudioVisit-MajaRuznic-CarlESmith
See image: CES RESIDENCY I Studio Visit with Maja Ruznic and Carl E. Smith

CES Residency is a residency program for underrepresented Los Angeles-based artists, a unique initiative conceived to support the evolving LA art community. CES Residency continues the gallery’s overall mission of supporting emerging artists. Ten artists were nominated by LA-based curators, writers, gallerists, art advisors, collectors, and artists. CES Gallery would like to congratulate all of our CES Residency Nominated Artists: Tom Dunn, 
Mandy Lyn Ford
, Julie Henson, 
Kim Kei, 
Bryan Ricci
, Pauline Shaw
, Sarah Sturgis
, Trina Turturici, and Brody Albert, who was awarded CES Residency’s Honorable Mention.

In addition, CES Gallery would like to thank its 2016 Nomination Committee for its guidance and expertise: Chris Adler, Artist and Co-founder of VACANCY; Lee Biolos and Brody Fox, Art Collectors; Ali Edmark, Artist and Co-founder of VACANCY; Amir Fallah, Artist; Shelley Holcomb, Artist and founder of Curate.LA; Deb Klowden-Mann, Principal at Klowden Mann; Cris McCall, Art Advisor; Max Presneill, Artist and Director/Head Curator at the Torrance Art Museum; Sydney Terrill, Publisher at Artillery Magazine; and John Wolf, Art Advisor.

Artist-In-Residence Maja Ruznic, a prolific and active artist, is primarily a painter, a storyteller who conjures form and narrative from ground up mineral, smeared oil, and stained canvas. Born in Bosnia and Hercegovina in 1983, Ruznic immigrated to the United States with her family in 1995, settling on the West Coast where she eventually went on to study at the University of California, Berkley, later receiving an MFA from the California College of Arts. Ruznic’s often-quoted biography – a refugee who escaped the Bosnian War – is only the beginning of her journey. Ruznic’s vivid paintings speak for themselves, depicting figures that seem to emerge from the caverns of human history, from within their own supports, and somehow from within the viewer’s own recollections.
POW-Sat-August13-2016-CES Gallery Maja RuzicStudio
See image: Maja Ruzic, Getting All The Nots Out

These paintings breach something intrinsically human and Ruznic guides us deftly with dark humor and complex representations, not dissimilar to Werner Herzog’s wry, but poignant 3-D documentary depicting the oldest painted images in the world. The power of Ruznic’s vision can be evidenced in her myriad accomplishments: she has recently shown her work at Carmen Wiedenhoeft Gallery in Denver, Galeri G-Art in Istanbul, MASS Gallery in Austin, Galerie Ernst Hilger in Vienna, Arc Gallery in San Francisco, and locally at Charlie James Gallery, the Torrance Art Museum, Shulamit Nazarian Gallery, and most recently as part of MAIDEN LA. Ruznic’s work has been written about extensively, most notably in Juxtapoz, San Francisco Bay Guardian, Studio Visit Magazine, and twice in New American Paintings, including the cover as selected by curator Anne Ellegood.

On view: August 1 – September 3, 2016

What: Opening reception

Where: CES Gallery , 711 Mateo St. LA 90021

When: 7:00pm – 9:00pm

When: 213 880 5474

Website: http://carlesmithgallery.com