By: Steve Irvin

There are so many good group shows around town this summer: The dynamic and multi-disciplinary Party Favors organized by Holly Myers, which recently closed in Chinatown and 1+1, put on by artist/curator Jose Lozano at Avenue 50 in Highland Park are but a couple of examples.

“Omage ’08,” The Artists, Designers, and Writers of Otis College of Art and Design, opened on August 2nd at Track 16 Gallery in Santa Monica. Bergamot Station is home to dozens of group shows year in and year out.  Track 16, with its massive presence in the middle of all that Bergamot has to offer, plays host to some of the best and most exciting group shows the city has seen in its 14-year history.  Organized by Lisa Melandri, Deputy Director of Exhibitions at the Santa Monica Museum, this effort focuses on the work of the Otis College faculty. The second in a series of “Omages,” the first displayed back in 2006, this show picks up where the contemporary dialogue in the scholastic art world has become decidedly more digital-, design-, and literacy-centric.  And this at a time when, at just about any less-established gallery, we would expect to find work influenced by television, movies, graphic novels, digital effects, Photoshop, etc.: cold, detached, yet incredibly illustrative shows devoid of reference to the human hand and the plastic arts.

The more established faculty at Otis come from a time that sets the tone for the excellent standard of concept and craft that is evident in this exhibition.  To great effect, the younger group definitely takes notice and doesn’t necessarily eschew tradition for the computer.  The scope of the show, however, is wide open — how one would corral 60-plus artists/teachers to a single theme would be to accomplish a feat beyond all sanity and reason — and this is a good thing.

“I was struck by the fact that no single subject, style, or trend emerged,” writes Ms. Melandri in the SMMOA-sponsored show brochure. The inherently mixed nature of the show flows beautifully in the space. The “mainspace” of the several thousand square-foot building perhaps houses the best pieces in the show, among several others that breathe easily within their own environments. Especially in a show where there is a built-in standard of a certain quality (these are all art instructors for heaven’s sake), who needs a theme? Furthermore, it’s sometimes more fun to make up your own theme, meandering among the many works of a great show. Nevertheless, there are some works that stand out among the crowd.

One piece that falls within all confines of art, design, and writing is Soo Kim’s The Continuous Moment I, a “framed, hand-cut C-print,” around 30 inches square. Moment is a slick and poignant, indirect portrait of a figure leaning over a reflective surface, embellished with squiggly strips cut out of the actual print and text etched into it. I could have done without the text aspect of it, but the photo is beautiful and a far cry from Kim’s shots of underbellies of airplanes taking off and landing shown at Sandroni Rey some years back. There are some other magnificent pieces in the room by well noted artists Carole Caroompas, Meg Cranston, Maura Bendett, Ann Bray, and Suzanne Lacy, whose installation is a collaboration with another parenthetically identified artist who obviously couldn’t temper Lacy’s legendary socio-political weight. The domestically garbed, stacked, and layered work is gorgeous to observe, but upon closer scrutiny, becomes a tad garbled and overwrought in its message. On the other hand, Bray’s digital output on vinyl, Commuter Quilt, speaks volumes with effortless economy.

There are more conceptually elegant works in the installation room off the main area, by architectural designers Linda Pollari, Greg Kochanowski, and a vibrantly lulling video work by Annetta Kapon. 405 North, 405 South is also a simply brilliant, almost abstract narrative on the diametric nature of being in and navigating this maze called LA, soundtrack included.

Scott Grieger’s work is uniquely hilarious as usual, Renee Petropoulos’s Don’t Hurt Me Now mixed media banner is awesome, and Richard Shelton’s tribute to posthumously popular musician Nick Drake is haunting yet very comforting. Ann Summa’s photos and Holly Tempo’s painting engage with everyday art world satisfaction. Chris Eckardt’s Tokyo Study is a domestic gem, and Cole Case’s perspective painting playfully belies it own flatness.

“Omage ’08″ is very refreshing for an arts professional survey. There are tons of great art in this show, simply because there are so many great artists in it. The peer pressure alone to deliver the goods must have been intense for so many, and only a few of them disappoint. Strongly assembled and intelligently laid out, the show unassumingly pulls in the viewer and treats them to an experience more commonly seen in lesser spaces. The show runs through August 30th.

Steve Irvin is a curator, writer, and a visual and performance artist from Los Angeles. His next show, “Ebbs & Flows; Sea Change and the Family Gathering,” opens at Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock on August 30th.