Tom Wudl is an LA based artist who has taken inspiration from the Buddhist text the Avatamsaka Sutra ( also known as the Flower Ornament Scripture ). This exhibiton at La Louver in Venice LA displays a wide range of Wudl's work from detailed paintings, drawings to prints all created as responses to the Scripture. The Avatamsaka Sutra is believed the earliest discourse from the Buddha which is Considered “the most colourful and dramatic rehearsals of Buddhist teaching,”.
Wudl studied at Chouinard Art Institute in LA and received a BA in Fine Art and as a 'devotee of Buddhism' ( quoted from LaLouver.com ) his work portrays deeper spiritual meanings. As a life long student of art and history he is seen a 'spiritually motivated artist' inspired by artists such as Wassily Kandinsky and Agnes Martin.
La Louver Gallery founded in Venice, California in 1975, celebrates contemporary art through a distinguished exhibition program of Los Angeles based and international artists. And The Flowebank World exhibition is like no other.
The exhibition set it's self is significant to the themes of spiritually. The white painted walls and light brown hue glossed floor creates a calming and tranquil atmosphere to compliment the work framed on the walls. The rectangular shaped rooms in which the work is displayed allows for a simple and minimalist setting to allow no distractions from the detailed work; consisting of bright hues and muted creams with biomorphic shapes to convey the importance of flowers to Wudl work. The display of the work is effective as a wide variety or frames are used which may sound slightly unorganised but it portrays contemporary art at it's finest. The variton of frame colours and widths compliments each indivigual peice of work and adds to the effect of the variotion in the sizes of work which are displayed in no order creating a free and relaxed feel. Wudl's work consists of many sizes but the order in which the work is framed on the walls is successful due to larger spaces between each piece of work allowing them to be fully appreciated.
Wudl work portrays a range of abstract shapes juxtaposed with biomorphic shapes and amphous lines to portray the more natural themes of flowers. This piece called One Hundred Trillion Concentrations ( seen to the right ) is significant as it portrays the sacred meanings behind Wudl's work. A collection of bright hues a long with repetition of the pattern created using petal shapes and line creates a grid effect which mimics Buddhist mandala style art suggesting many interesting layers; it portrays peace which is important to Wudl. Creating work that holds almost calming quality is something that i can experiment with to in response to Wudl. This piece is acrylic on arabic rice paper which has a soft linen appeal. The composition is significant as Wudl uses geometic shapes and organic shapes. The central placement of the rose like flower portrays it's importance and its heirchy within the composition. Wudl uses illusory space to create a three dimensional rose effect by using lighter and darker pink hues. The objective pink hue of the rose infers love and admiration which is juxtaposed by the detailed background. A darker range of black and blues around the rose also emphasises it's heirachy and allows it to stand out. The square shapes placed in each corner along with smaller circles placed inside each square compliments each-other due to Wudl's use of a subjective complimentary and harmonious colour pallet portraying emotions of energy and positivity. The blue hue background is important as it again emphasises the nature themes in this Flowerbank World exhibiton. The light brown wooden frame doesn't distract from the work but compliments the light beige hue surrounding the flower, this posits how Wudl has framed the rose due to its significance. I love the effect of the layers creating flower contours in Wudl's work as a whole. For my own work i will experiment with layering various shapes and colours to create the similar patterns. I also want to experiment with the quilting Wudl has used in many pieces to bring the piece to life. The reoccurring use of central composition is also effective and when creating my own work i will experiment more with this and i will experiment working onto a background giving outcomes more dimension.
Wudl's work clearly represents his links to his spiritual beliefs and this exhibition portrays calming and peaceful emotions complimented by the busy use of bright hues and patterns giving each piece a story.
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