Toy model kits, usually relegated to the enthusiastic hobbyist, are turned on their head at Anti-Plastic, currently showing at Flashpoint. The show is filled with nostalgia, juxtapositions and exploration. Artist Anthony Cervino uses scraps of toys and the wiry, plastic structures typically used to contain the parts of pre-assembled model kits, such as planes or cars, and deconstructs them to create various low-relief sculptural settings and landscapes. Cervino's work has many easily seen commonalities.......

Becky Alprin's High Altitude City, courtesy Irvine Contemporary Over 250 artists from across the country were evaluated for Irvine Contemporary's "MFA annual" group show, Introductions4. Each of the artists were chosen by a selection panel of collectors of early-career artists through studio and exhibit visits along with open submissions. The chosen nine, Becky Alprin, Reid Bingham, Christina Empedocles, Adam Frezza, Andrea Land, David Linneweh, Sebastian Martorana, Jimmy Joe Roche and Matthew Woodward, represent an......

James Marshall, or Dalek, has been a fixture in the urban art scene for ten years. Best known for his "Space Monkey" characters, Marshall brings this influence to Irvine Contemporary in his solo show, Overweight. Seen as a combination of street art, cartoon, Japanese pop and punk, Marshall's paintings are very precise and highly complex compositions. Using bright neon colors he creates dizzying kaleidoscopic displays. The shapes that he employs are simple and minimal......

The front room at Art Whino has one of the only seating arrangements found in the vast recesses of the gallery. The old sofa flanked by two chairs makes a nice, quaint vignette, completely at odds with the disturbing yet humorous paintings by JoKa, now on display. Viewing the dark-humored compositions littered with meat, women and pirate paraphernalia, you can’t help but wonder where these images come from and how they are concocted. The artist,......

The tiny room that makes up Transformer gallery is currently displaying contrasting work by Richard Chartier and Paul Vinet that explores the ideas of absence and presence. The title of the show, Absence Presence, plainly explains the intent of the exhibition. Mostly known for his work in sound and recording, Chartier extends his minimal tendencies to his paintings found in Absence Presence. Chartier uses a process where simple line drawings are erased and then painted......

Abstract art can be tough for some to appreciate. You have to ponder it, think on it and stew on it before you start to comprehend it. You have to look past its surface and try and peer into the artist’s mind to determine his purpose. And you are probably one of two minds: either you love to do this, or you don’t. For those who do, Matthew Langley’s Paintings + Paperworks now at DCAC,......