Curated By:
Rosangela Mancilla

Curator Contact:
rosangela.mancilla@gmail.com

Artist Contact:
exoskel13@yahoo.com

Additional Contact:
http://www.lbcreative.org
http://www.greenlb.org

Dates:
September 12- October 4
Reception: September 12, 209 2 p.m.-9 p.m.
Upcoming Reception : October 3, 2009 will be featured as part of Sound Walk

Locations:
Phantom Galleries on 3rd
340 E. 3rd St. Long Beach, CA 90802

The debris of us has been thrown to the wayside,
left to depreciate in city streets, parking lots and empty fields.
The weather erodes, machines trample, dust covers, and uncovers,
but these things will always be here in one form or another, outliving us.
No longer useful, consumer items accumulate in corners and highways in and through urban areas,
and in water passages, such as the Los Angeles river.

Kelly West blends and compiles these textures into building something that for her, is either an exorcism or a celebration. Sometimes a visceral reaction can not be articulated by words, so by pulling it out of obscurity and making it tangible through mixing found materials with her own fabricated forms, she gives the visceral sense a shape and physicality of it’s own. They live outside of herself now, becoming exoskeletons.

A perpetual student with an ever increasing bag of tools, Kelly is always going to college. Kelly collages into her drawings and sculptures; original photographs, various mediums and materials discarded by people, animals and machines. She has shown work at various one-night exhibitions such as Archmosphere in Culver City, Nov. 2008, and the Hollywood Artwalk Vol.1, presented by the Hear Gallery, Aug. 09. She has also participated in a few projects with the Art House Co-op, of Atlanta GA.

Kelly lives in Long Beach and works in both Long Beach and Los Angeles. To see more of her work, along with pages from constantly progressing sketchbooks, please go to:
http://amourarmor.blogspot.com/

Partners:

The Long Beach Redevelopment Agency is proud to partner with Phantom Galleries LA, not only to revive empty storefronts along our major corridors, but also to showcase the arts and build a sense of community and culture in our Downtown," said Craig Beck, Executive Director of the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency. LongBeachRDA.org