GDCA Gallery is pleased to announce our July, 2025 Group Exhibition "IMPRESSIONS"!

Participating Artists: Susanne Belcher, Richard Bell, Michele Castagnetti, Andrew Eyler, Antonio Garcia III, Dave Graham, Martyn Jones, Suki Kuss, Kathe Madrigal, Rick Mendoza, Christina Ilene Thomas & Robert Toll.

GDCA Gallery is pleased to announce our July, 2025 Solo Exhibition:

LESLIE SHAPIRO JOYAL "Saint-Malo"

My uncle was a prominent poet and professor who published many books and famous translations in French. Upon his death, I was left with the notes and working copies of his writings. Unable emotionally to part with the charming pages of his thoughts (I have always loved his handwriting), I began to incorporate them into my watercolor paintings to help soothe my spirit.

LESLIE SHAPIRO JOYAL

Saint-Malo

My uncle was a prominent poet and professor who published many books and famous translations in French. Upon his death, I was left with the notes and working copies of his writings. Unable emotionally to part with the charming pages of his thoughts (I have always loved his handwriting), I began to incorporate them into my watercolor paintings to help soothe my spirit.

Artist Statement

My process is more one of gesture; I am enamored with the sheer beauty and strength of the lone stroke. I delight in the dance of paint on paper or wood, how the color is alive with movement when it’s wet, and finds its own passage and completion. I let the elements create a unique path, and call upon my ability as an artist to connect them into a cohesive statement.

I have always been drawn to the manipulation of space, the layers and hidden passages within environments. It’s the same with the mind: I am the daughter of a psychoanalyst, and have learned vicariously to contemplate, analyze and investigate. It is a challenge for me to discard things, believing that just one small thought, one item, can unlock a long closed door.

I think the quietness of my work is the counterpart to this internal clutter and chaos. Simplicity of form calms me, and it has found its way into my work as both a designer and artist. The layers are there, if we are willing to look.

Leslie Shapiro Joyal

Bio

Born to a French mother and American father, Leslie was raised on a small ranch in the San Fernando Valley portion of Southern California. In the sprawling house where her grandparents also lived, the smell of oil paints and turpentine filled most rooms. Her mother wanted her to be a painter like her grandmother and introduced her to oils at the age of six. Her first gallery invited her to show at the age of 19. A child of the sixties, she was exposed to organic and mid century modern themes which found their way into her psyche. Summers spent in Europe also exposed her to a variety of cultural influences.

As a young adult, the predominant feeling for Leslie was that “artists starve”, a common trope impossible to avoid. This motivated her to transition to a career potentially more lucrative yet still parallel to art. Her focus shifted to interior and architectural design, with a keen interest in furniture. After graduating UCLA, she worked for several influential architecture firms and eventually began her own furniture and design studio.In 1998 “Shapiro Joyal Studio” was born, and for over 27 years has enjoyed a solid reputation with the industry as a favorite resource for furniture collectors and design enthusiasts. Japanese, Scandinavian, French and mid century modern forms have been a touchstone from the earliest days, weaving themselves through both her painting and furniture designs.

SUSANNE BELCHER 

“More “Secrets in the Garden” continue in this exhibition and the theme is rooted in my passion for Nature. Experiencing the energy emanating from the subjects and melding them together with other images or repetitive overlaying creates another magical narrative and personalities emerge for me. There is always more than meets the eye when viewing the beauty that surrounds you and how little we really know about our ecosystem and the secrets that are held within. I have been fascinated by the studies and books written about the magical conversations that take place in the plant world that are beyond our human senses. Drawn to the beauty not only in my own garden but everywhere I go, my photography and digital photo collages encourage the imagination of the viewers to venture deeper the next time you’re in your garden or enjoying a hike. You might even be lucky enough to hear the chatter taking place beneath your feet.” – Susanne Belcher

RICHARD BELL 

MICHELE CASTAGNETTI

"Your Eyes Should Be Open, Not Shut."

ANDREW EYLER

"Exodus-a movement of people- freedom from oppression, tyranny and violence; it must be allowed."

"There is no empty space. Every thought, every action is inscribed. Each step into another dimension, another reality towards eternity."  - Andrew Eyler

ANTONIO GARCIA III

Artist Statement

My art celebrates self-expression and the connections that bind us to ourselves and to others. Rooted in my Mexican heritage and shaped by limited access to creative outlets growing up, my work tells stories of resilience and transformation. Painting on found wood and other humble materials, I explore themes of overcoming doubt and embracing one’s true self. Through my art, I hope to inspire others to pursue their creative paths and believe in the power of art to change lives and communities.

DAVE GRAHAM

"Each painting is a mirror of nature which I have been blessed to have spent my life studying with all of its astounding mix of patterns and colors. I have also noticed that any time I have approached a canvas with a set idea in mind, it inevitably gets thrown out as the piece takes on a life of its own and evolves into something far more interesting than any ideas I may have had to begin with. This approach for me means letting go of my ego and simply being true to the painting as it is evolving and to myself as an artist...

I began painting in a Monastery in Ireland, at a time when I believed that this was the life I was meant to live, guided by a deeply spiritual monk who was able to convince me despite my own doubts and insecurities, that artistically, I had a gift which I was obliged to pursue. He was and is the only Art teacher I have ever known." - Dave Graham

MARTYN JONES

"I think ultimately, I am searching for something unobtainable, a calm tranquillity, an impossible form of transcendence, a perfect existence and that is what brings me back to the canvas." - Martyn Jones

SUKI KUSS

KATHE MADRIGAL

"My abstract works are stories layered upon each other, hiding parts of some and revealing parts of others. They can take months to reveal their completeness. I find such joy while navigating my way through their forms and colors that I can’t imagine doing anything else with such satisfaction."

KATHE MADRIGAL

RICK MENDOZA

Reverie

There is an eternity in every moment, infinity within the limits of a closed interval. The mind can launch into the great expanse of the internal universe with a gentle push like a swimmer making a turn at the end of a lap. These photographs have been the surfaces from which I have sprung into the warm waters of contemplation. They explore the intersection of object, memory, and gesture. Although the subject matter is the botanical specimen, they are not observed with a clinical eye but rather with the poetic gaze of the analogue photographic medium. These graceful botanical forms tell stories that echo my cultural memories - in particular the songs of love and longing in which they played characters, recanting their complex tale of evolution and morphology for something altogether more simple.

In my childhood there were many special old songs that my mother would play for me on her guitar. I remember they were love songs, intense with their tales of unrequited love, or lost love, or love that is in its last moment. These were songs out of the repertoire of the Yucatan, my distant cultural home that I would observe through the viewfinder of my parent’s memories.

The songs seemed to involve the garden and the flowers and the roadside walls of stacked stone painted white. They wove metaphors with thorns and petals and bleeding hearts and palm trees. It was a bit much. They made their impression nonetheless on my eight-year-old mind, and years later it all came back with my own loves and losses. That’s the spirit of those songs, the deep romantic emotion so familiar as to be trite but also a welcome bond between us all.

In the garden there was a story playing out. I eagerly brought its characters under my light. They posed and gave up the goods.

Rick Mendoza

July 2025

RICK MENDOZA

Rick Mendoza has been photographing his surroundings since age nine when his grandfather gave him a Polaroid swinger camera to document his immigrant family outings on trips of discovery and reconnection. Making a livelihood from photography has been a fulfilling, voyeuristic and cross-cultural experience for a kid growing up in the transplanted bubble of a provincial family from the Yucatan. Working as a documentarian and photojournalist, primarily in Los Angeles, Mendoza developed a love of the everyday moment and the artifacts that inhabit the world around him. The selected images are from a body of work titledThe Botanicals.They are an exploration of contrasts in natural forms, rendered in traditional and arcane photo processes, whether they be silver prints or alternative processes, like the cyanotypes and kallitypes. The camera captures these objects with a sensitive eye (as opposed to a scientific one), as spectacular or quietly sublime forms at various stages in their life cycle; the old photo processes infusing the images of leaves, pods and flowers against human forms with a sense of nostalgia and timeless beauty. A graceful moment, a youthful blush, a life portrait, a fading season, a wish, a reverie…  

CHRISTINA ILENE THOMAS

My landscapes are sometimes invitations to stillness and meditation,sometimes expressions of joy, sometimes of drama and mood. I create my titles in hopes that each piece will be further enhanced, the mood, the feeling of it. To me, the titles are just as important as the painting itself."

ROBERT TOLL

"Moving in to the later years, after 40 years working in welded steel, my work still seems to progress. The physical demands of my style of work forces me to find new ways to create the works that I want to do. I find myself revisiting the figure and exploring new ideas in creating abstract sculpture and conceptual ideas. The work somehow continues with the same passion as ever, and I feel I am

doing some of my best work." - Robert Toll

GDCA Gallery is pleased to announce our June, 2025 Solo  Exhibition: 

ALEXANDER GRAMM "LESSONS LEARNED"

ALEXANDER GRAMM

"After graduating from Kansas City Art Institute, I immersed myself in Mixed Media combining my love of photography and painting.

My native American series which was inspired by the photography of Edward Sheriff Curtis allowed me to explore my love of the American West and experiment with a contemporary application on a historic topic.

I continue to work in mixed media and am currently developing a new series that explores the contrast of old and new, the past and the present with painting and the printed word." - AG

STACIA GATES

"The texture and structure of the abstract landscapes are a discovery of the layers we carry in which we are capable of seeing more from within." - Stacia Gates

MUSHGEH GRIGORYAN

"At the heart of all my work lies the human being—their presence, their struggles, their essence. I am endlessly drawn to exploring human nature: my own, the viewer’s, and the universal. I perceive people as energy in motion, constantly engaged in invisible yet powerful exchanges. Through my art, I seek to understand these energetic interactions and their infinite possibilities across the universe. My canvases reflect this dynamic; for some, the energy reveals itself instantly, while for others, it unfolds gradually over time."

KAREN HANSEN

“Years ago my painting practice melded with my meditation so that the very act of painting has become my meditation. As I work, I ease into a clear, quiet space in my mind. The paintings then evolve through intuition, improvisation, experimentation and revision. I seek radiance, nuance, depth, elegance and mystery in each piece. Their subtle complexity is created by layering transparent and translucent veils of color. The results are lyrical and luminous atmospheric abstractions. They are reflections of the rhythms and quiet mysteries of our lives.” - Karen Hansen

VALERIE MITCHELL

VALERIE MITCHELL is an artist and metalsmith with long roots in the downtown arts district Los Angeles. Her work in metal and other materials is realized through one of a kind art jewelry and sculpture and limited edition collections. The collection spans modern organic form to structural abstraction inspired by forces of nature. Nationally exhibited and collected, her work is in numerous publications and books. Locally, some of her work is shown at Freehand Gallery and Craft Contemporary and by appointment. MFA, RISD, Providence, RI and current Assistant Professor at Pasadena City College.

LINDA STELLING

"In this series of works—Independently created yet universally connected - Linda Stelling navigates the ever-shifting boundary between presence and absence, memory and matter. Each piece acts as a concentrated field of inquiry against a emotional and visual rhythm that moves between abstraction, atmosphere, and material depth. The work speaks of Stelling’s concern’s for our planet and for the importance of being mindful of nature and our future together."

CHRISTINA ILENE THOMAS

“Expansiveness, heart-centered generosity, spirituality, the inexpressible mystery of life, the paradoxical sense of joy and sadness. I hope that my work will elicit a range of emotions in the viewer, to touch or soften people’s lives in some way, no matter how small. My paintings change moods, just as we all do and as nature does. My intuitive, sensitive process takes time to fully express what the painting wishes to be, as I contemplate and listen to each piece. My landscapes are sometimes invitations to stillness and meditation,sometimes expressions of joy, sometimes of drama and mood. I create my titles in hopes that each piece will be further enhanced, the mood, the feeling of it. To me, the titles are just as important as the painting itself."

Christina has a spontaneous approach, experimenting with colors and textures, allowing her to explore the effects of each step taken. In this way, each painting unfolds and evolves in its own way, and her contemplative, interior life is translated onto the canvas.

GDCA Gallery is pleased to announce their May, 2025 exhibition "SPIRIT"!

Somewhere,
Between Heaven and Earth.
Somewhere,
Outside Liquid Time,
Spirit lives. 

MARDI DE VEUVE ALEXIS

A changing environment, an evolving local urban environment, urbanization as a condition, graffiti as an urban vocabulary and a reflection of contemporary culture inspire my current body of work.

As an abstract artist, I typically communicate a theme and tonal palette with pattern, mark making, layering and textural effects through mixed media and collage. Most recent work also incorporates strips of painted Mylar to communicate action and energy. Overall, I strive to communicate beauty and elements of design readily visible in virtually all aspects of everyday life, if only we look." - Mardi Alexis

MARLENE CAPELL

"These paintings start with the image of a portal which is the dominant motif. They often evolve over a period of several years. I may paint over old paintings leaving some parts exposed because it goes with my attitude towards life; not to obscure what has gone before. This painting process is one of covering, scraping and redrawing in order to challenge the existing state of the work as multiple layers are built up and then partially obscured. This leaves evidence of what went before in the process of creating a rich and textured surface. I believe our lives are a process of building one experience upon another. As many of these paintings are painted over previous ones, revealing the history of themselves, they become a metaphor for growth and evolution" - Marlene Capell

GHASSAN GHAIB

My artistic vision is grounded in forming a comprehensive perspective that compels us to formally recognize existence. It strives not merely to achieve pure beauty but to awaken the mind and conscious potential through imagination and insight, encompassing intuition, thought, and creativity.

In pursuit of this vision, I have worked to organize the elements of painting through the relationships of color, embodied as dynamic color lines that sometimes conflict and sometimes harmonize. These relationships take shape through layers that are accumulated and interact without disturbing the original color. Additionally, I have incorporated diverse materials into my works, such as textiles, glass, and reflective metals like chrome, which acts like a mirror. These materials enrich the artwork, blending shapes and colors to create a multidimensional experience.

The overarching nature of my artistic exploration carries an emotional and human touch. This dimension of my work reflects a deep engagement with intellectual, cultural, aesthetic, political, environmental, and social contexts. In my view, an artist should hold a position within these broader frameworks. Thus, I have sought to create a concept that moves from the margin to the center, shifting from the isolated self to a collective self, with a focus on shared environmental and human concerns. This transition—from "I" to "we"—highlights a collective consciousness and engagement.

Through this lens, my artwork has adopted a philosophical context that reflects the time and space in which it is created. I perceive each piece as akin to a living organism, possessing paths and contexts that evolve and continuously generate new aesthetic values and intellectual concepts. In the world of art, there is always a mysterious, undiscovered aspect that invites innovation and discovery.

My work often addresses pressing issues that affect our world today, such as environmental pollution, the repercussions of wars, and humanitarian crises like the plight of refugees. Having personally experienced the struggles of asylum, war, political persecution, violence, famine, and ethnic cleansing, I am deeply attuned to the displacement and suffering of millions. These tragedies, which continue to escalate, leave countless individuals navigating treacherous journeys over seas, mountains, and deserts. Many risk their lives crossing borders illegally, facing exploitation by smugglers and enduring dangerous conditions such as defective boats unsuited for ocean travel, leading to tragic drownings.

Refugees leave everything behind in a forced adventure, adapting to new environments, systems, languages, and conditions often fraught with racial discrimination. Their journey demands immense courage to adapt and persevere. My artistic work aspires to shed light on these struggles while advocating for a world where peace, sustainability, and harmony prevail. I envision a clean, green, and ideal world—a space free of pollution and environmental degradation, embedded within a balanced ecological system.

Moreover, I emphasize the importance of investing in the present moment, as it is the only reality we possess. The past is gone and irretrievable, while the future remains mysterious and unknown. By focusing on the present, we can continue to advance our shared humanity and build a better world for all.

GHASSAN GHAIB

GHASSAN GHAIB

LIQUID TIME

CRYSTAL MICHAELSON

"I have used my painting and mixed media artwork as a means to reflect my personal observations of my ever-changing world. Passionate, visceral, structural, immediate, raw, spontaneous, chaotic colorful scribble, monochromatic serenity, architectural... This painting was created as a result of my daily walks to the beach, and the serenity I feel seeing and hearing the waves and smelling the salty air. The intense blue and free abstract pink and yellow / orange drip forms are pulling from the bougainvillea and flowers I see along the way. I hope that the viewer also is overcome with a sense of tranquility and peace." - Crystal Michaelson

CRYSTAL MICHAELSON

"I have used my painting and mixed media artwork as a means to reflect my personal observations of my ever-changing world. Passionate, visceral, structural, immediate, raw, spontaneous, chaotic colorful scribble, monochromatic serenity, architectural." - Crystal Michaelson

BILL SHERWOOD

"I reverse paint on glass using resins and epoxies often lighting behind the painting creating layered effects. ‚What were you thinking?‘ I’m often asked when my works are displayed on a gallery wall. Early on in my career I rendered simply, when art meets science‘“ - Bill Sherwood

WALEED R. QAISI

"Earthenware ceramic work is based on the idea. of the destruction of places. As an Iraqi, I bear responsibility for my ancient history, as well as the destruction that has befallen my country due to wars and politics. Its semicircular shape, its surface shattered by apparent force, like the remnants of time."

SUSANNE BELCHER

"My floral photo collages in this show are a new, ongoing series called “Secrets In The Garden.” I began photographing the beautiful, floral abundance in my own yard several years ago along with bouquets given to me at special occasions. Many of my images found their way to my heart and I knew that I had to do something new and exciting to honor them. Each flower, each image, seemed to yearn to tell me a secret they were holding dear within their petals. But, their narratives didn’t reveal themselves until I captured a multitude of glitches while watching a movie on TV and began layering, combining, photo collaging them together. I experimented with several different grounds including canvas on which to print them, but they didn’t come alive for me until I installed them on Acrylic. Their stories are magical, dreamlike, spiritual, sensual and romantic along with a bit of vanity and playfulness. However, I defer to the imagination of the viewers to be swept away by the stories they see. – Susanne Belcher

GDCA Gallery in collaboration with IAA-USA present the WORLD ART DAY 2025 Exhibition:

“EMBRACE”

The act of accepting or supporting someone or something - a belief, theory, or change - willingly and enthusiastically.

To avail oneself of, to adopt. To take in with the eye or the mind. To encircle, surround, enclose - each other with love with compassion.

To include or contain - ideas beyond our selves.

The strength in each of us, that yet lies undiscovered. The uniqueness of each person, each voice, that is exactly that.

That remains and renews no matter the distance, the silence, the fear – no matter the time – it lives.

Painting, Mixed Media, Collage, Photography and Sculpture.  Susanne Belcher, Richard Bell, Mark Brosmer, Marlene Capell, Michele Castagnetti, Carol Cirillo Stanley, Elizabeth Decker, Teri Dryden, Edem Elesh, Siri France, Dave Graham, Alexander Gramm, Karen Hansen, Cheryl Hrudka, Stan Johnson, Martyn Jones, Suki Kuss, Kathe Madrigal, Melissa Meier, Crystal Michaelson, Michael Moon, Enid Nilsson,  Richard Reiner, Rick Robinson, Edward Rubin, Jason Ruscio, Bill Sherwood, Stephen Schubert, Linda Stelling, Eva Stensland, Christina Ilene Thomas & Robert Toll.

WORLD ART DAY CELEBRATION:

Saturday April 12th from 6pm – 10pm

Parking located across the street at 710 / 712 S. Spring Street / LA , CA 90014 

MARK BROSMER

"The places I’ve created in my paintings are representative of our earth as we know it, yet more distant than we would care to imagine. My work lives in a silent environment where time fails to exist, where focus is shared between symbols and their surrounding areas." - Mark Brosmer

CAROL CIRILLO STANLEY

"It’s the normal, the unnoticed, the common factors of life that influence my work. I look to elevate those pieces by giving each a look and transformation through the camera. Closer views, more distance, varying angles, address a unique perspective. I have been working in downtown Los Angeles for more than a decade, and during this time I have been able to examine the city, its people and structures..." - CCS

ELIZABETH DECKER

I SEE YOU "I had been off in the world for five months or so traveling between London and the EU. I spent some time in Spain, and was inspired by the art surrounding me. Picasso & Gaudi mostly but also street art, music, architecture, fashion, color, conversations, people, expressions, moods. I returned back to the States in September for my son’s birthday and to renew my passport. As I was waiting it out, a friend gave me a place to stay. Another friend gave me a studio to create. So I dove in to create things larger than my traveling sketch book. It felt great to go large again. My first intention was to recreate small portraits on a larger scale of the people I met in the village of Saissac in South France, where I was lucky enough to have a residency for several weeks. But I discovered it didn’t really translate. Sometimes things need to be left intimately small. However, In working through the collective stories of the people I met and the places I travelled, combined with my present state of being, this image emerged. 'I See You' is my love letter to the people I met but also to myself. Knowing that with each step, I grow stronger in embracing the woman I am becoming with the choices I have made to let everything I know to be safe - go. An experiment in Trust. It is also an ode to awareness and truth." 

There’s something happening here "I just feel this is a unified uprising of people coming together to fight for their basic human rights. Everything seemed crazy at the time: Politics. Natural disasters. Relief from natural disasters or income cases no help or support. The year was 2018. Red was a color I was using a lot of to express my fiery mood. A new style emerged where i began to casually throw liquid paint on a rolled out canvas not he floor that began to take shape as people and I moved into the shadows to crate a stinger. more visual voice. A stand. An expression of what I was feeling Inside to come Out. As with all the work I do, it’s about mediating the journey of self, sharing and then opening up a conversation so we can all share our stories. Unite. Embrace. Take A Stand. Buffalo Springfield’s For What it’s Worth was playing on the radio and that shit never gets old."

- Elizabeth Decker

TERI DRYDEN

"With an emphasis on process I create textured surfaces by responding to the changes in the picture as I explore and interact with my materials. Moving between intuition and logic, chaos and order, I reunite and record fragments of thoughts, feelings and memories. By creating an ephemeral path between internal experiences and external encounters, I ask: Who am I? Who are we?" - Teri Dryden

EDEM ELESH

"Toy Piano Melodies"- On site oil pastels. Edem coined the collective of his (5" X 7"), (7" X 10"), and (9" X 12") oil pastel studies "Toy Piano Melodies", as a metaphor for practicing elemental music-like scales; re-acquaintance with his personal interpretations of natural environmental settings. These are done in situ, with the intention of capturing not only visual data, but perhaps more importantly, emotion and TIME"

"Cheese" - after Magritte.

SIRI FRANCE

"Desert Views Series" - I like the way houses look in the desert. There's so much space around them. You can see them from miles off. In these pictures I tried to balance a sense of structure with plenty of space. I tried not to overwork the paintings, if anything, leaving them a bit unfinished. 

"Seated Woman" - This is another piece where I challenged myself to put in just enough information to discern a figure in bright sunlight.

"Night Travelers" - These images of walkers come from memories of spending he pandemic near Elysian park. Although I wanted to indicate a kind of figure/ ground ambiguity, I also wanted to create images where two layers can be seen clearly, although the figure is not immediately apparent.

- Siri France

CHERYL HRUDKA & STAN LEY JOHNSON

Where We Were….

There is definitely an evolutionary process to being an artist. Somewhere along the line, we each picked up a camera and started taking photos of what we each thought was interesting. With each photograph we learned what we enjoyed and practiced our techniques, especially in Street Photography. With each day spent in our darkrooms, we learned the excitement of developing those photographs, as well as the art of manipulation. Eventually, we took our photographs and started manipulating them on the computer. Our abstracts were created, and another step in the evolution process was embraced. From using our photographs, to creating an abstraction from scratch was a logical progression. With the vast array of computer art software, we have evolved from ‘where we were’, to ‘where we are’. For each of us the evolution of our abstract images continues and shows no signs of slowing down.

MELISSA MEIER

'Brazilian artist Melissa Meier is an internationally recognized Fine Artist, whose works are 3-dimensional constructions, crossing into the sculptural, as well as immersive - documented in Fine Art Photography in it’s final stage. Based on personal mythology, the work is both Feminist and Spiritual - Humanist - Sacred and Profound.' 

Meier was recently featured in American Craft Magazine, in a 6-8 page article in December's 'Wonder issue’, written by Deborah Bishop.

MICHAEL MOON

"I do not think there is any greater reason for me to paint except to seek the truth as it resonates within me and onto the canvas. All of this work seeks out the same - an exploration based upon an intuitive underlying quest for balance and harmony in the midst of impermanence and change." - MM

ENID NILSSON

RICHARD OWEN ROBINSON

Chorus Line" is a studio piece from a study for a series of steel sculptures. The inspiration came from observing lines of dancers in unison, and capturing the moment before the movement, the slight hitch and tilt before the choreography kicks in.

ED RUBIN

My Mannequin Moment

MY MANNEQUIN MOMENT – FIRE

JASON RUSCIO

Jason studied film at New York University's Tisch School where he received the 'Excellence in Filmmaking' Award. His thesis film, "eclipse", premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and won ‘Top Prize’ at both the Student Academy Awards and the Independent Film Channel's Student Showcase Awards. In 2016, the Academy of Motion Pictures digitally restored the original 16mm negative of "eclipse" for preservation.

Jason has written numerous screenplays, directed two feature films ("Laura Smiles", "Sam & Joe"), more than 80 short films and has won many awards for his work as a writer, director and photographer. His two feature films have received glowing reviews from some of the nations top critics and publications (see below), and have screened at some of the most prestigious film festivals, including Tribeca, Munich, CineVegas, Denver and more. “Laura Smiles” was theatrically released in New York and Los Angeles in 2006. Jason's un-produced screenplays have advanced in the top competitions, including Nicholl, Big Break, Austin, ScreenCraft, PAGE, BlueCat, and many more.

STEPHEN SCHUBERT

“Day Awakens” (Green Flash). I frequently went to Carmel,CA. to deliver my art to a gallery. Making new friends there I was repeatedly invited to walk down Ocean Ave to watch the sun drop below the horizon. A tradition which included wine drinking and cheering when the “green flash” was seen....an optical illusion that appears on a water horizon at sunrise and sunset that truly looks like a green flash." - Stephen Schubert

EVA STENSLAND

"As a multi-media artist, I am presently focused on acrylic paint with collage elements. Inspired initially by Picasso, DeKooning and Rauschenberg, I am currently most aligned with Kandinsky's theosophy, acquainting myself with the Transcendentalists. Then there is Jung, and the idea of collective consciousness, everything I believe about the nature of reality, consciousness and all, that delicious jazz. .. As an artist we become utterly aware of being a specific individual. At the same time I feel I am «an everyone» or universal being... I allow the channeling through both, the very specific “structural receptacle” that I am: sex, age, culture, DNA…. My job is to allow my part of "The All" to bloom, and inspire others to do the same. Art is a universal language. Your “life” knows the language. Artists just need to entice it to open some of the sacred secrets in your inner self." - Eva Stensland

GDCA Gallery proudly announces their 15 Year Anniversary Exhibition:

"SPLENDOR"

In Gematria, 15 represents the word 'Hod', which means "Splendor". 

In Numerology, 15 is considered a dynamic and creative agent that represents 'the blooming of life in creation'.

ANGELIQUE ANTONIOU

"A Glimpse of Life - My photographs represent my life. They show how I see the events that occur around me. I am exposing my life to you, for these photos are the moments in my life which I thought were worth preserving and exhibiting. Each moment can never be recaptured. That is one aspect that makes photography so powerful and amazing. Who can ever recreate that moment in time, that feeling! No one. So, my aim is to grab that moment that might have passed unnoticed or been forgotten in order that we might reflect on it, and on ourselves. I want you to see "a glimpse of life" through my eyes. As Henri Cartier-Bresson said, " We are passive onlookers in a world that moves perpetually. Our only moment of creation is that 1/125 of a second when the shutter clicks, the signal is given, and motion is stopped..."

"Degas Remembrance - My first love was ballet. I began dancing at the age of three. Due to an injury I was forced to quit when I was fourteen. Though I shall never again feel my body move across the floor as a dancer, I can still experience the height of an arabesque or the flurry of bourrées through the lens of my camera. Being in their midst I share the dancers' anticipation, their excitement and joy. I want my camera to capture these dancers' lives and moments, as I had once lived them." - AA

TERI DRYDEN

"With an emphasis on process I create textured surfaces by responding to the changes in the picture as I explore and interact with my materials. Moving between intuition and logic, chaos and order, I reunite and record fragments of thoughts, feelings and memories. By creating an ephemeral path between internal experiences and external encounters, I ask: Who am I? Who are we?"

GRONK

"Gronk is easily one of the most recognized LA Chicano painters - and yet he remains a mysterious and mercurial figure. Growing up in East Los Angeles amid poverty and police riots, Gronk became an autodidact whose critical interests included art cinema, modernist theater, and campy B-movies, along with a wide array of philosophers, theorists, and writers. Also described as a co-founder of the Chicano conceptual art group Asco, Gronk’s work is a “hybrid voice that speaks in many artistic tongues”: painting, drawing, graphic arts, murals, performance art (street, stage, and video), photography, set design, ceramics, and computer-generated animation. Gronk’s self-invention, hybrid voice, and conceptualism pose a challenge to clear-cut categories, identities, and practices—including the gallery system, toward which he remains ambivalent, but within which he has succeeded. “In the end,” he explains, “I am not going to ask for permission to do something.”

- Gronk

MAUREEN HALDEMAN

Paysages du Ciel (Cloudscapes)

Seeking a respite from the relentless pace of modern life and the concrete landscapes of urbanity, I have always found comfort and inspiration in the boundless expanse and ethereal beauty of the sky. To me, the sky possesses a unique magic, one capable of soothing the soul and rekindling the spirit. A symphony of light and shadow dances across the expanse of mother nature’s canvas; a spectrum of tones and hues are found in the transitions between dawn, dusk and nighttime, interpreting an ever-shifting tapestry of moods, colors and textures, all created by nature.

Through my skyscapes I endeavor to forge a connection between our artificial surroundings and the transcendent beauty of nature. Many of my most contemplative images capture the essence of the sky. Each image tells a story of constancy intertwined with perpetual change, serving as a reminder of the profound therapeutic potential inherent in the natural world, particularly in the limitless expanse above.

My photographs celebrate the sky's soothing influence and acknowledge its power to heal, inspire, and restore balance and harmony and balance in our lives - a soothing balm for the human spirit, offering solace and rejuvenation to those who pause to gaze up and contemplate its wonders.

Maureen J Haldeman

SONDRA JOLLES

"If You Know My Work, You Will Know Me."

- Sondra Jolles

CLAUDIO LUCHINA

A landscape, physical as well as metaphysical of expanded horizons.

The passage of time, and more often than not, the absence of human presence (although the "human" is poignantly present); the subject is the very absence of subject as we commonly understand it, it's as if the subject was at some time there, but it's now absent. We have arrived after the scene has reconstituted itself to its original state. The waters have parted, and now have rejoined, leaving but a trace of a presence.

The periphery of the subject, the before and after, the way time wraps around us.

The presence of the absence, a wave of longing washing on the heart. The silence; not the empty silence, but the silence of the dawn of meaning. Meaning not as concepts, but as the song of the trees in the wind. That kind of meaning, the meaning we understand beyond language.

It's not the ‘we’ in ‘it’ (the world), but it in ‘us’. Or perhaps, who knows, a little bit of both.

GDCA Gallery proudly announces their FEBRUARY,  2025 Exhibition:  "CHERISH".

GDCA Gallery proudly announces their FEBRUARY, 2025 SOLO Exhibition: 

CELIK KAYALAR "Layers of the Mind and Soul"

ADRIAN HUTH

"Sky To A Machine” is the original text I typed into the prompt of a visual AI tool just to see how it would render back images to me. I refined the prompt with additional modifiers until I reached a composition which became the source material and eventual painting. For myself it represents our own navigation of how technology impacts the human condition.

This is inspired by a quote from Joan Mitchell who once said "Abstract is not a style. I Simply want to make surface work". This quote has always stuck with me and in another song I admire (a lot of my work is inspired from music) the artist sings "You Get No Points For Style". I believe he is talking about fashion but I like how it compliments the Mitchell quote in the art world. The painting is a representation of playing with this theme and maybe a little poke at the art world that thinks of Abstract work as a style.

"For Your Will"

It is inspired by a song of the same name which I think is a clever antithesis to the common phrase "against your will". The song is about relationships interactions and the painting represents two figures intertwined in the same way. 

CHERYL HRUDKA & STAN LEY JOHNSON 

“My work is personal, poetic and lyrical. Emphasis is given to form, texture and color. Each field, the figure and the ground, is meticulously arranged for maximum effect. It is my goal to elicit a familiar and pronounced mood in each of my viewers.” - Cheryl Hrudka

“I am a structural expressionist. At first, the two concepts seem ill suited. This awkward synthesis creates a dynamic tension in my work. By alternating structure (expression) in the figure and expression (structure) in the ground, the forces at play." - Stanley Johnson

Cheryl Hrudka & Stan Johnson

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS LLC / HJ Gallery

KRISTIN BRIN

CECILIA CRESTO

A San Diego native, I grew up surrounded by creativity but only recently made art a primary focus in my life. After completing a six-month mentorship with artist Sheila Daube, I embraced the evolving nature of my craft, experimenting daily and taking creative risks. For me, art is more than a visual expression—it's a means of forging emotional connections and communicating the ineffable. My work blends spontaneity with precision, reflecting both light and shadow, as I continually explore and evolve as an artist.

SHEILA DAUBE

Sheila Daube is an abstract artist from Southern California, drawing inspiration from the mid-century American School and her years as a preschool teacher. “I’ve been trying to paint like a five-year-old for years, striving to return to my original reaction to color and line,” she says. Sheila’s work explores timeless themes from mythology while incorporating unique mediums like foil and powdered pigments. Her art has been featured in national exhibitions, is held in private collections worldwide.

SUKI

Kintsugi

Kintsugi, literally “golden joints”, is the ancestral Japanese art of repairing broken objects by highlighting their cracks with golden resin. Often undertaken as a form of art therapy to encourage resilience, the art of Kintsugi follows a slow and painstaking process that requires patience and concentration. Day after day, week after week, step after step, the object is cleaned, gathered, cared for, mended and celebrated.

Ikebana

At its heart, the Japanese art of Ikebana is about celebrating an intimate connection with nature. To practice Ikebana is to find inspiration in the seasons, favor unassuming blooms and branches, seek balance and simplicity, and remain fully present in the moment. It is a beautiful, pure antidote to our age of distraction and excess.

Artist Statement

The work in this exhibit is true to my devotion to traditional Japanese art forms. I have spent endless hours reading and studying the art of the kimono and devoted my solo show last February to my work in interrupting that form.

This exhibit centers on two little known Japanese art forms, Ikebana, the art of flower arranging and Kintsugi…an art form embracing mending and healing. My interpretation of these art forms is rendered with respect for the cultural heritage of these Japanese treasures.

SUKI October 2024

RICHARD BELL

Richard Bell is an enigma wrapped in a riddle, with a talent for capturing the mysteries of life through his unique perspective.

Based in the bustling city of Los Angeles, his work delves into the depths of the human psyche, exploring the duality of existence through a monochromatic lens of black, white, and blue. Using a blend of drawing and painting techniques, Bell constructs visually stunning pieces that ignite the imagination and provoke introspection.

Each stroke of his brush or pen reveals a new layer of understanding, urging the viewer to ponder the complexities of the world around us.

With his art, Bell invites us to embrace the unknown and unearth our own inner truths.

TERI DRYDEN

OLD BOYFRIENDS This fun series came from my ongoing commitment to recycling. I salvaged disparate scraps of papers and sewed them together to create one-of-a-kind collages. Metaphorically, they look like a bunch of “old boyfriends” hanging around!

DAY FOR NIGHT When I completed these collages, they brought to mind the moviemaking technique ‘day for night’ where a night scene is shot during the day.

SAMUEL PERRY

Samuel Perry creates dynamic, textural works by engaging with raw, unprimed canvas in an energetic and physical process. Through scuffing, stepping on, and even using the canvas to absorb spilled coffee, Samuel imbues each piece with a sense of lived experience. The canvas is then stapled to the wall, where memories or music inspire abstract forms using drawing materials and gestural paint strokes. Layers of texture, marks, lines, and color build, resulting in expressive, non-repetitive works.

Based in Southern California, Samuel has been an active member of the San Diego art community since 2014. His work has been exhibited in several exhibitions across California and is held in private collections nationwide.

CAROL CIRILLO STANLEY

"It’s the normal, the unnoticed, the common factors of life that influence my work. I look to elevate those pieces by giving each a look and transformation through the camera. Closer views, more distance, varying angles, address a unique perspective. I have been working in downtown Los Angeles for more than a decade, and during this time I have been able to examine the city, its people and structures..." - CCS

SUKI

“Art is not art. Art is life”. SK

"My love of Japanese art and culture started a thirty-year journey of exploration of the kimono. Silky textures, clean lines and dramatic form resonated deeply in me.

My very first pieces were created in dichroic glass. Throughout the years I continued this aesthetic with paper, paint and pen.

I explored other media and themes, but always came back to the kimono.

To me, it represents courage, beauty and feminine strength." 

NOAH JAMES SAUNDERS

Adria Becker "KIND OF BLUE"

Portraiture and figurative nudes. Becker offers exploration of traditional rendering starting points to highly experimental, cross-contouring representation. These figures and faces all succeed in the ultimate goal: capturing the soul.

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