Opening Reception: Saturday, 28th of June 7:00 - 10:30pm

Black Maria is pleased to announce the opening of "Modern Soil", an exhibition of new works by Los Angeles based artists Brooks Shane Salzwedel and John Palmer. The exhibition builds on the fight-for-life themes consistent in Salzwedel's art - nature vs. man-made, prehistoric vs. modern, organic vs. structured, recalling a time past, while remaining firmly planted in the present. Palmer's works explores landscapes in peril and gives the exhibition contextual layers of introspection and meaning.

With little more than graphite and resin, Salzwedel creates sublime images of nature and industrial development co-existing.  Creating an eerie, ethereal tension between the two, while challenging notions of beauty and destruction. Salzwedel's process and materials themselves lend additional depth to his content.  The toxic process of the layered resin is initially overshadowed by the beauty of the trees and plant life it contains.

Brooks Shane Salzwedel earned his BFA with distinction from Art Center College of Design in 2004.  In addition to his flourishing art practice, he is the designer and producer of an award-winning line of belt buckles, included in Los Angeles Magazine's 2006 "Best Of" issue.  Salzwedel's art and accessories have also garnered press in Los Angeles Times Magazine West, GQ, LA Confidential, NY Arts Magazine, Lucky, Juxtapoz, and Timeout.

"Modern Soil" will include an exclusive preview of "Landscape Quartet," four new short films from artist and filmmaker John Palmer. The films are works-in-progress, depicting landscapes in crisis, victims to shifts in permanence and scale. Palmer received his BFA from San Francisco Art Institute and is a recipient of the Princess Grace Foundation Film Honorarium and the James Broughton Film Award.  His work has been exhibited around the world, including group shows at Pacific Film Archive and Millennium Film Workshop.