As part of the Cal State Fullerton College of the Arts (COTA) Galleries’ artist lecture series, one of Southern California’s most influential contemporary artists, Tom LaDuke, was given a spotlight to showcase his eye-catching work.
Held inside the Visual Arts building, the presentation featured LaDuke discussing various pieces he had worked on. Throughout the presentation, images of animals, raw meat and human nature were showcased as LaDuke utilized different materials and concepts to tell his artistic story.
As opposed to relying on traditional store bought materials when creating many of his art pieces, LaDuke likes to do things his own way.
“I like to invent the application, so there’s always like 50 versions of it,” LaDuke said.
LaDuke, who has been painting since kindergarten and professionally painting since 2000, said that being an artist found him. He compared the feeling of creating his work as being in love, and that when it hits right, it’s the “best thing ever.”
As the presentation centered on the concept of capturing space between memory and reality, LaDuke emphasized how he doesn’t feel people can really grapple with everyday fleeting moments.
“They’re always thinking about what had happened, wishing they could change it; about what’s coming or how much they did,” LaDuke said. “But the moment’s already gone and it was a fantasy. There’s nothing like right now and no one lives in the now.”
Following the presentation was a walk-in gallery, showcasing various sculptures, murals and drawings made by LaDuke, giving students and the general public an opportunity to have a more intimate and detailed look of his work in person.
The theme of the gallery was titled “Slowly, the Song Goes,” which follows recurring ideas throughout LaDuke’s practice that emphasize his transformation and return as an artist. The exhibition was intended to reflect LaDuke’s approach to image making, where drawing, painting and sculpture are treated as open-ended processes rather than fixed mediums.
With this in mind, those viewing the exhibition had the freedom to decipher the images however they felt. Aside from the sculptures, which included jarring pieces like “Substitute Teacher” and “Clay,” which depicted deceased animals or severed animal limbs, there were paintings like “Future proof” and “Ship of Fools” with softer imagery that furthered his versatility.
“There’s traditional and mixed media involved and there’s layering,” said third-year studio arts major Angelica Platero Hernandez. “I’ve never seen that, ever.”
Hernandez expressed how LaDuke experiments with all the pieces and materials and that viewers don’t take the time to be grateful for the effort being put behind it.
The mural, which had elements of “Star Wars,” including a Stormtrooper and the Death Star as well as other space-fantasy implementations, tied back to how his paintings resist settling into stable images.
The life of an artist can be a struggle, as LaDuke emphasized selling paintings and making a profit from them can be a difficult thing to navigate.
“I have hundreds of paintings, it’s crazy, and there’s always a couple that you kind of wish you held back,” LaDuke said. “As soon as I finish something, I give it to the gallery and I sell it. You get money so you can stay alive, but then I don’t have that piece anymore.”
As a whole, the event was filled with inspiration left and right with various pieces to look at. As a studio art major herself, Platero Hernandez expressed the diversity she found within the gallery and how she took inspiration from that.
“The more he explained his thought process through his artwork, the more I realized how closed-minded I was,” Hernandez said. “To me, it just made me realize that I need to step out of my comfort zone.”
COTA galleries are free and open to the public from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.