Mapping the Dragons: In Uncharted Territory
Feb 16-25

2270 Venice Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90006

Feb 16: 5pm - 10pm Opening Event
Feb 16-25: 10am - 5pm Gallery Hours

At least as far back as the 10th century, mapmakers depicted dragons and other ferocious creatures around the edges of maps. These images indicated uncharted territories, dangerous shoals or, at times, the sincere belief that actual sea serpents and monsters lurked there. 

Modern cartographers may eschew depictions of fire-breathing beasts to warn of peril, but the association remains. Although the oft-quoted phrase “hic svnt dracones” (Latin for “Here be dragons”) actually appears only on two surviving medieval globes, those words have come to mean in modern usage: “that’s a nasty can of worms” or “beware, it’s a Pandora’s box.” Programmers and hackers use the same phrase imbedded in computer code to designate something utterly indecipherable or a virus lurking. 

Yet for artists, “dragons” can fuel creative expression. A painter or sculptor brave enough to explore monster-infested seas can sometimes break new ground. Whether the dragons are personal demons, societal wrongs, or the stuff of our communal dreams and nightmares, it can be a rich vein for artistic mining. 

Mapping the Dragons presents three very different artists who each in their own way confront unmapped and unvisited territories. It is then not entirely coincidental that the paradoxical, the surreal and the symbolic come to play in the work of each, in surprising and powerful ways.

Gayle Friedman, Hikaru Hayakawa and Armando Lopez come together in an intimate group show featuring painting, printmaking, sculpture, and installation.