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"Demonstrations of The Code" Oil on Wood 23" x 28" framed -Craig LaRotonda 2005.

The artist doesn't explain his title, but the idea of a mother demonstrating anything to a baby with slabs of dead meat is repugnant -- that it should be the Madonna and Child makes it even more so.  Their corpse-like flesh and haunted eyes suggest that proximity to such quantities of red meat is so debilitating that life itself, both physical and psychic, has drained from their bodies.  There is nothing left for them except to await death.   The artist has created a stunning contrast between this and traditional paintings of a glowing, sensual Mother and Child surrounded by lush fruits, flowers, and a multitude of living creatures.  LaRotonda's "Code" focuses on what our predilection for dead "life" is doing to the divine-mother-child encoded within humanity itself.

9 April 2004 / 19-20 February 2005

www.mythinglinks.org

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THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE
VISUAL ARTS
'Unearthly' Visions

History, alternate takes on reality intrude at Limbo Fine Arts exhibit
By Robert L. Pincus

June 3, 2004

"She Divines Water" Craig LaRotonda 2004

Time is elastic in art nowadays. Artists, for the past quarter century at least, seem inclined to cull from any style or period.
At first blush, some artists who look back can appear to be "nostalgists." Craig LaRotonda, the most prominently featured artist in an exhibition called "Unearthly Delights," is one of them.
LaRotonda is a Bay Area painter who clearly feels a kinship for the 15th century, particularly Flemish painting by the likes of Hubert and Jan van Eyck or Roger van Weyden, with its blend of quasi-photographic realism and stark color contrasts in the service of spiritual visions.
LaRotonda's pictures, on view at Limbo Fine Arts in Hillcrest, strike up a connection with the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch too, though LaRotonda isn't as deep into the grotesque. Among living artists, LaRotonda is closest in spirit and style to Odd Nerdrum.
The nude man and woman in LaRotonda's "The Meat Eaters" pay homage to the Adam and Eve of the van Eycks' masterful "Ghent Altarpiece." But the tone and mood is unmistakably contemporary.

ART REVIEW

"Unearthly Delights," paintings by Craig LaRotonda, Kevin Peterson and Sean Christopher
Through June 6; Limbo Fine Arts, 1432 University Ave., Hillcrest; free; (619) 295-5393 or www.limboarts.com.

The scene is rather earthy - and bloody. His man and woman in the Garden are on the road to a carnivorous life - well, at the least an omnivorous one. Each grasps a blood-red specimen. His resembles a steak; hers looks like a heart. Their original sin appears to be the killing of some creature. A wild dog skulks in the background, looking longingly at the objects of their fascination. It's not a pretty picture of human behavior, but it is painted with flair and meticulousness.
"The Meat Eaters" is the most overtly scriptural picture. Other examples in this Flemish mode have a comparable intensity and display the same fusion of spiritual vision and self-deprecating skepticism. "I Become the Tool" finds his everyman (this one with hair) up to his waist in water, surrounded by flowers and wearing a humble tiara on his head. He is suggestive of a prophet figure, while the man in "What Have I Done?" is satyr-like, with the requisite small horns on his head and a meditative pose that is intriguingly at odds with his mythic identity.
LaRotonda's paintings of female nudes draw from a different tradition. They pull from the Pre-Raphaelite figures of Gabriel Dante Rossetti and John Everett Millais along with late 19th-, early 20th-century painters who favor gaunt, pale women possessing an air of doom about them. One of those paintings, "Ophelia's Dream," is a pictorial cousin to Munch's nudes, with her flowing dark hair, sensual body and spooky face. In "She Divines Water," a pale half-figure, who looks to be floating above a black river (the symbolism is death-drenched), takes us back to Millais' famous "Ophelia" of 1851-52.
LaRotonda distinguishes himself with his commitment to his craft. At the same time, he feels too weighted down by history. The spiritual visions in his paintings seem more like "visions" - too self-conscious to be as arresting as they first appear.
Other worlds
Kevin Peterson paintings contain images that transcend daily reality too, tying them to the show's title. The fellow in "Untitled (Road Trip)" has a globe inside his head and the head itself looks like a small building with a customized alcove for the planet in miniature.
But just because the subject's head is rectangular doesn't stop him from wearing a hat: the archetypically American coonskin cap. Then again, this guy in the picture might be an artist too; along with his cap and a hobo sack slung over his shoulder, he has sheets of slides spilling from a portfolio case.
Peterson, a San Diego native who lives in Orange County (Lake Forest), cultivates a style we could call grotesque expressionism. It owes something to pop art and to comics too, both mainstream and marginal. For local viewers who follow San Diego artists such as Tim McCormick and Charles Glaubitz you might see Peterson's work as a branch on the same family tree.
Sean Christopher, based in Orange County, is of the same lineage, but his pictures are more sharply defined and less emotionally dark than Peterson's. The loopy looking beings in his paintings are mostly human: mannered and distorted specimens of the species. The figure in "Blueberry Saint" has an outfit to match the title. The same can be said for "Cherry Blossom Satellite." Each picture features a performer at his mike, doing an act in a setting that looks vaguely extraterrestrial. Visions of unearthly lounge acts, perhaps?

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TRAFFIC EAST Magazine- Feature, April 2002

"Narcissus" 17" x 17" oil on wood

The subject of this painting is a spiritual awakening. The bird appears as a divine messenger. The flame eminating from her finger symbolizes her discovery of immortality.

"Nicholais Applies The Law Of Anti-Gravity"
36" x 48" oil and acrylic on wood

Vintage posters of magicians Carter The Great and
Houdini have always interested me, especially the ones with the levitating women. Other cultures have records of levitation accomplished as the result of spiritual enlightenment. Of such accounts the yogis of India have been the most fascinating to me.

left- "Mistress Of The Innerworld" 33" x 52" oil on wood

I found an old Daguerreotype (vintage metal photo) of a seated woman fromthe early part of the 20th century which became the inspiration for this image. The tree growing from
the woman's head is a metaphor for her consciousness.

right- "The Immortal Beings And The Secret Scroll"
48" x 75" oil and gold leaf on canvas.

Inspired by the master Dutch and Flemish painters of
the early Renaissance, this painting borrows the classic image of Mary and the Christ Child. The purpose of the macro universe held in her hand is to represent the Virgin Mary as the Universal Mother. The young Christ is dressed in his space suit.

left- "Mahavatar Babaji" 22" x 26" oil and
silver leaf on wood

Babaji is an avatar. In Hinduism this means he is a divine incarnation is the flesh. This image is powerful to me. It embodies a sense of mystery-like the accounts of Babaji himself. As a divine incarnation, Babaji was sent to earth to teach a small but important few the techniques of the ancient Kriya Yoga. He has appeared to people for periods for a few hundred years in different forms but mostly as a young long haired man silently dwelling in a cave atop the Himalayan Mountains in India.

right- "The Propelled Heart" 24" x 36" oil on wood

In a series of paintings I started in 1997, I have depicted monkeys with great intelligence and dignity. This painting was commissioned as a gift for my client's wife. This monkey is a seeker like myself. The message in the book reads " I am the
voice of one, seeking truth in the universe."

TRAFFIC EAST magazine
April Issue 2002

Craig LaRotonda - A MINDFUL EYE

By
Ray Kelley

Walking out the door of his studio in San Francisco, Craig LaRotonda comes upon a small, dead bird. Only the faintest wisp of white feathers is visible upon the poor creature's seemingly reptilian skin. The bird looks like a dandelion that has been used in a game of "he loves me, he loves me not," abandoned by a tomboyish young girl who discovers a diversion of greater interest prior to learning an answer to her question. Its craning neck gives the impression of a final struggle following the fall from the nest, however brief, prior to the inevitable expiration of life.

LaRotonda rushes back into his studio, selecting an empty, lidded jar from a shelf in his workspace. Outside, he respectfully picks up the bird, placing it in the jar and sealing the lid. Following a few short weeks on a sunlit windowsill, all that will remain of the bird will be its tiny, fragile skeleton, and within a year, this skeleton will be immortalized in one of LaRotonda's unique pieces of artwork.

While Craig LaRotonda's first passion is oil painting, he has also created numerous assemblages, illustrations and sculptures, often in collaboration with his partner, Kim Maria, and just as often utilizing found pieces of all shapes, sizes, and origins. Since moving to San Francisco nearly five years ago, LaRotonda and Maria opened and continue to run Revelation Studios, a combined fine art and commercial studio. With more than twenty-five group and solo exhibitions in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Atlanta and New York to his credit, LaRotonda is the embodiment of a working artist.

Although not fond of categorization, LaRotonda considers his painting a mix of expressionism and surrealism. "My paintings explore the unspeakable nature of consciousness. I think reality is much more than what we perceive with the five senses. I'm captivated by the spaces in between, like the passage between life and death, which seems to play continuously in my work."

Raised in suburban Buffalo, New York, LaRotonda studied art with renowned illustrators Alan Cober and Jerry Pickney at the State University of New York at Buffalo. There, he honed his drawing skills, which he utilizes as the fundamental basis of his work, often conceptualizing individual pieces within the image through metaphor while always studying the subject with a mindful eye.

"One of my biggest influences in art has been photographer Joel Peter Witkin. His work absolutely floors me. The way in which he incorporates both beauty and grotesque elements in one piece is positively brilliant. I think he's one of the most exciting contemporary artists."

After earning his BFA, LaRotonda continued producing work in his hometown until 1997, when he moved San Francisco with his partner Kim, and his faithful dog Zed. LaRotonda's Revelation Studios is a short flight (or a 6 and a half hour drive) from Hollywood, and many of his works of art found their way to tinsel-town. As a regular installation at Los Angeles' La Luz de Jesus Gallery, LaRotonda's work has attracted the attention of private collectors and celebrities alike.

His paintings and collaborative sculptures are hanging in the homes of actors Kirstin Dunst and Johnny Depp, as well as director Michael Lindsey-Hogg. LaRotonda's work has also recently appeared in three major motion pictures through his relationship with Film Art LA. His triptych The Ascension, a stark image depicting a seated man peering intently at the viewer, appears behind Dennis Quaid's desk in the Academy Award winning film Traffic, and three additional pieces were used in Sigourny Weaver and Gene Hackman's 2001 film Heartbreakers.

Raised in the Roman Catholic faith, LaRotonda has since studied Buddhist, Islamic and Hindu texts in the search for insights into the connection of the soul to the creative energies of the universe. He believes that his ability to create comes from a source outside of the ego, beyond the self. In eastern metaphysics, the self fully realized is something infinite. All aspects of life, from the food we eat to the way we dance, are potentially enhanced through meditative introspection and a focus on simply being, thus providing expressions of the divine in every action we undertake.

Such introspection is prevalent in LaRotonda's work. His subjects often seem to be turning inward, perhaps searching for enlightenment. Since his subjects seldom interact directly with the viewer, LaRotonda's paintings turn the viewer into a voyeur, peering into a private, meditative moment in time. It is no coincidence that while working in his studio, LaRotonda shuts out the distractions of everyday life and focuses with a meditative precision on the work at hand. "When I'm in the studio, I always have the stereo on. I'm really influenced by music, from old jazz to Indian classical music. The thing I am moved by is passion. I listen to long trance types of music, like Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. It can really heighten the mood."

Though LaRotonda has abandoned many of the precepts of the Catholicism, he maintains a profound respect for the Renaissance masters' depiction's of Christ and other religious figures. Several of his striking and profoundly enigmatic compositions employ echoes of religious iconography, imbued with a sacred, mysterious and dreamlike quality. The focal point of many pieces center around the head of his subjects, which are often adorned with crowns or halos, reflecting the presence of thoughtfulness or the attainment of inner peace. In his more recent work, LaRotonda replaces pious humans with monkeys as a metaphor for the evolution of human consciousness.

His subjects vary from portraits of a never photographed eastern mystic (Mahavatar Babaji) to circus freaks, from regal simians (I'm A Monkey Too) to self-portraits undergoing an arthropodal metamorphosis. In an ongoing series of mummy paintings, LaRotonda explores his subjects as an artifact of the way we have lived in the past, and how human remains serve to illustrate the passage of time, as well as our place in time as individuals, another seminal theme of his work. Indeed, the abstract settings often utilized by the artist gives the impression of transcending time. "I see my work as transportation for the mind, rooted neither in time or place."

End

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Craig and the three divas- Liz Mc Grath, Anne Faith Nichols, and Helen Garber at the opening reception for Illuminated Delusions at MModern Gallery. Sept 4th 2004.

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at Varnish Fine Art Gallery, Oct 2003

Varnish Gallery owner Kerri Stephens, Winston Smith, Joann Stevens, Ron Turner, Jud Bergruen Jack Howe and Craig LaRotonda.

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RELIGION VS. ALLEGORY

at The Toyroom Gallery, Sacramento, California. FEB 2004.

THE FEAR OOF GOD
By Tim White
There's not much in this world heavier than the subject of religion. Throw that subject into art, and you're setting yourself up for fierce emotions from all different directions. When seeing the well-designed flier for Religion vs. Allegory, this weekend's show at the Toyroom Gallery (located in the alley east of 24th Street, just north of Second Avenue), the weight was felt. Luckily, the work in the show doesn't require an emotional rollercoaster that makes one want to jump up and say, "Amen!" or point fingers and scream at the blasphemers. Instead it's just more quality work from eight thought-provoking artists (Sean Christopher, Jason Dugan, Jarred Eberhardt, Jack Howe, Craig La Rotonda, Kim Maria, Scott Musgrove and Kevin Peterson) the gallery has gleaned from all over. That's not to say that the work doesn't deal with issues of substance or that the pieces don't affect--just the opposite. Each artist has a strong vision and style that sticks with you.

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Propaganda Exhibit at Start Soma Gallery, San Francisco. May 2003

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Artists Kim Maria ,Craig LaRotonda, and Isabel Samaras.

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"Born Againl"-Culture Cache Gallery- October 2001

David Lyle, Craig LaRotonda, Kim Maria and Jack Howe.

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"Assemblage Sculpture Invitational"- Bradford Campbell Gallery- August 2001

Will Marino, Timothy Cummings, Hawk Alfredson, Craig LaRotonda, Kim Maria, Jack Howe, Melissa Chavalier, Anastasia Schipani and Adam Winter.

Photo by Mia Hanson

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"Deviant and Fugative Works" - Revelation Gallery, March 1999

Winston Smith, Timothy Patrick Butler, Clay Kilgore, Tim Blue, and Craig LaRotonda

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DETROIT FREE PRESS

Review of Circus Sideshow Exhibit at C-POP Gallery

C-Pop Artists Go Under The Big Top

April 14, 2002

When the circus comes to C-Pop Gallery, you expect more than a fair share of sideshow freaks and oddities, and you won't be disappointed with C-Pop's current exhibit. "The Circus Show" is filled with strange characters that sprang from the minds of more than 50 artists from this country, Canada and England.

None of the artists is known for circus subject matter, yet all seem to have gotten into the big-top spirit since C-Pop asked for circus-themed art.

Artist Glenn Barr of Ferndale found a way to put his bar-hopping women into circus mode with a fresh painting called "Savage Women Captured." It features wild, scantily clad, big-haired women behind bars with a sign that cautions "Stand Back."

Northville artist Matt Gordon's cast of characters doesn't follow a circus theme, but it's so bizarre -- children with lobster hands, for example -- that it fits right in.Jason D'Aquino of New York created a miniature alphabet whose letters are formed with circus people and animals. D'Aquino works in pencil on fragile paper torn from turn-of-the-century books, drawing intricate figures that can be fully appreciated only through a magnifying glass.

Richard Borge of New York carved detailed three-dimensional pieces from wood and assembled them with found objects, such as tiny nude baby dolls and a two-headed clown. Frank Strunk of Seminole, Fla., built a kinetic sculpture with dolls that wiggle, a burnt toy dog that hits a baby on the head with its tail and a monkey clapping cymbals. When its big electric switch is turned off, a baby cries.

Kim Maria of San Francisco weighs in with intricately carved wooden masksmounted on wood and skirted in red velvet. Her tattooed man's face is exquisitely executed.

Artist Misha of New Orleans created old-fashioned circus banners in bright colors on canvas strung up against one wall in the upstairs gallery. Livonia artist Davin Brainard used the same bright colors and cartoon-like figures -- with a twist. His lion tamer has no head, while the satisfied lion wears a bloody smile.

A few artists are especially painterly in their approach: Craig La Rotonda of San Francisco captured circus performers elegantly in his atmospheric paintings, and Detroit's Joel Dugan, a student at the College for Creative Studies, created emotional paintings populated by figures with unrealistically elongated and pointed arms and legsand very realistic faces.

With 52 artists, there's something intriguing to encounter at every turn -- just like a visit to the circus.

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