Heather Lowe
It’s all L.A. to me…
ruminations on the Odyssey
Featuring Dayking by Fortner Anderson with Growler Choir
and a collaboration with Marty Van Diest
June 2-13, by appointment
Keystone Gallery
338 S. Ave. 16
Los Angeles, CA 90031
During our forced isolation last year, Heather Lowe decided to clean and organize her bookshelves. Among the books dusted off was a series of classics belonging to her father. She noticed Homer’s Odyssey was more worn than other titles. So, the journey began-- the bookshelves once more abandoned.
The Odyssey, as many of you know, is a story that has lasted for centuries. It’s been scripted for films, theatre, games, and even comics. The story of a man trying to find his way back home suffering enormous obstacles is a universal story. When Odysseus finally sees his land, his farm, his father, his son and his wife, Penelope, the joy is overwhelming. What is not well known is there is no original manuscript of the Odyssey, passed down from oral storytelling and eventually written down in pieces making it into print much later.
Lowe has delved into the Odyssey as it relates to her experiences in Los Angeles of which she has been a resident artist for over thirty-three years. This exhibit includes Heather’s monoprints influenced by Archaic Greek Art, her lenticulars*, a 3-D print collaboration with Marty Van Diest, and a video created by Growler’s Choir featuring Fortner Anderson’s poem, Dayking, about Agamemnon.
Heather’s lenticulars create interactive associations between the epic poem and features of our home in L.A. One lenticular characterizes Circe as a goddess in the middle of L.A. traffic. Another image draws comparisons to Arcadia off Alameda to the mountainous region of the central Peloponnese. Trees from Griffith Park become Greek figures and assume symbolic form. The Mediterranean, Aegean and the Pacific Ocean become one with the swift appearance of Athena or Amphitrite in reference to Homer’s line: “She stood against the side of the entry, and revealed herself to Odysseus, but Telemachus could not see her, and knew not that she was there, for the gods do not let themselves be seen by everybody.” --from Book XIV
Demodocus, the blind poet in the Odyssey, is a predominate theme in this show as well as Penelope with all her tribulations and steadfast loyalty. Some say Homer, who was also blind, may possibly be Demodocus. Who’s to say? The story speaks to each of us in our own way. Finding our “homeland” is a personal journey.
Website: https://www.heatherlowelenticular.com
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