Justine Serebrin: The Sacred Sea Pop-Up
One-night Pop up Art Exhibition and Gala
Friday, November 30th, 7-10pm.
3011 E Pico Blvd Unit C
100% of sales from art and tattoos and piercings are being donated to Mission Blue
By Genie Davis
On Friday, November 30th, artist Justine Serebrin opens her lush and fecund exhibition The Sacred Sea for a one night only pop-up in a rented space near DTLA. The exhibition is an auction to benefit Mission Blue, a research organization founded by explorer and marine biologist Sylvia Earle, that focuses on saving and exploring the world’s oceans. It’s Serebrin’s first solo show.
Working in spray paint and water-based oil, she creates rich paintings infused with images of sacred geometry. Awash in the sensation of tidal water, light, and beauty, the artist’s vibrant images shimmer and dance. Ten works that form the central core of the exhibition appear to invite viewers into a new realm, one both spiritual and tangible. The works feature “towers of magic” that have a mystical quality which bespeaks her process.
Serebrin begins her work by meditating, visualizing, and formulating what she calls the essence of the energetic images she creates. These towers resemble star clusters, unfolding flowers, shells, and sea creatures – if all were combined into one living, breathing, sea-entity. They seethe with a shifting beauty, as if the tide itself had unfolded this mysterious image, and continued to carry it through waves and time.
The colors she uses in her textured landscapes are alive with light. They remind the viewer of an ocean in which rainbow prisms dance; of fire opals, and of Alexandrite, a gem that changes from emerald green to red, from blue to purple. The paintings are both other-worldly and inspiring; images of a fantastic and mystical dimension, one that is as real and as deep as the sea and the soul.
In her “Ocean Oracle,” the colors are purples, deep pinks, with a golden heart or eye at the center of a flower-like shape. In “Paradise Portal,” golds, yellows, and orange hold the viewer’s focus; this portal is intensely plant-like, and blossoms float beside it like offspring pulled into a maternal wake. “Sacred Sea City” evokes gem stone images, as pearl-like bubbles rise against a magical shape that resembles an open shell.
The artist uses her own intuitive and mystic gifts to visualize and paint an immersive world that is filled with heightened sensations of color and light; works that glow from within. Seeking to raise awareness of the plight of our oceans through her art, Serebrin begins her process by meditating, visualizing, and creating the essences she wishes to shape.
The Southern California-based artist grew up along the coast, spending time snorkeling in the sea, learning about ocean life, and despairing of the debris and trash polluting our waters. Her realistic observations of underwater worlds are a detailed part of her paintings, observations which she moves through and beyond, pulling the viewer into deeper spiritual waters.
Having traveled the globe experiencing various beaches and seas, Serebrin infuses her works with the sea creatures, water patterns and temperatures she’s experienced in a variety of locales. Her love for the sea is so profound that she is even looking at the possibility of painting underwater in the future.
Her paintings express a greater feeling both outside and within oneself, as she calls her process one that begins in her heart and is then “pushed out through my arms with paint, color, shape, and form.”
Viewers are invited into an alternate, consciousness-expanding reality through her powerful art, art that connects viewer and artist in a transformative and transcendent process. Serebrin hopes that process will encourage viewers to help care for and maintain a healthy ocean and planet.
Her collection is now live for bidding and available for viewing at www.justineserebrin.com
Final bids will be collected at the end of the evening on the 30th.
Tattoo designs will also be offered at the pop-up. All are available for a minimum contribution of $50; the minimum contribution for piercing will be related to each piercing type and range between $50 and $80 including jewelry.
Justine Serebrin work for The Sacred Sea. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Justine Serebrin work for The Sacred Sea. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Justine Serebrin work for The Sacred Sea. Photo courtesy of the artist.