Los Angeles based artist Tabitha Morris is presenting her first solo show of hallucinatory watercolors titled, Predacious Panopticon, at the Happy Lion Gallery in Los Angeles’ Chinatown. The opening reception will be held July 12th and the exhibition will remain at the gallery until August 9th.

Predacious Panopticon, an appropriate title for Morris’ seductive and repulsive landscapes, includes several large scale works, enveloping the viewer in a dense foliage of nature and sex. Her cast of characters includes siren-like erotic female nudes being devoured and re-birthed by carnivorous plants in a fantastical organic setting. The pleasing pastel palette visually soothes and entrances the viewer until the subject matter is discovered. The density of the the composition is balanced by its fluidity as the viewer’s eye gently follows flowing hair to outstretched stems to smoke-like forms.

Tabitha Morris received her B.F.A. from the University of Kansas and an M.F.A. in Painting and Printmaking from the University of Pennsylvania. She currently lives and works in Los Angeles.

On view now at Deitch Project’s 76 Grand Street gallery is Constraction, a six person group exhibition featuring new works of conceptual abstraction, curated by Kathy Grayson. In the Spring of this year, Deitch presented Subtraction, a collection of action inspired abstract paintings curated by Nicola Vassell. The two shows feature the best and brightest of next wave abstract artists, all of which seem to be reviving the principals of abstraction set forth in the early twentieth century, while forging interests in both formal and conceptual restriction. Constraction will feature the work of Tauba Auerbach, Joe Bradley, Peter Coffin, Xylor Jane, Mitzi Pederson, and Ara Peterson. Both exhibitions will be documented in a box set by Charta Books due out in the Spring of 2009.

Cerasoli Gallery director, Freddi Cerasoli, has curated a summertime exhibition of over 20 contemporary artists working in a variety of media, including Lena Wolff, Josh Peter, Jennifer Davis, Michele Carlson, David O’Brien, and Ria Brodell. Both new and emerging as well as more established artists are participating in Splash, and all works selected embrace a summer theme.

Lena Wolff combines drawing, sewing, paper-cut, and collage to create delicate and radiating shapes that mimic the blazing sun. She uses the concentrical rings of confetti paper circles to illustrate the familiar presence of the flaming orb. In delicate and intricate pen and ink drawings, Michele Carlson mixes contemporary icons and imagery with historical narratives to stimulate our collective memory while critiquing the social, political, and domestic realms of our existence. Carlson holds an MFA in Printmaking, an MA in Visual and Critical Studies from the California College of Arts, as well as a BFA in Printmaking and BAs in Interdisciplinary Visual Arts and American History from the University of Washington.

All artists seek to create sublime imagery surrounding the nature of beauty by reaching beyond the traditional forms of expression. Each artist included takes a refreshing approach to their media and subject matter, resulting in an inspiring and sometimes surprising group exhibition. The opening reception is Saturday, July 12 from 6-9. Splash will be on view at Cerasoli Gallery until August 2, 2008.

Mostly known for his abstract paintings, artist Bose Krishnamachari has just opened his first solo, UK exhibition, titled Ghost. The exhibition, which is hosted by Aicon Gallery in London, features work that explores what is called the ‘Average Mumbaiker,’ a general psyche of anxiety in the society that is prompted by the idea of acceptance. The show manifests through five large-scale portraits and the installation Ghost which includes 108 used tiffins which frame video loops of interviews featuring several Mumbai residents.

Bose lives and works as both an artist and curator in Mumbai, actively supporting exhibitions and emerging artists throughout India. The artist received his BFA from Sir J.J. School of Art in Mumbai, and an MFA from Goldsmiths College in London. He will also be the Guest of Honor during Arco’09, Madrid, curating the India Pavilion.

This weekend Galerie Heiumcowboy will be celebrating their 5th year anniversary with a large 30 artist group exhibition. The gallery has pulled together a selection of regional and international artists who have shown with the Heliumcowboy over the last five years, all held within a bare 1,400 square meter space in the city center of Hamburg, Germany. The artists have all been given the freedom to experiment and use the space in any way that they choose; this freedom will be the ‘guiding idea’ that will drive the anniversary exhibition. A special edition catalogue will be available after the exhibition. The Bieberhaus Diaries: Almost there is an online journal tracking the success and development of the ambitious exhibition, and the Heliumcowboy website provides a list of the participating artists.

Opening this Saturday at Nathan Larramendy Gallery in Ojai, California will be the new group exhibition Weekend Warrior. Curated by Beautiful/Decay, the exhibition brings together an exciting mix of artists including Tony de los Reyes, Ruby Osorio, Steven Shein, Vanessa Chow, Allison Miller, Robert Olsen, and the collaborative duo Simmons and Burke, whose work is pictured above. The show’s titled reflects Ojai Valley’s reputation of being a rural weekend getaway. The breadth of the artists exhibited range from the digital collages of Simmons and Burke, who were featured on the recent cover of Beautiful/Decay Magazine’s Issue W, to the minimalist, mechanical sculptures of Steven Shein.

Nigel Cooke’s paintings lie somewhere in between fantasy and reality, often employing the urban landscape to provide grounding for surreal scenes executed in the most delicate palette. Cooke’s paintings rely heavily on traditional techniques of oil painting that allow for the imagery to subtly mimic illustration and surrealist landscapes. The everyday details in each painting leaves the image somewhere inbetween the recognizable and the foreign. Since the completion of his doctorate from Goldsmith’s College in London in 2004, Cooke has exhibited with some of the most internationally prestigious galleries. Since graduation, Cooke showed with the South London Gallery (2006), the Tate London (2004), Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in Texas (2006) and the Andrea Rosen Gallery in New York (2004). There have been several reviews of his work with Art Review as well as an article in ArtForum.