Art Pop-Up Lights Up the Funk Zone

‘L’image’ Pop-Up Art Show in Santa Barbara Brings Together a Gallery Exhibition and a Music and Dance Celebration

"Power by proxy," by Nicole Belton | Photo: Courtesy

Blink or forget to “save the date” and you’ll miss it: a fleeting pop-up gallery and celebration will settle in down in the Funk Zone for one day only, Saturday, December 14. Presented by Kayla Bollag, also one of many painters on display on this day, L’image will morph from a transient gallery entity by day (noon to 5 p.m.) into a ticketed multi-sensory party by night, from 5:30 to 10 p.m. The event promises to cull artistic energies from a large and varied cast of artists in multiple media contexts, with food and drink in the margins.

The art exhibition features the artistically inclined Bollag family — Daniel, Naomi, and Lyla — along with sculptors Ryan Dafoe and Byron Blanco and photographers Michael Haber, Cory Cullington, Kristi Curtis, Fran Collin, Callahan Morgan, Gracie White, Eric States, Alessandro Herics, and Cole Smith.

But wait, there’s more to the cultural circus by day and night, including musicians (Hunter Hawkins, Claire de Luna, Monkfish, CJB Music, Me.Kai, Alyce, Mosaic Coyote, Luke Yansick, Mr. Kai and others), emcees, writers, fashion from Nina Q, deejays, videographers, aerialists, and movement artists — Selah Dance by Meredith Ventura and ElectriCirque by Jessie Kat.

One of the dozen-plus artists showing work is former Russian-turned-Montecitan-turned-Angeleno Nicole Belton. Belton’s paintings maneuver between landscape sources and methods of transforming nature imagery into forms suggesting impressionistic abstraction — the stuff of dreams and rechanneled memories — many from her time growing up in Santa Barbara. Vague echoes of Georgia O’Keeffe’s poeticized visions of nature and luminous formal qualities are intrinsic in the young artist’s style.

“Not flowers,” preserved flowers, wire, glass vase, 21 x 13 inches, by Nicole Belton | Photo: Courtesy

In her artistic statement, Belton describes the process of “drawing from family archives, real-life encounters, literature, and films.” It continues, “Belton’s artworks reflect her life experiences — reading, dreaming, and imagining. Her pieces range from turbulent, hopeful moments to lighter, more confident expressions. Starting with dark blue tones, she transitions to warmer, opaque colors, blending impressionist elements with a moody undertone.

“Belton’s work is informed by traditional Russian Gzhel painting styles, which typically illustrate sprawling flowers, trees, and branches in blue on white porcelain. She describes her work as ‘unified abstractions,’ creating pieces that invite viewers to connect with recognizable natural elements while discovering their own personal interpretations. The results are ephemeral landscapes where Belton captures the impermanence of the human experience in the natural world.”

From her ephemeral landscapes to the work of artists Bea Tolan, James Lambert, Joanna Cutri, Anne Siciliano, Sofia Martin, Ian Hubbard, Robbie Goodall, Anikka Gedney, Veronica Rockstrom, Grace Fisher, Wallace Piatt, and Stanley Boydston, as an ephemeral pop-up extravaganza, L’image proposes to be a unique happening aiming to put the “funk” back in the Funk Zone.

For information and tickets to the evening event, see bit.ly/3ZpBWeU and @limage_sb on Instagram.