[Art Scene]

The Art, Canvasses and Lifestyle of painter Kelsey Brookes

Quint Contemporary Art, La Jolla
Gallery show through December 19

Musical Stylings Courtesy of The Dabbers and Lions Cut

Review with slideshow photos and video interview of the artist
by the totally amazing Reviewer Rob

Last Friday night was the art opening for San Diego painter Kelsey Brookes, and Reviewer Magazine was there.

On November 20th a band I know of and have been meaning to go see, The Dabbers, were announced to be playing at an art show opening with another two-piece, Lions Cut. The night was held in a La Jolla gallery north of Kline and south of Silverado streets, between Fay and Girard Avenues. Although the thoroughfare the gallery’s address is on is little more than service access alley for the businesses on Fay and Girard, barely big enough for two cars to pass each other, it’s actually a designated city street called Drury Lane. Welcome to La Jolla, where the modest and commonplace are elevated to a quality level worthy of society’s elite and royalty. La Jolla, where the actual name comes from a now intentionally mispelled Castilian Spanish phrase that was the original name for the La Jolla Shores area just east of the beach, “La Joya,” and means The Hole (from the ocean the canyon behind The Shores looks like a hole with only one opening), is a community where nothing is truly common and all of its resident denizens are there because they’ve been vetted into a meritocracy of achievement, income or pedigree that transforms the banal into a product fit for conspicuous consumers and their entertainment.

But as every translation of the name suggests, La Jolla about the land. Geographically, the scenic cluster of high hills on the San Diego coast called La Jolla is a very special place.

The opening here was awesome because of the crowd, the live entertainment – which was a true coup for a painter doing a new show here – and the art itself. Kelsey Brookes’ paintings are superlatively achieved canvasses. He’s also a cool personality and it was nice to meet him. Not stuffy or pretentious at all, but a really cool mellow long-haired hippyish surfer dude that paints like a madman possessed with true visionary talent. Check out his video interview in screamingly high resolution with Reviewer Rob HERE. The location for this kind of event was also genius since the alley address provided enough privacy for people to be able to mingle about in the parking lot out front in the well lit area outside of the gallery with plenty of room to see the bands perform. It felt like they could have had another one or two bands play and the gendarmes wouldn’t have shown up unless maybe if they wanted a free glass of wine.

You need to make a trip out to Quint Contemporary Art Gallery in this fine resort/bedroom community and savor some of this quality art before December 19th when the show closes…

~RR

From yardwear.net:
Kelsey is a former biochemist who attributes his raw style to an education system “that refuses to teach scientists to draw”. He abandoned biochemistry because “I thought I was going to be there for a few months to get myself some money. Three years later I was left wondering if I had become what I always despised – the funny guy at the water cooler …except not so funny. I was the confused not so funny guy at the water cooler.”

Quint Contemporary Art

Google Maps

7739 Drury Lane
La Jolla, CA 92037
(858) 454-3409

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