September 3 - 26, 2010
Artist Reception: Friday, September 3rd; 8-11 PM
Print Release & Signing: Friday, September 3rd; 7-8 PM

La Luz de Jesus Gallery I
4633 Hollywood Blvd.,
Los Angeles CA 90027
323-666-7667 Fax: 323-663-0243
www.laluzdejesus.com

online press release with additional images

For years, Nathan Ota has been pursuing new worlds, both dark and fantastic, to explore in his paintings. Ota has used his stand-ins - a blind bird, a drunk monkey, a one-eyed robot lost in the woods - to travel through dreamlands that hold fantasies and tragedies. In "An Unforeseen Homecoming," Ota's first solo show at La Luz de Jesus, the artist sets out on an expedition which lands him in the unlikeliest destination - the world inside the artist's own studio. The questions that greet him, and the answers that he finds, are at once simple and impossible, hopeful and heartbreaking, permanent and fleeting. "My paintings will always leave little clues to what I'm thinking, some I can share, and some may be too personal, but all in all, I think that the paintings stand alone" states Ota.

Obsessed with drawing since his early childhood, Nathan Ota passionately references TV cartoons, comic books and punk-rock flyers as his early influences. Ota would sneak into his brother's room and raid the collection of "Vampirella" comics so he could trace the colorful art on the covers. Uninterested in classical or traditional art, he responded most to visuals by Robert Williams, Olivia, Puss Head and Raymond Pettibon. Upon entering his teens, Ota became mesmerized by graffiti and participated in creating street art. "I was completely hooked. I loved everything about it; the clicking of the ball in the can, the sound of the spray, the colors, the huge scale, the friendships with other graffiti artists and the complete feeling of freedom," states Ota. Upon entering Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Ota was exposed to a whole new world of possibilities. With an open mind and guidance from his instructors, his direction changed and he decided to enter the world of illustration. Shortly after graduating in 1993, Ota began working freelance for newspapers, magazines, record labels and producing background art for the gaming industry.

Working with acrylic on panel, the process of creating "An Unforeseen Homecoming" took Ota roughly a year to complete. Ota lives in the Los Angeles area and currently teaches at Otis and Santa Monica College.