By Justin Van Hoy
AMMO, $39.95, 240 pages
Contemporary art is much like cilantro – you either love it or you hate it. Milk and Honey is a good example. You’ll love much of the artwork presented but you’ll hate just as many pieces. Justin Van Hoy, one of the artists, introduces this large-format, beautifully produced coffee table book that showcases fifty-four California-based artists.
“The 54 artists in this book have created work that helps to define the ever-changing landscape of California.”
The types of artists vary. Most are from Los Angeles and include photographers, painters, illustrators, sculptors and designers. Their artwork ranges from the traditional to the abstract and even the avant–garde. The artists chosen all lived in California from late 2011 to early 2012 and each received four full pages (though some only used three). Each one was asked to write a brief introduction, a short history of how they got to California, what they liked and disliked about Los Angeles and how their location affected their art. Each starts with a portrait or self-portrait. Some artists only included two or three pieces, while others crammed as many as eighteen tiny pictures into full-page mosaics. Each work is accompanied by its title, the year it was produced and its medium and size. No doubt, you’ll love some and quickly turn the page when viewing others.
Reviewed by George Erdosh
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