GAYOT's Blog

What better way to spend Memorial Day weekend in the Golden State than by attending the California Art Club exhibition: on location in Malibu 2009 at Pepperdine University. The showing featured paintings of landscapes that capture the community of Malibu from the Pacific Coast Highway to the beaches and mountains. The fall 2007 wildfires ravaged much of the city and the artists wanted to record the positive changes of rebirth and renewal since then.

The highlight of the exhibit was Alexey Steele‘s Water and Fire, which depicts a graceful woman walking on the beach at sunset. Steele’s vision of the landscape was moving and the lighting he used added a dramatic effect. From his style, look, behavior, and the way he dresses and talks, Steele, who was born in the Ukraine in 1967, is an artist in the full sense of the word. His magnificent studio, located in Carson, is filled with books and the sounds of classical music which inspire him to create wonderful figurative paintings. His area of expertise includes multi-figure compositions, portraits, nudes and plein-air landscapes.