The county’s art scene

Suzie Harrison

Mass media has put the “OC” on the map of popular culture and turned

Orange County into a scene to be seen -- but perception is often

different from reality. Laguna Art Museum’s upcoming exhibit, “The

OsCene: Contemporary Art and Culture in OC,” looks at things from a

different point of view.

The OsCene, which will open on Nov. 7, is a collective look at

Orange County artists covering the spectrum from painting and

sculpture, to video and film, sound and music, architecture, fashion

and even tattoo art.

“We wanted to open up an exhibit with a variety of artists out

there,” Laguna Art Museum chief curator Tyler Stallings said.

Stallings said there has not been a survey exhibition of

contemporary art in Orange County in more than 20 years.

Four hundred submissions had to carefully be narrowed down to 40.

“It gives the opportunity to see it in life,” Stallings said. “To

curate an interesting body of work, the museum will do studio visits

... it provides a connection with artists in the community, as

opposed to just seeing slides [of work].”

The idea was to make the OsCene a multimedia event. Keiko Beatie

is guest curator of film and Tim Schwab is guest curator of music.

Awareness of Orange County culture has grown substantially over

the years, from more recognized filmmaking, to popular bands

indigenous to the area, such as No Doubt and Sugar Ray. “The

selection process was really, really hard,” Stallings said. “In this

show, I primarily chose younger artists but have mixed in some high

profile artists.”

Jeff Koegel is one of the artists from Laguna Beach. One-fourth

of the artists are locals -- a statistic Stallings thought was

indicative of the local talent.

Koegel said the OsCene is time appropriate given that Orange

County is beginning to emerge in the media -- and the media is

forming an outside vision of what Orange County is.

On Wednesday, in the glass entry of the museum, Laguna artist

Karen Feuer-Schwager was up high on a scaffold, installing her mural

“Traces” for the show. The canvas is her biggest yet. “I’m very

excited to be in the show ... I think this is a really hot

situation,” Feuer-Schwager said. The OsCene will have a series of

events, lectures, films and other happenings through its Feb. 27 run.

For information, call (949) 494-8971 or go online to

https://www.lagunaartmuseum.org. Laguna Art Museum is at 307 Cliff

Drive.