JIM MORPHESIS TIME AND DESIRE now showing at the GARBOUSHIAN Gallery in Beverly Hills through March 10th, 2012. Photography Journal by Ginger Van Hook

At first glance, the ROSE created by Jim Morphesis is an immediate reference to the soul of the incredibly popular red rose as it has evolved in painting throughout its history, but your first impression would be incomplete if you did not recognize the unique icon in history who created these stunning and sensual paintings of the rose from the Exhibition- "TIME AND DESIRE!"

The Icon in this exhibition which opened at the Garboushian Gallery in Beverly Hills this week, is non other than Jim Morphesis, a prolific painter and artist whose face has been greeting every northbound driver who ever wanted to get onto the 101 Hollywood freeway 

from the 110 Pasadena freeway since 1984!

 (The muralist, Kent Twitchell, painted the mural of Jim Morphesis in preparation for the festivities of the 1984 Olympics and has memorialized the space under the concrete causeways as a place where art and artists still exit to document our local contemporary histories.)

These unique paintings of ROSES and their multitude of variations of oil on panel reveal the layers upon layers of masterful strokes that not only represent the flower, but also exorts the sensuality that evolved in a metaphor of desire, pleasure, intimacy, magnetism and YES, the female lips; 

those desirable lips!

With a palette of vibrant red oils, raised textures and glistening clear glitter to expose drops of water upon the petals, Morphesis has recreated the ultimate pleasure in viewing. The red paint attracts, the delicate inner folds are alluring, and the images are seductive, each in its own way as unique to the pattern of petals as each woman is an individual personality.

Aside from the main attraction on the white walls, the equally impressive and stunning attraction of

 TIME AND DESIRE was the magnificent showing of art patrons 

welcoming, surrounding and congratulating

 Jim Morphesis as he shook hands, 

with his big wide grin and posed for pictures like a rock star. 

See for yourself, images here from the opening reception and additional artist talk scheduled:

Please join us for an Art Talk with Howard Fox  (Curator Emeritus, Los Angeles County Museum of Art)  and artist Jim Morphesis, at  GARBOUSHIAN GALLERY  427 North Camden Drive Beverly Hills, California 90210 on Sunday, February 12, at 3 pm.  This talk will take place amidst the work of  Time and Desire,  Morphesis' exhibition of new paintings  currently on view at the gallery.        Due to limited space, please RSVP by  Thursday, February 9 to lori@garboushian.com                   Garboushian Gallery

GARBOUSHIAN GALLERY debuts Time and Desire,  an exhibition of thirteen new oil and mixed media paintings,  accompanied by a series of works on paper, by  Los Angeles artist Jim Morphesis.  Central to this exhibition is a single recurring subject-  the rose- through which the artist envisions the exhibition  title as a conceptual wellspring.  Morphesis explains: "When we consider the clock,  we deal with both the past and future.  We long for what was, and we yearn for-or  fear-what might be.  For me, time is always about desire,  and the rose is the most sensual memento mori image."  Time and Desire is on view at  GARBOUSHIAN GALLERY in Beverly Hills,  from January 28 -to- March 10, 2012.   (Text courtesy Garboushian Gallery) http://www.garboushian.com/

Jim Morphesis' paintings have been shown in nearly  two hundred national and international exhibitions  since the early 1970s, and are in the permanent collections  of more than 25 museums, including the  Los Angeles County Museum of Art,  the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,  and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.  Morphesis has been recognized with awards that include:  the Los Angeles County Museum of Art,  Modern and Contemporary Art Council,  New Talent Purchase Award,  the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant for Painting and Sculpture  and a First Prize at the Fourth Florence International  Biennial of Contemporary Art.  Born in Philadelphia, Morphesis received his  Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from  Tyler School of Art of Temple University in 1970,  and earned his Master of Fine Arts degree from  the California Institute of the Arts in 1972.  He lives and works in Los Angeles.