Nestled in the foothills of Highland Park an unmarked early 20th century warehouse conseals the work of an inspired artist and tireless collector. The studio of Clare Graham houses not only an astonishing amount of his personal work but a museum’s worth of his private collection gathered from his worldwide travels. A sixth of this 6000 plus square foot space serves as the MorYork Gallery, where he and Bob Breen have exhibited now 38 consecutive monthly shows.

Having both spent full careers in “the industry” the gallery effort seems to be a welcome departure. But Bob’s time as an art director for television, you’ll know his work from shows like The Jeffersons and Who’s the Boss, and Clare’s 25 years managing art departments for Disney’s worldwide resorts is an evident inspiration as we walk through 5000 square feet of intricate installations.

The six images we’ve shown do not begin to describe the detail with which each sculpture is assembled. Most made from discarded materials, Grahams work is beautifully organic and almost never resembles the material of origin. A single sculpture might be configured of thousands tin can bottoms, fortune cookie fortunes, or scrabble tiles. Benches made from yard sticks and helixed sculptures of pieced together buttons on wire are delicately co-mingled among museum style display cases housing ivory tusk, animal skeletons, various weaponry, and other unique artifacts.

The MorYork gallery and studio are a must see and are open the second Saturday of each month for the NELA Gallery Night.

Mor York Gallery
4959 York Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90042
Current Exhibition Daniel Brodo: Saturday, June 13, 2009 – Saturday, July 4, 2009
A very large cardboard sculpture fills the gallery space from end to end and floor to rafters