OPEN DOORS: JOSEPH TODOROVITCH, THOMAS PATHE, ALEX COUWENBERG, BRADFORD J SALAMON

Film by Eric Minh Swenson
The southern California town of Pomona has been an art making hub for over half a century. Based just outside of Los Angeles, the Pomona Valley has not only been a center of academia, but home to many artists who have contributed to both the visual and performing arts as well.
Los Angeles based film maker Eric Minh Swensen has picked up on this energy and has chosen to document an evening of studio visits between a few artists that have chosen to make Pomona their home. Swensen, no stranger to the LA art world, has documented many of Los Angeles' art scene personalities, and along with artist Bradford Salamon, captures the unique dynamic and interaction between painters Alex Couwenberg, Thomas Pathe, and Joseph Todorovich.
All three artists choose painting as their visual language. Although they share the process of applying paint to a surface, their methods and reasons for creating images couldn't be more different. Couwenberg, who strictly adheres to the code of formal abstraction, creates paintings that deal with surface qualities, line, form, and color, resulting in complexed layers of visually dynamic information. Pathe balances his time between two distinct bodies of work. Channeling his formal education as an Illustrator, he creates a series of mixed media portraits that focus on process and capturing the figure. Second are his color field paintings that are done on sculpted panels suggesting the color of everyday objects or ideas. Opposite from the sometimes busy and chaotic feeling of his mixed media work, the color field paintings suggest a quiet and serene, more meditative mood forcing the viewer to slow down and appreciate the subtlety of his choices. Todorovich, who, in comparison to the previous two artists, is on the other end of the visual spectrum. His subject is strictly the figure. He is a master of his craft and approaches his art making process in an extremely traditional and romantic way, creating paintings that capture a certain charm almost as if they were done in 1850's Paris.
These three personalities have become the subject of Swensen's latest film. Along with Salamon who sets the tone, Swensen captures these artists in each of their Pomona studios candidly speaking about not only their own work, but questioning the relevancy of painting today.