A little less than two weeks remain to see Human Nature, Contemporary Art from the Collection, on view in BCAM through July 4th. The show is a rich presentation of contemporary work since 1968.

We had the chance to talk with two of the artists in the show, Charles Gaines and Carlee Fernandez. Their work appears in the first gallery, the same one that features the video piece Walk with Contrapposto by Bruce Nauman (1968) and S.O.S Starification Object Series (Guns)  by Hannah Wilke (1974).

The Gaines piece, Trisha Brown Dance, Set 3, (one of a series of twelve, originally shown at John Weber Gallery and Leo Castelli Gallery in 1981) includes methodical charts and graphs based on photographs he made of the dancer Trisha Brown. Sol Lewitt helped Gaines arrange the project with Brown (a nice detail, since Lewitt's own Wall Drawing #295: Six Superimposed Geometric Figures, 1976 appears in the next gallery in the show). The work by Gaines is rigorously conceptual (a thoughtful response to expressionism, as he explains).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyeHCx8rCCM

In the same gallery, Carlee Fernandez's portrait/self-portrait titled Portrait of My Father, Manuel Fernandez, from 2006, reflects a different sensibility, touching on gender and identity - just one of myriad juxtapositions in the show that point to the diversity of contemporary art and artists, particularly in Southern California.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mNy7J5IR6g

Amy Heibel