Peter Makela,” Ah La La Ho”, a solo painting exhibition Oct 19th thru Nov 16 2018. Fri-Sat 2-6pm + by appt. Opening Reception Friday Oct 19th 7-11pm https://www.facebook.com/events/533569437070011/ lastprojects.org // info@lastprojects.org Please join us at LAST Projects, Friday Oct 19, 7-11pm for the opening of Peter Makela's first solo exhibition in Los Angeles. "Ah La La Ho" Makela will exhibit a series of paintings created during a recent solitary retreat at the Chinquapin Artist Residency in Grants Pass, Oregon. Makela finds his images through a multilayered act of painting, utilizing additive and reductive painting processes. Makela is highly interested in altered states and cognitive processes. His studio practice is informed by extended silent meditation retreats and fasts. Working with multiple overlaid patterns, transparent glazes and figure ground plays, Makela seeks to create perceptual pieces that shift with the viewer. “It is my understanding that everything consists of the five elements and that everything is sound, light and rays. In this way I began these paintings by constructing painted bands of light. While I was working on this series my Buddhist teacher, Chogyal Namkhai Norbu was ill. I visualized sending these lights to him. When this layer was completed I carved out figures, shapes and forms from these bands. As I did this I attempted to empty my mind, to connect with local spirits and guardians and to also make offerings, letting the forms manifest as offerings to the teacher. These forms arose automatically and spontaneously. These paintings represent my connection to his teachings and my gratitude to him and them.” — Peter Makela About the Artist: Peter Makela earned a BFA from SAIC and an MFA in painting from the LeRoy E. Hoffberger School of painting at MICA in Baltimore in the spring of 2018. Since then he has been continuing his painting practice in Artist Residencies in NY, VT, OR, and CA. Makela has exhibited in group shows at New Image Art and LAST Projects in Los Angeles, as well as in New York, Chicago, and Japan. He has received grants and awards from the NEA, the Hoffberger Foundation and MICA. Image: Untitled, 36” square, acrylic on aluminum panel 2018