Malibu Madonna - The Art of Lynn Coleman
by Ken McKnight
posted 2004-05-15

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Just when you thought you had it all understood, here comes Lynn Coleman, with a dose of twisted imagery that crushes everything we hold sacred and valued about our pop culture. If ever there was an artist that paints straight into the heart of our inner mental recesses, then the original "Val Gal" is it.

"I use to be an artist at Thrasher Comics," she spoke with a gleam in her eye, "I like colors bright. It is the way I see things!" With her tongue firmly planted in her cheek like a giant lollipop, Lynn is the master at pointing the finger at the " I'm so cool mentality." Coleman the artist shows us what a little world we live in. And she does it with a great big smile. Get comfy cause here comes the Malibu Madonna.

It's fun to watch her work. From the Mountains to the Sea, Lynn strides comfortably into any arena, goofy sun glasses, martini (sic) in hand, cool chick chic' aura, high heels clicking, and she sits her tiny frame on the sand, in a field, or smack in the middle of a mustard grass meadow in the foothills. Taking it all in she has the amazing ability to open her mind to her subconscious and put it out there for all of us to enjoy. With a brush and palette, her artwork strips bare the every aspect of our society that is stupid, time-consuming or morally out of whack. Lynn doesn't pass judgment on our deeds; she hands them to us and everyone else, like so many tickets to a concert and watches our amazed reaction from the front row as we make merry idiots of ourselves. Yippee! Enjoy the show even if it is a wake up call for your sense of mental vulnerability.

A keen purveyor of the human condition, Coleman has always gleaned a wide eye at the So Cal lifestyle that so many hold dear, set it directly into her artistic crosshairs, and pulled the proverbial trigger.

Her imagery is her own. The style or category if you must, is as contemporary as they come. She has studied her craft well and it is laden with history and education that Lynn has spent so much time nurturing and understanding. She strives to know where she is, where she has been, and where she is going. Lynn Coleman is an artist in transition, a fluctuating human with a brush in hand, and that is good, not only for her but for us as well. We get the fruits of her labor. And the tree is covered. From the strange creatures that spring from her brushes, to her beautiful landscapes that cover Malibu to the canyons, behind the lagoon, or up on San Simeon Beach, Lake Encanto to Las Virgenes, and out on Highway 101. The colors are gorgeous, earth tones that appear photo like from across the room.

The core of her work is textured in rich, vibrant colors and characters that paint a unique vision of sun, surf, sand and SEX. One might view her work and ask, "Is this just the typical Southern California summer day on the coast and in the hot sweaty valleys?"

You bet it is! And it comes to us courtesy of Ms. Coleman's vivid imagination. You might find the vibe strange but the theme is guttural and familiar. Be careful, you just might find yourself in one of her paintings.

Take for instance the painting titled, "A Valley Cowboys Last Stand at the Sepulveda Drive-In." I asked her how she came up with the title.

"I was showing the urban demise of LA," spoke Lynn as she explained her work. "When we grew up, it was pretty rural in the San Fernando Valley. Just orange groves and walnut groves, ranches everywhere. I use to love that smell here of the orange groves late in the afternoon, when it cooled down, and we were driving on our way to the Reseda Drive-In for hot and heavy petting." (Laughs)."

"In this painting, you can see the city encroaching and the juice being squeezed out of the oranges, and the surfers are surfing on asphalt waves."

Lynn's style is one that pokes fun at popular values most of us covet as meaningful. The cartoon like characters that jump to life feature more than one or two people she has come across in her life. Pity the poor fool who got depicted as a Pig lusting after surf and coconuts. They are there for posterity.

Her art MO is simple and tongue-in-cheek perverse. She can cradle you with warm colors and soft textures or tear out your ego with a twinkle in her pixie-like eye and hand it to you on a tin plate. She is a keen observer and often-sanctioned proprietary keeper of the Southern California beach mentality. Whether you like it or not she is spot on. Her work can be described, like a the summer ice cream that tastes so sweet and comes in a cone. One where the treat is soft on the top and hard on the bottom, the art message from Lynn's minds eye is easy to take, but often difficult to swallow. And she calls it like she sees it, what, society, five pounds of shit in a two pound bag.

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