For those of you who visit any of these exhibits, I encourage your feedback on my Facebook page.

Camille Rose Garcia: Down the Rabbit Hole is a new body of work at Merry Karnowsky gallery. Sure to be enchanting, these Pop Surrealist illustrations and paintings have been inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. Seems like perfect timing as the Tim Burton film, Alice in Wonderland opens this month. Book Release party for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, illustrated by Garcia: 3/6, 8-11 p.m. 3/6-3/27.

Left Coast Gallery in Studio City is featuring a two-person exhibition: Necessary Illusions: New Works by Rachel Warkentin & Zivana Gojanovic. The human figure and a vibrant use of color are common themes in paintings by these women artists. Thru 3/17.

Laura Lasworth: The Western Wall is a new series of paintings on view at Lora Schlesinger Gallery. In these 12” x 12” oil on panel paintings, Seattle-based artist Laura Lasworth provides views of Puget Sound, her personal Western wall. Exquisitely painted, the result is a series of dreamlike vistas. Thru 3/27.

Art and fashion merge at Taylor de Cordoba gallery with an exhibit of the work of Kimberly Brooks. In this series, Kimberly Brooks: The Stylist Project the artist has created portraits of renowned stylists and fashion industry insiders including celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe and many others not so well-known. These colorful, painterly likenesses are a collaboration between Brooks and her subjects who are also artists. 2/27-4/3.

Brilliant Paintings & Amazing Ceramics is a group show of work by So. California artists at Sylvia White gallery in Ventura. Curated by Betty Ann Brown, the exhibit will include works by Holly Boruck, Jenny Calaba, Patsy Cox, Madden Harkness, Michele Ogilvie, Linda King, Erika Lizee, Sandra Rowe, Blandine Saint-Oyant,(et al). Brown offers this description of the exhibit: “The artworks range from meditative abstractions to erotic flowers, from surreal clay and glass creatures to poetic reinterpretations of historically resonant subjects. The paintings and ceramics are connected by a shared sensual engagement with the materials and processes of art, whether paint or pencil or porcelain; pouring with abandon or drawing with precision. They direct us beyond this quotidian existence to the imaginative realms of spirit and fantasy.” Opening reception, 4-7 PM, Saturday, March 13. 3/10-4/3.

The first major retrospective of abstract expressionist painter Mercedes Matter (1913-2001) is on view at the Weisman Museum at Pepperdine University. Matter, a student of Hans Hoffmann and founding member of the American Abstract Artists group was influenced and friends with Pollock, Guston and others. Matter however developed her own signature style, yet is rarely acknowledged in discussions of the movement. Here paintings and charcoal drawings provide examples of her contributions. Recently reviewed in the Los Angeles Times, they offer this description of Matter: “a minor New York School artist whose primary claim to notice was applying Abstract Expressionist scale to School of Paris painting.” Thru 4/4.

Koplin del Rio gallery is presenting the first solo exhibition of Melissa Cooke. You Know Me Better than I Know Myself is a series of relatively large self-portraits done in powdered graphite on paper. These are no ordinary self-portraits but more reminiscent of Cindy Sherman’s approach to self-representation as this artist also employs costumes, props and theatrics. The artist explains that her efforts are to explore the “latent darkness and sexuality inside all of us.” Amusing, eerie, and thought-provoking! Watch this artist at work on YouTube: www.koplindelrio.com/content/melissa-cooke-you-know-me-better-i-know-myself. Thru 4/10.

Ipsum Factum, a peek into the magical world of Lola at Corey Helford Gallery in Culver City. Opening reception 3/27, 7-10. 3/27-4/14.

Intimacies/Intimismos is an exhibit of the work by artist Mary Heebner at Edward Cella gallery. Working with a variety of materials on hand-made paper, Heebner beautifully renders abstract male and female nudes. These works are inspired by the love poems of famed Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. Opening reception: 3/6 Saturday, 6 to 9. 3/6-4/17.

Continuing at American Jewish University’s Platt and Borstein Galleries is Body and Soul an exhibition of paintings by Kathyrn Jacobi, Margaret Lazzari, and Galya Pillin Tarmu. Thru 4/28.

The work of the late sculptor/painter Viola Frey will be on view at Sylvia White Gallery in Ventura. Frey, who is best known for her enormous ceramic figures, was an important figure in the contemporary art world. Playful, colorful and meaningful, the work always tends to delight. Opening reception Saturday, April 10, 4-6pm. 4/7-5/8.

ONGOING MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS

Continuing at the Pomona College Museum of Art is a retrospective of work by Light and Space artist Helen Pashgian. Helen Pashgian: Working in Light summarizes 40 years of her artistic practice. Thru 4/11.

The first museum retrospective of drawings by Turner Prize winning artist, Rachel Whiteread continues at the Hammer Museum. Thru 5/2.

OsCene 2010 is the current exhibition at the Laguna Beach Museum of Art. 50 artists including Suvan Geer are participating in this survey of contemporary art and culture in the OC. The exhibition features an array of diverse artists working in media ranging from performance to photography to sculpture to architecture. Thru 5/16.

Continuing at the Getty Center, a rare opportunity to view the work of a woman artist at this venue in Urban Panorama: Opie, Liao, Kim featuring the photographic work of Catherine Opie (et al). Thru 6/6.

Luisa Lambri: Being There is an exhibit of exquisite photographic work at the Hammer Museum. Luisa Lambri photographs architectural interiors all around the world focusing intently on all of the details. Here she has photographed several of the iconic residences designed by local and renowned architect, John Lautner. In these photographs, Lambri has captured the rhythm and beauty of nature posed against his architecture. Thru 6/13.

The San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art is presenting the work of Los Angeles-based artist Mara De Luca downtown in the Jacobs Building. De Luca’s long-term project Stations (2006-2007) will be on view, together with a site-specific altarpiece triptych made for this exhibition, which responds to the changing light conditions experienced on the Interstate 5 South on her way from Los Angeles to San Diego. Stations is an installation of 14 paintings based on Barnett Newman’s Stations of the Cross (1958-64). On the backdrop of these abstract color field paintings, De Luca overlays appropriated illusionistic imagery from various sources resulting in truly dazzling and very post-modern work. 3/26-6/20.