A Conversation with Artist Danielle Eubank, "Regenesis," bG Gallery, by James Scarborough
March 10, 2025
In "Regenesis," bG Gallery presents a timely exploration of renewal and resilience through the lens of contemporary art. The exhibition convenes diverse artistic voices, including Danielle Eubank's work, in a narrative that speaks to both personal and collective recovery. Set against the backdrop of Los Angeles's ongoing dialogue with natural disasters, the show transforms bG Gallery into a space where art becomes a vehicle for community healing. The exhibition serves dual purpose: while serving as a platform for artistic expression, it participates in regional recovery efforts through its charitable component.
Curators Sung-Hee Son and Om Bleicher position the works as markers of transformation to create a visual dialogue between different mediums and perspectives. The timing of the exhibition, coinciding with Frieze Week, amplifies its message of renewal to a broader audience. Through this arrangement of works, "Regenesis" engages with the community's lived experience of recovery and reconstruction. It shows how art can move beyond aesthetic concerns to become a catalyst for social action and healing.
(An email conversation with "Regensis - Phase II" Co-Curator Om Bleicher can be found here.)
Below follows an email conversation with Danielle Eubank (Instagram, Bluesky, Facebook: @EubankArt)
JS: How did your participation in "Regenesis" come about? What drew you to this exhibition's theme of renewal?
DE: Om Bleicher has a long history of showing really fresh artwork from around the Los Angeles area—artists whose voices reflect what is going on right now. I am lucky to have shown work with him since 2010. Sung-Hee Son has a great eye for what will make a great show, and bi-coastal experience of working with artwork, so between the two of them, they have put on a brilliant exhibition.
JS: What works have you chosen to present? How do they engage with the exhibition's focus on resilience and rebuilding?
DE: Sung-Hee chose Santa Cruz Island V and Santa Cruz Island VI, both are oil paintings on linen. Santa Cruz Island, one of the Channel islands off the California Coast, has been undergoing a regenesis for several decades. Santa Cruz Island V and VI are studies of the Pacific Ocean from off the coast of California. Once destroyed by invasive boar and tens of thousands of sheep, restoration of the flora and fauna are ongoing under the stewardship of the National Park Service, The Nature Conservancy, and the University of California, Santa Barbara.
JS: How does the installation by Sung-Hee Son and Om Bleicher influence the dialogue between your work and that of the other artists?
DE: For me, the dialogue of all the artwork in the room is about Los Angeles and Southern California. Some pieces are more abstract and emotive, while others are about the fires that recently struck our area. There are images of dogs, mountains, palm trees, sculptures of the human form, and Howard Hodgkin-esque surface treatments. They are all rich in color and describe how we are feeling in this moment.
JS: How does the exhibition's charitable component affect your approach to presenting your work?
DE: It is devastating to think about the artists who lost their studios, their homes, their artwork, their sketchbooks and ideas, their life’s work in the LA Fires, January 2025. I have friends who lost their homes of more than 50 years.
The charitable component is very important to me. Making art is a deeply profound experience. It sounds like a cliché, but it is true. For artists, and I think all people, the act of creating things is fundamental to our being. We need to keep making things.
Having artwork in your home, in public spaces, and in other areas makes life better. We need to help artists rebuild so that they can continue to express themselves and improve all of our lives through their work. We also need to help people rebuild their houses so that they can fill their houses with artistic expression. Anyone who has gazed at a Paul Rothko painting and taken in its magic, knows how profound the experience is. Art creation and appreciation are fundamental to the human condition.
JS: Discuss the technical and conceptual challenges you faced in creating work that addresses themes of recovery.
DE: Santa Cruz Island V and Santa Cruz Island VI are very different technically. They both address the theme of recovery, with some nuances. Santa Cruz Island V is about the majesty of the Pacific Ocean. Santa Cruz Island is reflected in the water in orange and yellow hues. I painted it with a long brush and it is linear, in the sense that the entire painting is created with lines of oil paint. It glows like reflections off the water in the late afternoon do.
Santa Cruz Island VI is painted differently. It is painted with wet paint on dry and each section of water, each wavelet is a rectangle filled in with a brush. The colors are bright greens, blues, and oranges that evoke a spring day, renewal. I have created a different up close experience than far away. When you are near to the canvas, it communicates the emotion of an abstract painting, and “the real thing” when you step back. To see where abstraction and realism meet is one of my artistic passions.
JS: How does your work in this exhibition relate to or depart from your previous artistic explorations?
DE: Usually it takes five years after I have completed a body of work before I see where I was going with it and some of the internal influences. So, given that what I’m about to tell you will change in five years here goes:
These paintings are more colorful. They have been getting more colorful and looser over the last few years. I’ve rediscovered burnt umber! My work now is 95% about the act of applying paint to the canvas and only 5% about the subject matter. For the last few years, I have been painting from within the painting. What I mean is, I am not documenting anything as much as I am talking about issues, like regenesis, or painterly issues like paint handling.
JS: What role do you see exhibitions like "Regenesis" playing in community healing and recovery?
DE: Exhibitions like Regenesis are massive in helping community healing. The arts talk to us in ways that words cannot. They communicate, when done well, directly to our souls. In regards to the LA Fires, there is a lot of loss to recover from: property, landmarks, people’s lives, pets, wildlife, trees, neighborhoods, the intangible feeling of neighborhood that one gets in a place. All have been destroyed. Block after block after block are gone. We can rebuild, but we can never get back seeing that neighbor at the corner in the morning, the old 1920s house with its sloping tile roof, the funny way that oak tree grew over the fence, or the way we felt during evening walks with all the lights in the trees and houses up the hill.
Art exhibitions cannot replace the things that were lost, but they do uplift us to the creativity that is possible and help us heal. I hope that people who lost their homes and businesses will be ready will derive something powerful from this artwork. For them, and for all of us, for it is community healing, this is a powerful first step.
JS: Your work has consistently explored environmental themes through abstract forms. How does your contribution to this exhibition extend and/or challenge your established artistic vocabulary?
DE: I have consistently explored international environmental themes, painted hundreds of bodies of water through abstract forms. This exhibition is great for me because I am talking about local water and local renewal, something that affects all of us every day in our local areas. I am deeply passionate about California, my first true love, and it is nurturing to give back to her and our neighbors in this way.
JS: What insights about renewal and resilience have you gained through your participation in this exhibition?
DE: I have talked above a little bit about the importance of fine art in our community and its power of healing. I, too, have been positively affected by the artwork in this show. Not only is it stunning to look at, but it is deeply moving and fulfilling to be surrounded by the exceptional work in this exhibition.
The exhibition ran until February 28th, 2025. bG Gallery is located at Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, California. For more information, click here.
NOTE: bG Gallery will present Regenesis – Phase Two, featuring female artists for Women's History Month from March 14-30, 2025. The reception is March 22, 4-7pm. This exhibition will explore themes of loss, recovery, and artistic transformation through paintings, sculptures, and mixed media works that showcase the artists' resilience and personal narratives.