Never a Foggy Day in This London’s Town

Defining the Inaugural Exhibition

The erudite Ms. London describes her opening display as “an intuitive exploration of microscopic patterns from nature.” She seeks to transport jaded gallery visitors from the clunky, noisy, impersonal world of technology, where she has lived, back to the unsurpassed fragrance of nature. On view at 3740 Sunset Blvd., will be 14 works on paper of Ms. London’s notions of a poetic landscape. The series of drawings came out of her experiments with a sea urchin shell. This research, led her deeper into a philosophical forest, permitting her to observe the contrasts between “micro and macro, between biological and technological, between patience and resistance.” What makes her so interesting professionally is that she is part-artist, part-craftsman, as you already may have noted from her musings. In the decade and a half since her graduation from Culver City High School, Ms. London — no mere toe-dipper — has plunged to the depths in both genres. What visitors will find at Saturday evening’s 4-hour reception will be the products of three governing influences in her life, scientific research, fine art and avant-garde fashion. The sensitive, softly alluring concepts to be shown in the S.B. London Gallery form an entirely separate universe from her previous rougher-sounding calling, industrial design. Not that she has left the field. “I still consider myself an industrial designer,” she said. “The art in my gallery is a reinterpretation of industrial design.” Before she designed products with an environmental element, Ms. London earned a bachelor’s degree in theater arts. This may have been an early predictor that eventually she would circle back when the siren of aesthetic sensitivity sounded in her heart. “I had a lot of success in the theater doing set designs, first for theater and then for movies,” she said on the afternoon that thefrontpageonline.com dropped by her sunny digs. As early as the age of 15, this model of modern ambition was doing set design. But it eventually exacted a toll from her fragile sense of creativity. Fifteen years later, she was burned out. “I wanted to do something more personal,” Ms. London said. “I wanted a connection to human beings. I have felt disconnected. I did not have a creative process that was impacting humans directly. And I was spending so much time on set design details that never were seen by the camera.” Then, she said, as soon as the sets were photographed, they were dumped into the garbage. Not a speck of evidence of Ms. London’s work remained. “Besides,” she said, “all of that work was exhausting.”

Family In Front Row of Her Life

To be more roundly appreciated, Ms. London’s family background, an understanding of history is a significant factor. Had she been the daughter of a blue-collar worker, she likely would have been drawing — if the extravagant pun can be forgiven — a different kind of paycheck. As it turned out, Ms. London’s colorful, upbeat ancestry resembles a human mosaic. She says that she “developed” from “a long line of artists, engineers, inventors and scientists. My great-grandmother was a sculptress. She worked in stone. She traveled the world (a century ago). For a woman of that time, it was very progressive. My father (Tony) is a mechanical engineer, and he also invents a lot of things. My mother (Sharlene) is an English teacher. My parents allowed me to go in the direction that I chose, and they always supported me. When I was at U.C. Santa Cruz, which is on the trimester system, I was involved in two or three shows every trimester. My parents (who still live in Culver City) always came up to Santa Cruz to see them. I was building and designing sets, and I also was directing plays.” What about performing? Ms. London skillfully skirted a bite from the acting bug. She laughs. “I get too nervous in front of a crowd,” she said. “I have always had a fear.”

Postscript

No matter how much later Ms. London came along after feminist pioneers had paved the way for American women in formerly men-monopolized professions, she still had a bumpy time. Did she see limits for herself because she is a woman? “Constantly,” she said. “How did I handle it? With a sense of humor and with optimism. I always tried to figure a way for me to go around.” Now that Ms. London is on her own, professionally, for the first time, she no longer should have to worry about such pesky impediments.