POMONA, CA.-Downtown Pomona gallery dba256 is building on the success of its inaugural show Inland Emperors with its brilliant follow-up exhibit Liquid Light, a collection of paintings chosen to highlight the significance of Southern California artistic innovation. Featured artists include:, Lita Albuquerque, Dawn Arrowsmith, Alexander Couwenberg, Jimi Gleason, Andy Moses, Roland Reiss, Gregg Renfrow, Michel Tabori, Sharon Weiner, Patrick Wilson, and Suzan Woodruff. Shana Nys Dambrot, notable art writer, editor of “Flavor Pill Magazine,” and contributing editor to “Art Ltd Magazine” and other significant art journals, will provide the thematic essay accompanying the show.

Liquid Light was organized to honor the James Turrell installation at Pomona College and the recent Ephemeral: Explorations in Light exhibit at the Claremont Museum of Art. Gallery director Andi Campognone, who resigned earlier this year as Associate Director of the Riverside Art Museum, has chosen to build on the thematic precedence set by these other Inland Empire exhibition spaces, as well as on dba256’s ambitious and highly successful inaugural show, Inland Emperors.

Inland Emperors, whose first reception hosted over twelve hundred people, commemorated the historical impact of significant Inland Empire innovators on the LA art scene, and featured pieces from Karl Benjamin, Paul Soldner, John Divola, Alexander Couwenberg, Doug McCulloh, Sandra Rowe, Susan Rankaitis, Larry White, Robbert Flick, Tim Ernst, Thomas McGovern, and Sant Khalsa with poetry by B.H. Fairchild.

Liquid Light is a collection of engaging paintings that embody the glow, pulse, and finish of the organically Los Angeles “Light and Space” and “Finish Fetish” movements. The beauty of the work in Liquid Light soulfully suggests varying elements of the Mecca of artistic inspirations that are so characteristic of Southern California.

In looking at these abstract paintings, one senses the presence of the mountains and desert, the roar of hot rod engines and crashing ocean waves, the blur of smog and glow of sun. These are the elements that spawned the Light and Space and Finish Fetish movements¾the elements that inspired artists to create beautiful pieces of art that served as an alternative to New York’s Minimalism and brought focus and philosophical significance to the aesthetic beauty of Hollywood and Los Angeles.

dba256 is an ideal space to show California inspired work, as the Pomona gallery is approaching cultural education in an inspired way by combining two of California’s finest creative products: art and wine. dba256 is the only serious art gallery/wine bar in California, and those who visit can enjoy boutique California wines, or taste flights and micro-brews while they absorb the beauty of the shows. The gallery also displays the work of local, emerging artists, such as Sally Egan’s photography and Tom Pathe’s figurative paintings. Pathe’s work will appear in the 2007 Pacific Edition of “New American Paintings.” Liquid Light runs through December 1st.