PINK LIGHT is an exhibit of paintings by Michael Harnish that speak to the cathedral of nature to be found in the urban spaces of Los Angeles.  As the sun sets, a radiant pink light is cast across the pale salmon stucco and breeze block facades of the city. There is an aesthetic cult around this luminous pink found in the light and architecture of Southern California. It is as quintessential to life here as surfing or lounging in a striped cabana poolside.

These large canvases feature portraits of the palms of the Beverly Hills Hotel paired with loving studies of mid-century interior architecture – chairs, ceramics – treasured vessels that hold and hide.

Harnish is a painter of secret spaces. Nature is everywhere, and to be human is to interact with it constantly, often in recreational ways. We surf the oceans, hike the foothills and ski down the mountains but there are other aspects to our interactions with nature that are more intimate. A slender tree against the side wall of an apartment building is a welcome sight to the tenants, maybe not often acknowledged in the frenzy of everyday life.

These works speak to how a “plant” is a collaboration between the structure of humanity, our buildings, our objects and the whole of nature. A footnote within the bustling city that there are jungles all around us.