Los Angeles, CA May 30, 2013 – Allison Hueman Torneros will be unveiling her highly anticipated solo project, RITUAL, on July 11, 2013 at Think Tank Gallery in downtown LA’s historic fashion district. RITUAL is a massive floor-to-ceiling, site-specific, fully-immersive mural encompassing an entire industrial warehouse space. To create the experience, Hueman has been following a handful of LA artists, including actors, musicians and performers, gaining insight into the rituals they engage in before shows or working, learning their superstitions and what they do in order to break through to their creative side. Then, with all of this in mind, Hueman is locking herself in Think Tank for two weeks leading up to the show to conduct her own ritual: transforming the entire space into the art-piece, completely free-style.

Hueman says, “Los Angeles has a bad rep for being a vast city with no center. It’s easy to feel lost and alone here, but this show is something I could only do in LA. It explores the unique and diverse spectrum of spirituality, ritual, superstition that can only be concentrated in a city like this.” How does ritual create meaning for Angelenos? Structure? Community? RITUAL is a study of human behavior in the city of angels.

“I’ve always been in awe when I go into another artists’ studio or space and see where they live or how they work,” Hueman says of what inspired the project. “We take our own habits for granted, but this makes me aware of the significance of my own rituals and what I do when I work. When I create. My ritual is to freestyle. I go in without a plan, and let the art speak for itself.”

This has been true for the artists’ entire body of work. Hueman begins each new project by literally splashing the canvas with paint. She then steps back and takes the new canvas in, meditates on what she sees and “lets faces emerge from the shapes.” RITUAL will be holding space at Think Tank from July 11 to July 27, 2013. Works will be for sale.

Opening reception on July 11, 2013 from 7-11pm, during downtown LA’s monthly art walk.

Click here for the Facebook event page.

I was approached to do this show in August with only a month and a half left before the opening night. I churned out a whole new body of work in a matter of weeks, which just confirmed for me that I really do best when working under pressure. With this show I wanted to dive into the human condition, by exploring the question, “what makes us human?” What separates us from the animals? It has everything to do with our self-awareness, and I think of Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs, which include the primal needs for shelter, food, safety, sex, and to the more sophisticated needs of love, recognition, respect, achievement, creativity, and morality.

First on the list of festivities was a party at the Westin in San Francisco. Our group dressed up as villains, and I dressed as Shredder from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles…

On Halloween proper, me and my two girlfriends dressed as TLC, I was Left-Eye. It felt like we actually were TLC with the kinds of reactions we were getting and all the pictures we posed for. Such a fun night!!!

View the video and article on the 12ozprophet website here.