In her latest gallery show, Echo Park-based artist Andrea Nakhla shares 40 oil paintings of friends set inside, outside and throughout her neighborhood.
Tonight's the final night to check out painter Andrea Nakhla's L.A. exhibition Little Joy.
[](http://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56c346b607eaa09d9189a870/1487292636779-60B9ULMHSD2ZV3MVHNU2/Screen-Shot-2016-03-11-at-15.28.33.png.33.png?format=original)
_via @nadaalic_
In this collection of oil paintings, she portrays her friends (subjects) within homes and local hangouts throughout Echo Park.
[](http://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56c346b607eaa09d9189a870/1487292637092-V0VPPMGEUDMCL8BUG83D/Screen-Shot-2016-03-11-at-15.30.20.png.20.png?format=original)
_via @newimageart_
The subjects she's realized on her melting oil-painted canvases have strolled through the gallery in West Hollywood. I love the interplay between interloper and interrogator, how the presented and the presentation blend in the physical space, and the digital space.
[](http://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56c346b607eaa09d9189a870/1487292638996-EFEDK2OW2J0WOGS4MUXS/Screen-Shot-2016-03-11-at-15.30.38.png.38.png?format=original)
_via @newimageart_
In private conversation, Nakhla has told me that she enjoys the time dilation of translating her own photographs to the canvas. Sometimes she spends up to 40 hours on one painting.
[](http://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56c346b607eaa09d9189a870/1487292652005-0ADVQLJHK4ITWASNFC6Z/brite-spot.jpg)
_Photo courtesy New Image Art_
Nakhla's dedicated work fascinates me because it reacts to today's Snapchat and Instagrammable whirlwind, while ironically, easily, floating back into this stream (proof is in the snaps shown in this post).
[](http://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56c346b607eaa09d9189a870/1487292681580-WZWCW0FFMDJANPY1PT3P/nude-girl.jpg)
_Photo courtesy New Image Art_
In slowing down from the "shoot and post" mentality, her collection has amassed a dreamy, documentary quality, something I don't find on my personal Instagram experience. Spectacle is rapid, but Truth takes time to manifest (in my opinion).
[](http://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56c346b607eaa09d9189a870/1487292641788-7HVHKAG67Z2XDUOIW4UP/Screen-Shot-2016-03-11-at-15.48.12.jpg.12.jpg?format=original)
_Photo courtesy New Image Art_
A passing viewer from another part of the globe might find relatable emotional struggles at play. These common moments are immediately relatable...
_via @newimageart_
[](http://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56c346b607eaa09d9189a870/1487292639351-K8O9BG1PGAI026J30U8Z/Screen-Shot-2016-03-11-at-15.31.08.png.08.png?format=original)
_Photo courtesy New Image Art_
The singer of an indie band nurses what looks like whiskey...
[](http://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56c346b607eaa09d9189a870/1487292639959-UI8Q671T1WKZGWZCMFYK/Screen-Shot-2016-03-11-at-15.31.35.png.35.png?format=original)
_Photo courtesy New Image Art_
A couple disappears into their bed, putting off the day...
[](http://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56c346b607eaa09d9189a870/1487292640902-OACI736KIVNNAO857YMF/Screen-Shot-2016-03-11-at-15.46.24.png.24.png?format=original)
A woman considers her body.
_Photo courtesy New Image Art_
[](http://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56c346b607eaa09d9189a870/1487292641306-89MDC6YUM4I28XAU577U/Screen-Shot-2016-03-11-at-15.46.45.png.45.png?format=original)
L.A.'s notorious attribute factors in, too: exclusivity and locality. Art scenesters who frequent the neighborhood might recognize the facade of Stories, an independent bookstore on Sunset Boulevard...
[](http://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56c346b607eaa09d9189a870/1487292653574-XKZD2NZTHN3068DJ3SDP/foot.jpg)
Or the happy foot sign... (local lore says that when you drive past the spinning sign on Sunset and North Benton Way, a sad foot means you are cursed)...
[](http://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56c346b607eaa09d9189a870/1487292653265-VA69UYRANDN7RNJPWO8Z/foot-2.jpg)
_Photo courtesy New Image Art_
While a happy foot means good blessings...
[](http://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56c346b607eaa09d9189a870/1487292637577-RXT1H8FEJ3O7BUK5OAY1/Screen-Shot-2016-03-11-at-15.30.30.png.30.png?format=original)
With over 40 paintings in the series, Nakhla's interpreted the reality of a global Art hotbed, but in her personal, surreal terms. Nakhla's also elevated a universal concept: #friendshipgoals. Who isn't honored to grace a painstakingly rendered piece of art?
_Little Joy at [New Image Art Gallery](http://www.newimageartgallery.com/exhibitions/current/) 7920 Santa Monica Boulevard is open till 6 pm on Saturday, March 12._
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