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UCLA alumna Anne Wang stands in front of her piece titled “Midievil.” Wang is showcas

The art world is teeming with talented young artists vying to be the next big thing. It’s a scenario that expectedly lends itself to networking – a case of not simply how good you are and how much you know, but really who you know.

Two UCLA graduates have found that chance introductions can lead to recommendations that, months later, can culminate in a full-fledged gallery exhibit.

“Landscapes of Two Musical Minds”features UCLA alumni Mark Golamco and Anne Wang. The gallery show was put together by curator, art professor and respected art correspondent Rosanna Albertini and is on view at LMAN Gallery in Chinatown’s Chung King Road art enclave through May 8.

“I have a pile of portfolios on my desk,” said Lawrence Man, architect and gallery owner. “But unfortunately I’ve yet to select an artist that way. There are just so many young and promising artists out there that I almost always have to go with recommendations and referrals. (Selecting an artist) is a time-consuming process, so (networking) helps because I can learn more about the artist and ask questions before I decide to visit that artist’s studio to see the actual works.”

Much of Man’s networking begins in his gallery. For instance, he hooked up with Albertini at an LMAN exhibit featuring Japanese sculpture artist Mineo Mizuno. The two hit it off almost immediately and began discussing collaborating on a potential project. That project eventually evolved into “Landscapes of Two Musical Minds.”

Albertini, who currently teaches a course on critical thought in the UCLA art department, consulted her network of art aficionados and eventually was urged to check out artist Mark Golamco, whose works consist of figures and landscapes intricately carved into layered plywood and highlighted with sparse and subtle staining and varnishing.

“I immediately knew that Mark’s work was perfect for the show the moment I visited his studio,” Albertini said. “I liked the way he expresses the figures in his mind out of nothingness, literally through the creation of void spaces in wood … he was doing his own thing and working in a medium that is currently not considered trendy … (His work is) not simply portraiture but rather, the expression of images created in (his) mind … and his reflections on the nature of relationships.”

The second of the two artists featured in the exhibit is Anne Wang, who was also recommended to Albertini by a mutual friend. Instead of figures, Wang works abstractly with colors. Her most recent work centers specifically on exploring the color yellow.

“I (am) fascinated by the fact that yellow is extremely transparent as well as iridescent,” Wang said. “It’s like a light source on its own.”

Even though most of Wang’s pieces look like plain shades and variants of yellow at a distance, a closer of inspection of each piece reveals unexpected complexity. Wang often uses a grid technique to texturize her works. This method allows Wang to modulate the final color, which itself is obtained by combining different colors in often up to a hundred layers.

“Friends often visit my studio, see my pieces, and ask me when I’m going to begin the work,” Wang joked. “But when I explain to them the process, they take a closer look and then they understand. My emphasis is on color, and color alone. In that way, my work both complements and contrasts with Mark’s work – emphasis instead of void.”

Albertini agrees that Golamco and Wang make for a unique and satisfying pairing.

“I had an instinctual sense of the match, a fantasy in my mind,” Albertini said. “When I finally did get to see (Wang’s) work, I knew I had somehow been right and that we had a match.”

Even though both artists studied art at UCLA as undergraduates, they never met each other prior to the current project.

“They’re both also wonderful musicians,” Albertini added. “I first found out that Mark played the viola and then I fantasized that maybe Anne was a musician too. It was just a guess, but it turned out that before she became an artist, she had studied music for years and was an accomplished pianist and harpist. So in many ways, the match was perfect.”