Today (9/7) is the last day to see Hammer Museum’s Made In L.A. 2014, their second biennial exhibition consisting of Los Angeles based artists.
Sep 072014
Jun 212014
Augusta Wood- The Last Autumn, Self Portrait with Andy Sleeping
For her show at Angles Gallery, Whether it happened or not, Augusta Wood has combined photos from old family slides, and sometimes more recent ones she has taken herself, to form singular images all taking place in and around the house she grew up in. The result is images that question the nature of memory and personal history.
From the press release:
Whether it happened or not is an act of organizing chaos and composing a view that asserts the way things exist in the artist’s mind. These are works that reflect what she remembers and wants to stabilize, complete, and believes should not be forgotten. Wood is resisting loss. This happened, this is real, and these images exist now, whether it happened or not.
This show closes on 6/28/14.
Jun 072014
Photo by Robert Capa of Private Huston S. Riley at Omaha Beach
Today, June 6, 1944, is the 70th Anniversary of D-Day, when Allied (American, British and Canadian) troops invaded a 50 mile area of the Normandy coast in France. The Normandy landings were the largest seaborne invasion in history and contributed to the Allied victory in the war.
Photojournalist Robert Capa was there, and took one of the most famous pictures from that day. It was one of only eleven images from the ten rolls of film he was able to bring back that survived, due to an accident in the darkroom when they were being processed.
This Vanity Fair article is a great portrait of Capa and also details his experience on D-Day.
For more information on Capa and a collection of his other images, Magnum Photos (which he helped to found) is worth checking out.
Artsy is also a good source for artist information and lists current exhibitions and related artists for further exploration.
May 102014
Melanie Willhide– T and V, Mesa Elks, 2008
Farrah Karapetian has put together a wonderful collection of photographs from various artists for Von Lintel Gallery’s inaugural exhibition in Los Angeles, Lay of the Land. Many of the artists in the show, including Zoe Crosher, Ed Ruscha, and Catherine Opie, are primarily based in Los Angeles and many of the photos are connected to Los Angeles in some way.
Farrah Karapetian is both an artist and a curator. She also recently curated the excellent Unsparing Quality at Diane Rosenstein Fine Art.
This show closes 5/10/14.
May 092014
Chris Engman: Ink on Paper
Luis de Jesus gallery is currently showing Chris Engman’s incredible photographs which play with the notion of what is real. Although the images sometimes appear three dimensional (like the cube and paper above) or altered in some way, they are more straight forward than they seem. These optical illusions should be seen in person to get the full effect.
Also take a moment to see Antonia Wright’s video work in the back of the gallery. Watching her fall through a sheet of glass naked repeatedly is mesmerizing and disturbing.
Both shows close 5/10.
May 032014
Irit Batsry- Altered Sites
Currently at Shoshana Wayne gallery is Irit Batsry’s fourth solo exhibition. From the press release:
Altered Sites is a partial survey of Batsry’s photographic work from the last two decades illuminating key themes for the artist: the fragmentation of space, the construction of virtual space, and the dissolution of borders between photography, painting, sculpture, and the moving image.
Three different series of photographs are presented in the show. Neither There Nor Here is a series of photos taken from video material shot in Southern India. The Through the Looking Glass series, taken in Northwest Brazil, includes fun house mirror images of the sky and buildings, like the one seen above. Also shot in Brazil, the images from the third series, Caution, incorporate sculptures she built with security caution tape that she places within a coastal landscape.
This show closes 5/3.
Apr 262014
If you are in Culver City make sure to look up on La Cienega (near Washington) to see the billboard of Rebecca Morris’s cats, an addition to her show at LA><ART, Fantastic LA, which consists of abstract paintings named after popular songs. Morris is also currently included in the Whitney Biennial.
Also at LA><Art is Patricia Fernández’s multimedia installation Paseo de los Melancólicos, which explores the history of Spain during the time of the Spanish Civil War.
These shows both close 4/26.
The outside of the gallery has a mural by Fritz Chesnut (seen above in silver) which will be on view until 4/30.
Apr 262014
“Throwing-Nikomat”
“9 Perspectives”
Lew Thomas: Structural (ism) and Photography (images via Cherry and Martin)
In this exhibition of Lew Thomas’s photos, focusing on his work from 1971-1978, the mostly black and white images focus on different ways to use the medium to capture time and structure. Some of the work consists of multiple images of the same object put together to create an overall pattern, while others, like “9 Perspectives” (shown above), are several photos pieced together to form one single image. There are other explorations of photographic representation within the show as well, including “Throwing-Nikomat”(pictured above), and black and white photos of documents. There is a charm and sometimes humor to Thomas’s work that make this not only an interesting exhibition to see, but also a fun one.
This show is at Cherry and Martin until 4/26.
Apr 252014
Hannah Whitaker– Arctic Landscape (Pink Sky) 2014
For Hannah Whitaker’s first solo exhibition in Los Angeles, Cold Wave, at M+B Gallery, she combines photos of nature scenes, naked bodies and other images with a series of hand cut paper screens that together create abstract geometric forms and patterns. The images remain recognizable but are given added dimension through this process. Other work in the show concentrates more on graphic shapes and less on traditional imagery, but the strongest images are the ones in which something familiar is seen with a different perspective through this unique technique.
This show closes 4/26/14.
Apr 122014
Yoshitomo Nara’s solo exhibiton at Blum & Poe (closing 4/12) is filled with new works by the artist on a large scale including a room of bronze sculptures and some of his large paintings in others (an example of both pictured above). On the second floor of the gallery is a retrospective look at the artist’s drawings throughout his thirty year career. Whimsical and at times melancholy, the wide eyed figures fascinate.
Also in Culver City and closing 4/12/14-
Angles Gallery in collaboration with Hinge Modern presents THE ARTIST’S HANDS CONTINUUM by Rena Small. Small has been photographing her friend’s hands since 1984, and each black and white photograph represents the person in a unique way. Several of the hands included belong to familiar names.
The group show at Maloney Fine Art includes work by Joel Otterson, and some unique ceramic creations which look like bizarre vinyl toys by Maberry + Walker.