The Game of Patience features new figurative paintings by artist Laura Krifka that depict female and male subjects in intimate moments within carefully constructed interiors. Krifka deftly paints her bare-skinned protagonists reading, drawing, daydreaming, watching, and waiting. The peep of a phallus and the highlight of a thigh gap allude to the pleasure of stillness, supplemented by the visual tension meticulously sculpted throughout the domestic spaces. A notable development in Krifka’s content is the genesis of idiosyncratic wallpapers that appear to direct the viewer’s gaze rather than lay flat. These imagined patterns create parallel planes of space, shift color and shape inexplicably, and build psychological tension, functioning like maps for the dream logic of each painting.
At the heart of Krifka’s practice are post-modern and contemporary critiques of canonical Painting. Krifka treats the false dichotomies of subject and object, male and female, observer and observed as comedic jumping off points before bending or breaking the rules and moving on to more nuanced and poetic concerns. Sensually charged in the pinks, purples, pea-greens, and ochers of afternoon reveries, all the protagonists are depicted in vulnerable situations, and Krifka wanders through paintings with surprising detail and care, in search of consent and a deeper understanding of the nature of desire.
Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (10/10-10/14/19)-
Thursday
Artist Sadie Barnette and her father Rodney Barnette will be celebrating their shared birthday at ICA LA, with an art talk, DJ, and a performance by Global Street Dance Masquerade- taking place along with her newest project The New Eagle Creek Saloon, a tribute to her father’s bar, Eagle Creek Saloon, the first black-owned gay bar in San Francisco
Downtown LA’s Art Walk returns for its monthly event with lots of galleries in the area staying open late
Mega Bog, L.A. Takedown and Spookey Ruben are performing free at Zebulon with Dent May DJ’ing
Friday
ArtNight Pasadena returns for its biannual event with a free evening of live music, performances, and free admission to museums and galleries in Pasadena. There will also be free shuttles to take you around to the various locations.
Hassan Hajjaj: My Rockstars Experimental- Live has the Moroccan phototographer, designer and filmmaker, creating sets and clothes from his portraits and videos- this time for the stage of The Ford and including live performances by musicians Afrikan Boy, Bumi, Simo Lagnawi, Marques Toliver, Gail Ann Dorsey and Omar Offendum at The Ford. My Rockstars Experimental, Volume I was shown at LACMA in 2013.
Dan Luke and the Raid are opening for The Parlor Mob at the Bootleg Theater
Saturday
Bleached are playing at the Lodge Room with Dude York and Lunch Lady
Psychic Twin is having a free single release party show at Gold Diggers with Drum & Lace opening
Culver City Arts District is hosting its annual Art Walk and Roll, a free festival with live music, food trucks, and more, plus a chance to see all the art shows happening in the area.
If you are in Culver City, head to Luis de Jesus Los Angeles to hear artist Laura Krifka discuss her paintings currently on view at the gallery
2019 Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation has three different programs starting at 3pm at REDCAT
Arto Lindsay is playing at Zebulon featuring Rodrigo Amarante, along with Ofir Ganon playing solo/duo with Chris Bear (Grizzly Bear)
Mereba is performing at the Ford Theatre with We Are King
Sunday
At Fowler Museum on Sunday afternoons and Wednesday evenings, to accompany its exhibition Through Positive Eyes, seven HIV-positive Angelenos known as the Los Angeles Through Positive Eyes Collective will share their photographs and personal narratives (today beginning at 1pm)
The Dead End Kids Club is having its 1st Fall Ball at The Echo with performances by Z Berg, Ryan Ross, Palm Springsteen and Dan Keyes
Highland Park is having its first Oktoberfest at The Hi Hat with music by West Coast Prost, Oktoberfest inspired food and of course, German Bier
Andrew Combs is playing at the Bootleg Theater with Harrison Whitford and Austin Manuel
Monday
Temples are playing at the Echoplex with Trupa Trupa