Jan 162025
 

Charles Ray “Family Romance”, 1993, and Ashley Bickerton “F.O.B.:Tied (White)”, 1993/2018

Charles Ray “Family Romance”, 1993

Maurizio Cattelan “WE”, 2010

Tishan Hsu, “mammal-screen-green-2”, 2024

Work by Josh Kline

“Untitled”, 2008-9, and “Two Breasts”, 1990, by Robert Gober

Mike Kelley, “Brown Star”, 1991 (left) and “The Judge”, 2018, by Jana Euler (painting on right)

Wanghechi Mutu, “One Cut”, 2018, (center sculpture); photographs by Cindy Sherman, 2010/2023

“Pep Talk”, 2024, by Cajsa von Zeipel and Jamian Juliano-Villani, “Women”, 2024, (painting on right)

Post Human, the current group exhibition at Jeffrey Deitch’s Los Angeles location, continues an artistic investigation of humanity that began with the 1992 exhibition of the same name. Some of the over forty artists (and even some of the works) were in the previous iteration, but now their work is placed alongside others made more recently. Seeing them together offers viewers a chance to  contemplate the shifts and continuations in culture, technology, and what it means to be human.

From the gallery-

“Post Human was virtually a manifesto trumpeting a new art for a new breed of human,” wrote the art historian and curator Robert Rosenblum discussing the impact of the exhibition in the October 2004 issue of Artforum.

In 1992, Post Human, curated by Jeffrey Deitch, brought together the work of thirty-six young artists interested in technological advancement, social and aesthetic pluralism, and new frontiers of body and identity transformation. Through their art, these artists were exploring the same questioning of traditional notions of gender, sexuality and self-identity that was—and still is—taking place in the world at large. Capturing a developing social and scientific phenomenon, Post Human theorized a new approach to the construction of the self and interpretation of what defines being human. The exhibition set the agenda for the 1990s, and its influence on artists and philosophers led to a new field of academic study.

In her book Posthuman Feminism (2022), the philosopher and feminist theoretician Rosi Braidotti credits Deitch for capturing “the avant-garde spirit of the age by foregrounding the role of technology in blurring binary boundaries between subjects and objects, humans and non-humans.” She adds, “Post Human showed also that art assumed a much more central role as it merged with science, computerization and biotechnology in further re-shaping the human form and perfecting a flair for the artificial.”

The catalogue of the 1992 exhibition, with its visual essay and innovative design by the late Dan Friedman, also proved lasting relevance. Deitch’s influential essay predicted many of the scientific and sociological shifts that have since shaped our cultural and social environment, even the pandemic.

More than thirty years later, Post Human at Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles, revisits the theme of the exhibition, bringing the discourse into the present. The show includes several of the key figures who participated in the 1992 exhibition in dialogue with some of the most interesting artists continuing the exploration of these themes today. In keeping with the social and technological trends that inspired it, the interest in figuration of the original artists and the younger generations presented in the show is conceptual rather than formal.

Much of the then-new figurative work was descriptive of the “real” world but cannot, in fact, be called “realistic” in the conventional sense. That is because so much of the “real” world the artists were reacting to had become artificial. With the concept of the real disintegrating through an acceptance of the multiplicity of reality models and the embrace of artificiality, Realism as it was once known was no longer possible. This new figurative art may have actually marked the end of Realism rather than its revival.

Fully integrated into our pop psychology, the term “posthuman” is now used in everyday conversations and has come to primarily identify with the trope of the cyborg. This exhibition, like the 1992 show, however, examines multiple declinations and aspects of the postmodern construction of personality and the engineering and transcendence of the human body. The artists in the exhibition embrace notions of plurality, metamorphosis and multi-beingness. Cyber-futuristic, surgically improved, commodified, stereotyped, and politicized, the “cultured body” lends itself to reflect on a variety of concerns that define our age.

Several works in the exhibition will embrace the biometrical aestheticization of the human body to address the decay paranoia, the social conflict over genetic engineering and the use of biotechnologies, and the conversation around the limits of “natural” life.” Artists have long engaged with the threats of biometric surveillance, the possibility of virtual reality overtaking our physical one, the accelerating real-time consumption of experience, and the automation of the workforce. As AI’s ability to fulfill our creative and specialized needs has reached mass fruition, artists are confronting the impact of what was once considered speculative science fiction, an everyday reality.

Post Human was first presented at FAE, Musée D’art Contemporain, Pully/Lausanne (June 14–September 13, 1992) and traveled to Castello di Rivoli—Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli/Turin (October 1–November 22, 1992), Deste Foundation, House of Cyprus, Athens (December 3, 1992–February 14, 1993), Deichtorhallen Hamburg (March 12–May 9, 1993), Israel Museum, Jerusalem (June 23–October 10, 1993). A number of the works shown in 1992-1993 are now in international museum collections. Matthew Barney’s REPRESSIA (decline) (1991) is now in the collection of LACMA, where it was on view in 2023. Posthumanism has since been the subject of countless books, movies and high-profile exhibitions.

Artists in the exhibition: Isabelle Albuquerque, 
Matthew Barney
, Ivana Bašić
, Frank Benson, 
Ashley Bickerton, 
Maurizio Cattelan
, Chris Cunningham
, John Currin, 
Alex Da Corte, 
Olivia Erlanger
, Jana Euler
, Rachel Feinstein, 
Urs Fischer, 
Pippa Garner
, Robert Gober
, Hugh Hayden, 
Damien Hirst
, Tishan Hsu, 
Pierre Huyghe, 
Anne Imhof
, Alex Israel, 
Arthur Jafa, 
Jamian Juliano-Villani
, Mike Kelley, 
Josh Kline, 
Jeff Koons
, Paul McCarthy
, Sam McKinniss, 
Mariko Mori
, Takashi Murakami
, Wangechi Mutu
, Cady Noland, 
Charles Ray
, Cindy Sherman, 
Kiki Smith
, Hajime Sorayama, 
Anna Uddenberg, 
Cajsa von Zeipel
, Jeff Wall
, Jordan Wolfson, and 
Anicka Yi

This show closes Saturday, 1/18/25.

Aug 022024
 

It’s the last few days to see Utagawa Hiroshige’s 100 Famous Views of Edo at Brooklyn Museum. They are incredible to view in person, but are also available to view in their entirety on the museum’s website. The exhibition also includes a few images of the places depicted in the prints today as well as Takashi Murakami’s large painted versions of some of the prints.

From the museum-

What are the must-see locations in your favorite city? Where do you go when you need a breath of fresh air? What makes certain neighborhoods famous? Join an artist-insider on a tour of nineteenth-century Tokyo (then known as Edo), from lumberyards to destination restaurants, and see if his choices illuminate your own relationship with the cities you know well.

For the first time in twenty-four years, Utagawa Hiroshige’s 100 Famous Views of Edo—one of the Brooklyn Museum’s greatest treasures—returns to public display. The Museum’s complete set of these celebrated prints is among the world’s finest, full of vibrant colors preserved by decades in the dark.

While most presentations have centered on the prints’ technical sophistication and influence on European artists, here we focus on their urban subject matter. Originally published in 1856–58, the series captures the evolving socioeconomic and environmental landscape of the city that would become Tokyo. Through both the prints and complementary objects drawn from the Museum’s collection, you’ll be immersed in mid-nineteenth-century Edo and see it through the eyes of the ordinary people who populate Hiroshige’s settings. You’ll encounter all four seasons in scenes of picnics beneath cherry blossoms, summer rainstorms, falling maple leaves, and wintry dusks. The exhibition also includes modern photographs to show how Hiroshige’s scenes morphed into today’s Tokyo.

Artist Takashi Murakami (born Tokyo, Japan, 1962) takes Hiroshige’s views into a more fantastical realm with a set of his own paintings. Created in direct response to 100 Famous Views of Edo, these works invite us to reconsider Hiroshige’s world and his contributions to global art history.

Below are a few more selections from the exhibition from the museum’s website.

This exhibition closes 8/4/24.

Jul 272017
 

Portugal. The Man- Feel It Still

Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (7/27-7/30/17)-

Thursday

MOCA Grand Avenue has a free screening of Eve Fowler’s film- with it which it as it if it is to be

LACMA has a free screening of Step, a documentary about a high school girls step dance team in Baltimore, and includes a conversation with the director Amanda Lipitz and the subjects of the film

For the last of Hammer Museum’s RebelRebel free music programs, Amber Mark and Maria Del Pilar are performing

Thee Commons are playing a free concert at the Levitt Pavilion in MacArthur Park

This week’s free concert at the Santa Monica Pier is Miami Horror with Cleopold opening

Friday

Summer Nights in the Garden, the Natural History Museum’s free evening event, returns with music, a tomato talk and tasting, botanical tours, knot tying, a live animal meet and greet and nature inspired activities

For Pershing Square’s free outdoor movie night this week they are showing World War Z

The Wiltern has the Lucent Dossier Experience which combines music, dancing, aerial acts, and more

Steve Gunn is playing at The Echo with Heron Oblivion and Mary Lattimore opening (or check him out tomorrow for free at the Getty)

Grand Performances this week has the U.S. premiere of the multi-media performance La Linea, a story about everyday life on the Mexico-U.S. Border, with live music, visual projections, and Norteño choreography

The World Record, The Henry Clay People, The Parson Red Heads and Le Switch are playing at The Satellite

Saturday

Curator, critic and art historian Hans Ulrich Obrist will be discussing the work of Marisa Merz with Hammer chief curator Connie Butler at the Hammer Museum (free)

The Big Moon are opening for Marika Hackman at the Bootleg Theater

Steve Gunn is performing for the Getty Museum’s free concert series Saturdays off the 405

A Tribe Called Red are playing at the El Rey Theatre

Baio is playing a free concert at the Levitt Pavilion in MacArthur Park with starRo opening

For the second Summer Happenings at The Broad-Strange Forest takes its name from the work of Takashi Murakami and will concentrate on artists who work with traditional Japanese and Western influences. These include musician Tokiko Ihara, who plays the Sho, a meditative traditional woodwind instrument, female drum and guitar duo Afrirampo, and solo artist Oorutaichi, who combines electronic music, folk and pop with his own invented language. Those Japan-based groups are joined by ex-DNA member Ikue Mori and Miho Hatori of Cibo Matto; Devendra Banhart, whose last album Ape in Pink Marble was deeply inspired by Japanese culture; and former Ponytail member Dustin Wong in collaboration with Takako Minekawa. ($25 advance/$30 at the door- includes access to the museum)

Waxahatchee are playing at The Regent Theater with Cayetana and Snail Mail opening

Sunday

Portugal. The Man are playing at the Hollywood Palladium with Hanni El Khatib and Fatlip

LACMA has a free screening (at 1 pm) of the HBO documentary BRILLO BOX (3¢ OFF), the story of director Lisanne Skyler’s parents purchase of one of Andy Warhol’s Brillo Boxes in 1969 for $1,000 and its increase in value in the art market (long after they had traded it) to over 3 million dollars. There will be a discussion with Skyler and curator Stephanie Barron to follow.  The doc will debut on HBO on August 7.

For the last day of Fowler Museum’s African-Print Fashion Now! exhibition, there are a series of events including an exhibition tour, art talk, hands on art making, African fashion Pop-Up Shops, and a live concert (free)

There’s a Johnny Ramone tribute at Hollywood Forever cemetery that includes a screening of one of Johnny’s favorite films, Buffalo ’66, and an introduction by director Vincent Gallo. In addition, Billy Idol and Steve Jones will perform acoustic songs, there will be an exhibit of Ramones memorabilia, a pop up gallery, a Chris Cornell tribute, and more. ($20 in advance /$25 day of)

Tobin Sprout (of Guided by Voices) is performing songs from his new solo album at the Bootleg Theater with Elf Power opening

May 292014
 

Le1f- BOOM

Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend (5/29-6/1)-

Thursday

Thee Oh Sees at the Echo (moved from Church on York)- http://www.theecho.com/event/587871-thee-oh-sees-los-angeles/

MOCAtv presents a Jogging screening of four films made by the collective just for MOCA (free)- http://sites.moca.org/the-curve/2014/05/12/mocatv-presents-jogging/

Die Antwoord at the Fonda- http://www.fondatheatre.com/events/detail/247377

Friday

Friday Flights at the Getty hosted by Liars- http://www.getty.edu/visit/cal/events/18669.html

Takashi Murakami’s film Jellyfish Eyes at the Ace Hotel’s historic theater- http://www.acehotel.com/calendar/losangeles/takashi-murakami-presents-jellyfish-eyes

Pink Mountaintops at the Echo- http://www.theecho.com/event/534149-pink-mountaintops-los-angeles/

Eagulls at the Satellite- http://www.thesatellitela.com/event/516535-eagulls-twin-peaks-criminal-los-angeles/

Saturday

Le1f at the Echo- http://www.theecho.com/event/547521-le1f-los-angeles/

Sunset Boulevard at the Million Dollar Theatre- http://www.grandcentralmarket.com/events/280/sunset-boulevard-at-the-million-dollar-theatre

Saturday and Sunday

The Big Parade LA is two days of organized walking around Los Angeles including about 80 public stairways (free)- http://bigparadela.tumblr.com/

Sunday

Dance, art, music, and poetry combine with the backdrop of Northeast LA’s historic buildings for  Lummis Day at Lummis Home and Heritage Square (free)- http://www.lummisday.org/2013/

Doug Aitken and Philippe Vergne speak at LACMA- http://www.lacma.org/event/aitken-and-vergne