A'Driane Nieves Dismantles the Policing of Emotionality in self-evident truths @ VSF in Los Angeles

A'Driane Nieves, a new world is still possible (so hold onto your radical imagination), 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Various Small Fires, Los Angeles / Dallas / Seoul. Photo credit: Julia Gillard.

A’Driane Nieves’ debut exhibition at VSF, self-evident truths. Combining paintings on canvas and paper with new explorations in neon and audio installation, this ambitious exhibition is also Nieves’ first on the West Coast.

Nieves’ dynamic gestural abstractions extend from a writing practice and the therapeutic potential of movement, composition, and color. A self-taught painter of over a decade, Nieves began making work after a therapist suggested painting might be a somatic path through which the artist could move to overcome the impacts of childhood abuse, particularly emotional suppression. In spite of, or perhaps because of the weightiness of this genesis, Nieves’ paintings often carry an energy of joyful, empowered liberation.

self-evident truths is a wry play on the US Constitution’s famous refrain (“we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...), she asks “whose truths?, self-evident to whom?”

self-evident truths is on view through April 6 @ VSF, 812 N Highland Ave. Los Angeles

Watch the Video for "Piano Etude No.2" by Philip Glass Reworked by AVR In Collaboration with Mugler

music written by Philip Glass & reworked by AVR
recorded, produced & mixed by AVR
additional production by Fergus Frost
recorded drums: Luca Marini
performed drums: Hanno Stick
Director & Editor: Alex de Brabant
DOP: Kevin Klein
VFX: Felix Geen
Mastering: Felix Davis
Atmos Mastering: Mike Hillier @mikehillier
Colorist: Alaa Abdullatif
Rotoscope: Rohaman Sabbi
AC: Michael Herbers
Assistants: Raphael Fischer-Dieskau, Leander Rau, Mitch Speed 
Styling: Nicole Walker
Wardrobe: Mugler
Titles & Logo Design: Fabian Maier-Bode
Logo Animation: Chernoff Faces
Special thanks to: Musicboard Berlin and Gema

AVR’s music is about collective transcendence and experiences that remind us of our shared humanity. The multi-gentre producer, composer and performer who studied jazz and classical piano since the age of nine had some rework ideas about the Philip Glass piece “Piano Etude No.2” for a while. To have it released on Glass’ label now is something she didn’t dare to dream of.

The most famous of his piano works has a big dynamic range, from introverted and serene to powerful and ecstatic — framed by the Glass meditation-like minimalism. the pieces’ emotional state Anna von Raison describes as her favorite in music: neither sad nor happy but instead on a meta-level, looking at things through the lens of freedom.

AVR’s recording starts with Glass’ original piano melody performed solely by her voice, as the song starts to build, the piano enters and once the full chords come together, her rework begins. She extends the composition with a high-energy drum solo part, played by Luca Marini (performed by Hanno STick). Later a choir enters with a legato arena chant melody to settle for the finale the way it all began: in the intimate sung version of the main theme.

Read Our Interview Of Painter Jess Valice On The Occasion Of Her Solo Exhibition @ Almine Rech In New York →

 
portrait of Jess Valice from behind painting a man's face on canvas
 

Each and every day we observe thousands of faces online and in person. And with each and every one, we reflexively look for clues to determine how they must feel. It is an empathic impulse endemic to us as social creatures. And yet, regardless of our perpetual, involuntary efforts, we can never be sure that we’ve ascertained any level of truth. It’s this mystery that lies at the heart of Jess Valice’s painted figures. The artist’s initial life path, which was headed toward a medical practice, laid the foundation for an approach to painting that leaves the viewer in a state of quizzical study, lost in the gaze of a subject who was never asking to be diagnosed. The predominant demons and desires of her subjects even seem to elude Valice, as she finds herself reworking each of their faces incessantly until she lands on something that feels honest. For her solo exhibition, Mara, opening today at Almine Rech’s Upper East Side gallery in New York, the subjects in question are at various points of overcoming the part of their egos that obstruct the path to enlightenment, known in Buddhism as Mara. According to Valice, “There is this overwhelming sense of fatigue that I think is typifying our generation, the weight of a spectrum of emotional responses that digital space provokes in us every day… It’s all so complex—this is where the science and melancholia come in—the recognition of this blankness as a widespread response. It’s too much to feel.” Fellow painter and confidante Avery Wheless joined Valice in her studio as the paintings were nearly finished to delve into the making of this new body of work and demystify some of the je ne sais quoi embodied by Valice’s disaffected figures. Read more.

Devon DeJardin "Echoes Of The Past" Opens This Week @ Albertz Benda In New York

Albertz Benda presents the second solo exhibition with the gallery by Los Angeles based artist Devon DeJardin. In this exhibition entitled Echoes of the Past, the artist has reimagined Old Master  portrait paintings, redefining a visual language for the traditional genre. DeJardin’s new paintings are the culmination of five years of his exploration into what the artist terms secular ‘guardians,’ who appear as central figures in his compositions. Comprised of geometric shapes assembled into  anthropomorphic forms, the guardians have a distinctly modernist feel in their tenuous balance between figure and abstraction: 20th century artists from diverse contexts including Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, and Yves Tanguy come to mind as significant inspiration.  

In Echoes of the Past, the artist delves further back across art historical eras, interpreting his portraits through the lens of Flemish Primitive and Italian Renaissance artists to the Dutch Golden Age and Spanish Romantic  masters. While classical portraiture throughout these epochs focused primarily on royalty and pinnacles of  society, DeJardin’s paintings conjure imaginary guardians that protect a wounded society.  

The cheerful themes of DeJardin’s earlier work have evolved into a darker, more limited palette, reinterpreting  choices by many of history’s greatest artists, including Goya, van Eyck, and Rembrandt. They are conceptual reflections of the era in which the artist has lived as DeJardin’s generation has never known life in a world without war—from the Gulf War and the War on Terror to the ongoing conflicts in the Ukraine and the Middle East. DeJardin metaphorically and physically mines the darkness in society to create his work, using shading and light to subtly tease figures from abstract shapes. The orb-like eyes of his figures appear lighter in tone, signifying a purity of spirit and hope for the future.

As always, his paintings are notable for their meticulous rendering. His figures are so sculptural that they almost seem to emerge from the wall. DeJardin goes straight to the canvas, working without a maquette to depict the figure and background in an organic, liberatory process. In recent years the artist has experimented with framing devices for these figures, including floral, architectural, or landscape imagery. In each of the new canvases, the background corresponds to the era from which the artist reimagined the imagery: six smaller works reflect the intimate and domestic scale of Dutch Golden Age paintings, while two larger vertical works lean on an Italian Renaissance tradition, complete with landscape and drapery surrounding the figures. The show serves as a testament to the enduring power of portraiture as a genre of storytelling, with each painting offering a glimpse into shared human experience across centuries. 

On view from March 7 to April 13 at Albertz Benda NYC. 515 W. 26th Street, New York, New York

Emily Ferguson Puts Her Spin on Andersen's Red Shoes @ Half Gallery In Los Angeles

top: Cecile Tulkens
skirt: Mugler couture


photography by Maddy Rotman
styling by Grace Dougherty
hair and makeup by Lilly Pollan


Figures swathed in ribbons as though wrapped in a breeze or a melody, Emily Ferguson borrows from music, cinema, art history and her own biography for this latest exhibition in Los Angeles. The title track of the show is a heavily chiarascuro-ed underpainting capturing an adolescent moment of exuberance, a feeling echoed in “Dancer” albeit a more specified form of activation. The painter had recently rewatched the 1948 movie Red Shoes based on the Hans Christian Andersen story and decided to put her pirouette on this ballet narrative. In real life, Emily considers herself more of a tomboy and likes that her femininity finds a release in these compositions. “Adorned” explores this tension with a young woman sporting a decidedly butch flight cap in the style of Amelia Earhart, but specked with tiny colorful bows, a direct reference to the artists late grandmother who was a seamstress. Perhaps the North Star of the exhibition is a self-portrait done in the style of Alice Neel’s famous nude: a repose of empowerment and vulnerability. 

 
 

dress: Norma Kamali
tights: Falke
shoes: St. John

Avavav's FW24 Presentation Wants to Thank You For Your Feedback

 
 

The Avavav FW24 runway show serves as a dark satire on what internet hate would look like if put into a physical space. In actuality, it doesn’t look much different than the medieval era when a walk of atonement and the stoning of witches were de rigueur. Only for this presentation, the models are acting symbols of self-respect, maintaining an unbroken expression as the audience throws garbage on them, staining their bodies and clothing. The show represents the energy that has defined the creative director Beate Karlsson’s making of the collection, which means abolishing whatever the world thinks of the young brand. Karlsson often sees her storytelling as cognitive behavioral therapy, and in this case, it’s been about keeping a sole focus on elevating the product and the Avavav look.

According to Karlsson, “While the internet is the future, we think it’s curious that internet-behavior is so primitive. This show puts the hate on the runway as a bizarre experiment, where verbal aggression is translated through vulgar actions.”

Avavav has gained worldwide recognition for its conceptual and humorous ideas, abilities to stir strong emotions and its pioneering silhouettes. Their loud approach and huge exposure has created strong opinions for the brand.

The collection has street influences, but with a goth, feminine punch. Some key looks include hooded button up shirts, styled with medieval, cross-shaped ties and tailored suits. Avavav presents some strong new silhouettes like their “shoulderless” hoodie, that carries a ghost-like appeal. Sculpted caps, resembling the shape of sporty cycling helmets and bottoms merging skirts and pants into an exciting new silhouette. The brand also presents its Avavav x Eastpak capsule collection for the first time during the show. Eastpak’s iconic Pakr is reimagined in a double backpack silhouette, next to “four fingered” mini bags and a multi Pakr bumbag.

The Avavav FW24 runway show is sponsored by Eastpak, Urban Production, MAC Cosmetics, Wella Professionals and Riccardo Grassi Showroom.

How Hans Uhlmann Created New Forms for a New World @ Berlinische Galerie in Berlin

 
 

Hans Uhlmann's (1900–1975) abstract metal sculptures and drawings shaped the image of German post-war modernism. Berlinische Galerie’s current exhibition traces his creative periods from the 1930s to the 1970s. Using around 80 works - sculptures, drawings, photographs and archive material - it also examines his role as a curator, university teacher and networker in post-war West Berlin. It is the first comprehensive retrospective in more than 50 years.

Experimental molding is on view through May 13th at Berlinische Galerie, Alte Jakobstraße 124-128, 10969 Berlin.

Balenciaga Announces Music Series Collaboration With The Late American Composer Angelo Badalamenti

Balenciaga announces its Music Series collaboration with late award-winning American composer and arranger Angelo Badalamenti. An original playlist that was hand-selected by Badalamenti featuring a compilation of his own works will be available to stream or download at balenciaga.com/angelobadalamenti. Simultaneously, a series of limited-edition Balenciaga Music | AngeloBadalamenti merch will be available in selected stores and on balenciaga.com. The playlist, merchandise series, and campaign will also announce a partnership with Manhattan School of Music, the conservatory where Badalamenti received his bachelor’s and master’s degree, and composition department head Dr. Reiko Fueting. As an homage to Badalamenti that in turn teaches students about his impressive oeuvre, this partnership involves the creation of a dedicated master class that invites participants to compose inspired original works to continue the late composer’s legacy. The masterclass, sponsored by Balenciaga, will be offered gratis for students currently attending Manhattan School of Music.

Branding as Rebellion in THE CARDS YOU WERE DEALT @ Dittrich & Schlechtriem in Berlin

 
 

Last week, Monty Richthofen performed THE CARDS YOU WERE DEALT, a corporeal intervention in which he explored the concepts of choice, transgenerational dialogue, and transformation through tattooing. Seven participants were randomly selected. In the project, three texts were presented to the chosen participant. These texts are all accounts of 21st century phenomena. If a participant agreed to get one of the texts tattooed, they then got to choose three other texts for the following participant. The placement and composition of the text were decided collaboratively with the artist. The tattoos form a coherent text piece, a physical exquisite corpse, that is painted on a light box, echoing our individual but interconnected experience. THE CARDS YOU WERE DEALT was first performed in September 2023 and most recently included in the 2023 Gallery Weekend Berlin.

THE CARDS YOU WERE DEALT was performed at Dittrich & Schlechtriem, Linienstraße 23, 10178 Berlin.

Pippy Houldsworth Gallery presents sculpture by late American artist Richard Stankiewicz


Presenting in the Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, a sculpture by late American artist Richard Stankiewicz (1922-2018) in its micro project space, The Box. Constructed in Stankiewicz’s characteristic rusted metal, Man of Parts (c. 1950-59) can be seen as a figural exploration of modernity, in which both materials and people are sacrificed in favour of technological and social ‘progress’.

 

Unable to afford the fees, Richard Stankiewicz forwent a scholarship to the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Michigan, instead enlisting in the Navy when the United States entered World War II in 1941. Stationed in the Aleutian Islands and Hawaii over the course of the war, Stankiewicz spent his free hours fashioning animal bones and other found materials into his first sculptures. Like Jacob Epstein, who famously altered his Rock Drill (c. 1913–1916) in the shadow of the First World War’s mechanised brutality, Stankiewicz’s experiences during the Second World War appear to have marked him with an ambivalent attitude toward technological innovation and its relationship with human life. The title of the piece presented in The Box, Man of Parts, plays on the bricolage construction of the sculpture and the idiom ‘a man of many parts’ (a multitalented man). A figure formed from discarded scraps of metal, the sculpture hints at the fragmentation of the modern psyche and, perhaps, the trauma of war, which so often returned men home in pieces, literal and psychological.

 

After being discharged in 1947, the artist travelled to New York City to study at Hans Hofmann's School of Fine Art, only a few years before Judith Godwin, whose work is currently showing in the gallery’s main space. Stankiewicz later made his way to Europe, where he studied sculpture under Ossip Zadkine and painting at Fernand Léger’s Paris atelier. In 1952, after returning to New York, Stankiewicz co-founded the Hansa Gallery with Allan Krapow and other fellow students of Hans Hofmann, including Jan Müller, Jean Follet, and Wolf Kahn. New York’s second artist-run cooperative, the Hansa Gallery regularly presented Stankiewicz’s work until its closure in 1959, and its archives are now in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. It was in this period that he began working with welded scrap metal, giving new life to the detritus that littered New York’s streets. In these works, Stankiewicz appears to be working through ways that society and the individual might rebuild themselves from the wreckage of industrialisation and successive World Wars.

 

Throughout the decade during which Man of Parts was made, Stankiewicz’s practice was increasingly celebrated, and he participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including Young America 1957at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Irons in the Fire at the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston (1957), a solo exhibition at the iconic Stable Gallery (1959), and in the 29th Venice Biennale (1958).

Autre Magazine and Jeffrey Deitch Host A Dinner To Celebrate Frieze Week in Los Angeles at Ardor at The West Hollywood Edition

Last night we kicked off the LA art week with Jeffrey Deitch Gallery and friends at Ardor with a vegetable forward menu by world-renowned chef John Fraser before heading downstairs to the West Hollywood Edition’s signature club, Sunset. Guests included Sharon Stone, Kembra Pfahler, Mykki Blanco, Beck Hansen, Bibbe Hansen, Neville Wakefield, Jordan Wolfson, Ariana Papademetropoulos, Tony Kaye and artists from the groundbreaking group show At the Edge of the Sun, on view now at Jeffrey Deitch Gallery.

Prototypes' AW24 Lookbook Is Bringing It Back to Grassroots

 
 

photography by Raphael Bliss
styling by Betsy Johnson
hair by Charlie Le Mindu
makeup by Stephanie Kunz
casting by Conan Laurendot

The commercial use of sports uniforms as merchandise is perpetually being updated from one season to the next, which is why they lend themselves perfectly to a brand like Prototypes that is guided by the principles of upcycling and repurposing. Their newest collection goes beyond the age-old practice within the industry of cultural appropriation to the point of a complete aesthetic cannibalism, and instead serves as an homage to the communal role that local football clubs play within the social fabric of British culture. In this collection we see the groundskeeper, the kitman, the coach, and the youth — they are archetypes within the community that define each passing generation. Each club bears the DNA of its locality, passing down its individualized values of teamwork, physical fitness, stewardship within the field, and honor. For Prototypes Series 06, which was shot at a local club in England with collaborative partner Betsy Johnson, these values are encapsulated in a collection that breathes new sartorial life into that which might otherwise be discarded as old merch. As working class Brits currently bear witness to the gentrification of their most beloved sport, Prototypes is bringing it back to grassroots by sponsoring kits for the club’s new women’s team. 

 
 
 
 
 

Wolfgang Tillmans Releases Single and Music Video For The Track 'We Are Not Going Back'

“I made this song holding on to a hopeful spirit in alarming times, when in many countries around the globe civil rights, women’s right and LGBTQ+ rights are being challenged and increasingly overturned. Some paint a rosy picture of the past whilst forgetting that many people simply were not free, and inequalities were rampant. When I thought about those views of the past, the chorus including ‘no turning back the clocks’ came to me, thinking in solidarity; ‘We can’t possibly want to return to those times, however nostalgic we might feel about parts of them.’” Wolfgang Tillmans

Focusing on LGBTQ+ rights and driven by a desire to explore and to expose, Tillmans’ latest song finds hopeful defiance in the face of uncertain, menacing futures. One can hear his voice wavering ever so slightly as he admonishes the listener (and perhaps himself) to “just hold on, just be strong, just be strong”. His delicate singing of this simple line shows his own unwillingness to dispense absolute instructions absolutely. The song’s title – which he repeats throughout the infectious chorus, along with the line “no turning back the clocks” – becomes less a declaration of fact than a declaration of resistance, a clarion call during a moment when so many clocks are being turned back. The single release is accompanied by a video directed by Tillmans using 80 year old film footage by his grandfather Karl R. Tillmans. An avid amateur cinematographer, it filmed in New York 1939 and Western Germany 1949.

Garish Queerness as a Mode of Restoration in Pierre le Riche's New Show @ Ronewa Art Projects in Berlin

In Pierre le Riche’s current exhibition, In Four Places at Once, the artist creates vivid figurative wall tapestries that center his queer identity while reflecting on the complexities of belonging in a contemporary world. Identity is woven into and essential to le Riche’s practice; much of his work has been aimed at challenging norms and associations around gender and sexuality and confronting themes of colonialism and white privilege. The group of artworks on show emerged from a period of internal struggle as le Riche acclimatized to a new environment following his move from Cape Town to Aachen, Germany. In this light, le Riche’s choice of tufted yarn as a material, reminiscent of cozy household textiles, feels fitting to conjure a homesick state of yearning and introspection. Le Riche’s use of craft – elsewhere in his practice he also employs embroidery, sewing, and crochet – tosses out outdated notions of gendered art forms. Through his homoerotic content, le Riche pushes back against the conservativeness of a middle-class, suburban upbringing in Post-Apartheid South Africa. His cartoonish nude figures, some sporting exaggerated genitalia, can be read as playfully provocative and unapologetically gay, testing the boundaries of puritanical sensibilities. Simultaneously, his characters are contorted and dislocated in space, imbued with vulnerability, uncertainty, and longing.

In Four Places at Once is on view through March 28th at Ronewa Art Projects, Potsdamer Str. 91, 10785 Berlin.

Michaela Stark Presents "The Panty Show" in Collaboration with Charlotte Rutherford @ Fondazione Sozzani In Milan

 
 

Michaela Stark’s The Panty Show, hosted by Carla and Sara Sozzani, is a hyper feminine and playful, three-part artistic expression that comprises an exhibition, performance, and presentation of her panty collection.

Michaela’s process and practice is confessional and comes from her perspective that she shares with her generation. The Panty Show combines several aspects of her body of work. The show narrates the path she has taken from her early years experimenting with draping on her own body alone in her Paris apartment to how she gained liberation through fashion.

The conceptualization of Panty began as a heavily emotional journey. When her personal work and experimentation with reshaping her body began to get her noticed, this often led to appropriation of her body and her intimacy when collaborating with other artists.  

Artists Hans Baumer and John Kacere are the backdrop for the exhibition and performance at The Panty Show. Two male artists who overtly took the female form and its autonomy projecting their own ideas unto it. Stark reverses these outdated attitudes by reclaiming her voice as a female artist and by being the protagonist in her work. 

The set for the performance recreates her atelier, a dusty pink chaotic tableau vivant of ribbons and dried flowers. The audience and viewers are invited to join and share her experience. In the set, Michaela dresses her model, Yasmin El Yassini, who acts as her human doll. She dresses Yasmin in her body morphing corsetry, transforming her body completely, and then stages her almost lifeless body for photographs. 

For her second collaboration with Charlotte Rutherford, Stark remarks on the photographer’s ability to see the fantasy in everyone who steps in front of her camera and capture their unique energy as well as to foster an environment where everyone can act with agency over their body’s representation.

The final act of The Panty show showcases a series of lingerie-esque garments. Stark created ten sculptured dolls made out of tulle, using couture corsetry techniques and crinoline to give structure.

Her notebooks documenting her process are also on display, giving insight to her practice.

The Panty Show is on view through February 25 @ Fondazione Sozzani Vis Tazzoli 3, Milan

 
 

Intimacy, Intensity and Sensuality Are Magnified in Zoë Ghertner's Held in the Palm @ Zodiac Pictures in Los Angeles

Installation view courtesy of the artist and Zodiac Pictures.

Zoë Ghertner’s Held in the Palm dutifully maintains a level of intensity with all of her subjects, exploring and releasing their associative experiential qualities within the still image. With such a meticulous focus, rippling patterns or grainy textures become revealed in places where these qualities might otherwise go overlooked. Using color, texture, and light, Ghertner emphasizes the formal properties of her medium and exploits its immediacy. In some photographs, the artist toys with her compositions to soften and distort the final image—imparting a hazy, gooey, or warming sensation upon the viewer of the finished work. In these final photographs, time is ultimately suspended as each subject becomes an abstraction. Read more.

Held in the Palm is on view through March 23 @ Zodiac Pictures, 145 Bay Street #9 Santa Monica, CA

 
 

Sparkle in the Vastness and Abstract Visuals of Tia-Thuy Nguyen @ Almine Rech Paris

 
 

Tia-Thuy Nguyen’s first show with Almine Rech presents a suite of more than twenty multi-media paintings from the artist’s ongoing series “I, my, me, cloud” (2018–). Impressed at an early age by her father’s experience as a Vietnamese Air Force pilot during the war with the United States (1954–1975), the artist has developed a deeply nuanced appreciation of clouds—what they can reveal and resemble, but also what they might hide. Enchanted by her father’s majestic descriptions of flying through clouds in his plane, Tia Thuy Nguyen was also frightened by his cautionary tales of clouds providing cover for enemy planes. Capturing this dichotomy, Tia's paintings evoke a wide range of moods—from joy and hope, to gloominess and anxiety. Embellished with beads and embroidery, the glittery, shimmery works reflect the complexity, mystery and mutability of Tia's chosen subject matter. Representing an homage to her father—who passed away in 2022, and whose presence the artist has since experienced as a light radiating from inside herself—Tia’s recent works evoke historical associations of light and spirituality, from sun streaming through stained-glass windows in a cathedral to Mark Rothko’s radiant abstractions.

 

Sparkle in the Vastness is on view through February 24th @ Almine Rech 64 rue de Turenne 75003 Paris FR,

[REVIEW] Nurturing Nature in Lost Wild: Art on the Edge of the Anthropocene @ Whitney Modern in Los Gatos

text by Chimera Mohammadi

How do we nurture the force that created us? This seemingly paradoxical question defines Lost Wild, the group show on view at the Whitney Modern in Los Gatos. The show grapples with various such paradoxes tethered to our relationship with nature: Keith Petersen’s breathtaking photography of chemical reactions claims organic aesthetics through inorganic means, and Karen Olsen-Dunn’s otherwise conventional landscapes glitch and freeze off the canvas and out of the realm of recognition. Dean Bensen and Demetra Theofanous’s glass leaves and bird nests solidify typically flexible structures into embodied fragility, reminiscent of the environmental precariousness that defines our current global epoch. After luxuriating in these contradictory states, the show sets about to address that core question of nurturing, calling in motifs of youth, restoration, and lushness. Melissa Mohammadi’s sprawling botanical studies and tunnel books house disparate plants, bound together by unlikely familial forces and working together toward healing. Tamera Avery’s tenderly rendered masked subjects are at once children and revolutionaries, often modeled after her own son. Marie Cameron’s paintings cope with climate change through a fantastical fairy tale lens, while Sheila Metcalf Tobin’s burst out of the confines of the canvas in radiant, sun-dappled celebrations of natural nostalgia.

Lost Wild is on view through March 30th at Whitney Modern, 2nd Floor of 24 N Santa Cruz Ave 2nd floor, Los Gatos, CA 95030.

The Incarnation of Desire is Brought to You by A Tender Limb @ Reisig and Taylor Contemporary in Los Angeles

 

Image courtesy of Reisig and Taylor Contemporary.

 

Reisig and Taylor Contemporary is presenting A Tender Limb, a group exhibition of works by Los Angeles-based artists Ibuki Kuramochi, Marley White, and Allison Arkush. The exhibition includes prints and a sculptural video installation by Kuramochi; mixed-technique and metal sculptures by White; and, mixed-media and ceramic pieces by Arkush.

Recontextualizing ‘everyday' interactions with items, furnitures, images, screens, trinkets, skins, figments, tangles, tools, morsels and other abeyant entities that congeal or contract as soon as someone looks (away), the exhibition asks how bodies make-room for objects through desire and affection—through taste. But it also asks how conditioned desires, affections, and tastes for objects make-room for (specific types of) bodies.

A Tender Limb is on view through February 24 @ Reisig and Taylor Contemporary, 2680 South La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90034

 
 

Time is Stretched Through Muted Tones in Happy Phantom @ Lowell Ryan Projects in Los Angeles

 

Erin Trefry, Causeway across the sea, 2024. Images by Charles White at JWPictures.com, courtesy of the artist and Lowell Ryan Projects.

 

Lowell Ryan Projects presents Happy Phantom, an exhibition by Los Angeles-based artist Erin Trefry. Comprised of a series of eleven figurative paintings in muted tones, Trefry continues her exploration of sentiment, time, and figuration particularly in relation to familial narratives and relationships.

In this exhibition, Trefry presents her great-grandmother’s paintings, which were originally created in the late 19th century, and depict figurative scenes of romantic settings, exotic locales, and fantastical narratives. These works were passed down through the generations eventually landing in Trefry’s possession. In Happy Phantom Trefry subverts the imagery of her late relative, the paintings are presented stretched in reverse so that the viewer is only able to see the backside of the works where the paint has bled through the fabric. Behind the paintings, a layer of muslin conceals the surfaces of the original paintings.

Happy Phantom is on view through March 2 @ Lowell Ryan Projects, 4619 W Washington Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90016