The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery is proud to present John Birtle: More is More, the artist’s first solo institutional exhibition. Please join us on Saturday, November 1 from 1 to 4 p.m. for our opening reception.
John Birtle’s work brings a bold and evolving exploration of authorship, images, and collectivity. Working across drawing, sculpture, and installation, they reimagine everyday objects, highlighting both their utilitarian and aesthetic qualities, and revealing how they connect people in unexpected ways.
More is More restages an installation first conceived in their studio, combining drawings, artist books, and sculptures such as puzzles, kaleidoscopes, and dice to create a dynamic environment that fosters connection among viewers. Their practice probes the networks through which images like rubber stamps or puzzles circulate, tracing how images and objects accrue meaning and value over time. In doing so, their work challenges the hierarchies that determine what counts as “real art” and what is relegated to the margins as craft, too queer, too camp, and ultimately, too much.
With a nod to feminist and queer legacies of the Pattern & Decoration movement, they infuse their objects with playfulness, humor, and an earnest invitation to engage with the work—and with one another. Their tactile approach not only unsettles the heightened sensitivities often found in museums but also reimagines the very systems through which art is valued, used, and shared.
John Birtle: More is More is curated by Hugo Cervantes, LAMAG Curator.
lamag.org/john-birtle-more-is-more/
