Jen DeNike and Katherine Bradford have converted Anat Ebgi‘s small secondary space, AE2, into a mysterious bipartite chamber dominated by the theme of people at sea. Superficially, these two divergent artists’ collaboration seems surprising. Yet their palettes converge in rich violets and deep blues; their compositions jibe in figures bathing, floating and drowning. Cohesion despite contrast makes for an intriguing installation where DeNike’s slick premeditated video aesthetic counterbalances Bradford’s loose paintings that seem to have flown from streams of consciousness. Their idea for this show sprung from their mutual interest in water as stylistic device and evocative metaphor. Its title, “Being Like Water,” conjures the Tao Te Ching‘s recurrent postulation of water as a feminine principle to aspire towards. This notion seems a befitting point of departure for the duo’s imagery tinged with suggestions of mystical femininity. The dreamy mannerism of DeNike’s Queen of Narwhals (2018, above right), with sound installation by Scott Haggart, appears as that of a contemporary music video with scenes of sorceresses and animals recalling the dark surrealism of Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo. Beside screens in DeNike’s cobalt-painted alcove, Bradford’s small painting, Floater for Queen of Narwhals (2017), integrates seamlessly. It’s difficult to tell whether Bradford’s floaters are dead, drowning, or simply enjoying moonlit swims. Bathers’ scarlet mouths in Red Lips (2017, above left) emanate unsettlingly incongruent luminance that no waterproof lipstick could provide. Bodies of water are propounded throughout as vital forces with dangerous undercurrents.

Anat Ebgi (AE2)
2680 S. La Cienega Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Show runs through March 10