It is easier than it has ever been to feel distant, from one another and from the world at large. I was seeking to traverse that distance when I visited the Charlie James Gallery, and I found the path through Duke Riley’s new works in “Far Away.”

In Riley’s glittering seashell mosaics and delicate inked prints, the artist constructs the artifacts of a world distantly removed from our dystopic surroundings. His tattoo-style ink drawings depict fighting cocks, carrier pigeons, and fantastical ocean scenes, complete with crashing waves, teetering towers and finely-detailed, lithographic hedonism.

The most impactful pieces were the two mosaics, Far Away and I’ve Been Using the Same Razor Since 1947. The former, a shell mosaic depicting a bottle lost in the surf, works in tandem with the latter, a rat adrift in a tin can, to create a synchronous feeling throughout the space. Combined with the choice of mosaic as a medium, the show is more a historical review of imagined, crumbling islands than a contemporary art exhibition. This is not to say that Riley’s works lack perspective, as they are littered with the symbols of our present moment – some more obvious than others. In the large painting Everybody Knows, one can find Laika, the Soviet space dog, flying alongside a bald eagle clutching an ICBM, soaring high above McDonalds bags, nuclear waste, and skulls wearing MAGA caps floating below.

Accompanying Riley’s collection is a group show of Californian artists Sadie Barnette, Shizu Saldamando, and Ramiro Gomez. Saldamando summons fascinating, finely-rendered portraits onto large wood panels, while Barnette has blown up archival prints of peaceful, domestic life for Black Americans onto monumental scale. Gomez, a highlight in the group show, showcases in acrylic on cardboard the anonymized lives of Los Angeles’ under-appreciated laborers. The work of the group show is timely and prescient, as this year continues to emphasize the importance of essential workers, representation of the Black American experience and forging meaningful, thoughtful connections.

Charlie James Gallery
969 Chung King Rd
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Show runs through Oct 17th
Appointment Only — No Walk-Ins