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Tag: Cole Sweetwood
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Pick of the Week: Ludovica Gioscia
Baert GalleryThe artistic process is often private. Artists seldom actively show the steps taken to craft an end product, but to some, like Ludovica Gioscia, revealing all is vital to their work. In a large, multi-faceted installation at Baert Gallery entitled Arturo and The Vertical Sea, Gioscia displays every detail of her process.
The installation is principally composed of three large, wooden structures, upon which hang various works: dream robes, portals, double-sided wall papers, and papier-mâché. The first time walking through the space is disorienting, seemingly intentionally so. The wooden structures stick out at odd angles and carve the gallery into diagonal sections. The large, eye-catching works are so diverse in material and inspiration that it overwhelms even your sense of direction.
But slowly, the intricacies of the show appear. Detailed plans for the dream robes and the wallpaper and trial attempts for the brilliantly colored papier-mâché works are also on display, tacked to the wooden structures. They act as narrative markers for the show, a road map through which an understanding of the story can be explored.
This initial stage of the process is vital for grasping Gioscia’s vision. Using, for example, the list of ingredients for her papier-mâché, we gain an understanding of her inspirations. Gioscia details not only the kind of paper and color of dye, but also makes use of less traditional ingredients, like cat hair and joy.
And from those early drafts, we can snag the central thread of the installation: Gioscia’s cat, Arturo. The key inspiration for the works, according to Gioscia herself, stems from a dream in which there were “many Arturos floating in the sea, floating in an incredible mass of vertical water.” This description ties many of the seemingly disparate elements of the show together: the aquamarine robe which Gioscia used to harness her dreams, the wallpapers which flow like waterfalls, and the many Arturo effigies in ceramic, papier-mâché and watercolor.
Arturo and The Vertical Sea is a beautifully orchestrated installation exploring the dreamy and delightfully surprising mind of Ludovica Gioscia and her beloved Arturo.
Baert Gallery
1923 S SANTA FE AVENUE
LOS ANGELES, CA 90021
Appointment Only -
Pick of the Week: Jeffrey Gibson
Roberts ProjectsI am certainly not alone in feeling that their idea of the American identity has changed drastically in recent years. The “American Dream” has proved itself to be as fanciful as the name suggests. It simply never existed for the majority of Americans. Even the American flag, at one time unifying, has been so thoroughly tainted by the racist, fascist, far-right nationalists that it inspires more hatred than harmony. But, a hopeful, progressive American identity can still be found at “It Can Be Said of Them,” the newest solo exhibition by Jeffrey Gibson.
Throughout his career, Jeffrey Gibson uses his art to explore his identity as gay man of Choctaw and Cherokee heritages, particularly in relation to the broader American identity. Principally, Gibson utilizes bold geometric patterns, traditional Native American craft materials such as beads, precious stones, and fringe, and a Post-Modern use of language to challenge ideas of gender roles and heteronormativity.
The mixing of material and meaning shines with the pair of punching bags suspended in the main hall. With them, Gibson transforms traditionally masculine objects into brilliant, beaded works, labeled with declamatory statements like “CAN THEY SHE HE DO IT? YES WE CAN!” The fusing of stereotypically masculine and feminine activities (boxing and bead craft), adorned with the gender-inclusive rallying cry, presents a powerful, progressive perspective of identity and unity.
Alongside these inspiring rallies, Gibson also recognizes our current cultural crossroads in the hanging bead tapestry, ONE FOOT IN GLORY, ONE FOOT IN HELL. This work again uses Gibson’s customary bright colors and strong geometric patterns and is roughly the size and shape of a flag. It is a new banner to unify under in a time that feels on the edge of immense progress or imminent disaster.
Finally, we come to the paper works, which are some of the strongest and most historically conscious in the show. These collages mix abstract fields of color with advertising, propaganda, and other material surrounding Native American experience throughout the 19th and 20th century. They describe a history that is not at all distant from today and reflect that the histories we’ve been taught are seldom the whole truth.
Roberts Projects
5801 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA, 90232
Appointment Only -
Pick of the Week: Tiffanie Delune & Kaye Freeman
Band of VicesIt is no stretch to say that the COVID-19 pandemic – principal among several other tragedies, injustices, and horrors over the past year – has fundamentally altered the way we see our world. It has revealed inequities more sharply than any other time in recent memory, and has left in it’s wake unimaginable anger, fear, and death. In The Midst of All That Is, the newest show at the gallery Band of Vices from artists Kaye Freeman and Tiffanie Delune, portrays the only two perspectives that seem to exist in the world of pandemic: the broadly global and the intensely personal.
Freeman’s work catches the eye with her frenetic, expressive style. The paintings appear like snapshots, capturing a brief instant of chaotic energy and motion. They move quickly, and won’t wait for you to catch up. There are recognizable landmarks in her works, from cranes and skyscrapers to the Capitol building, boasting shadowy figures in front of the landmark in an example of artistic clairvoyance.
What shines through most in Freeman’s work are the elements of construction or reconstruction (perhaps even deconstruction.) It’s reflective of the transitory period in which we find our country. There has been an unimaginable amount of loss in this past year, and yet for those of us who remain there exists the incredibly important task of building ourselves up to what we’ve believed ourselves to be for so long.
Delune’s work is, by contrast, introspective to the degree of being auto-biographical as she draws on her Belgo-Congolese heritage. In her absolutely enchanting paintings, figures, such as the young black girl in Hot Pepper, are lost in a mystical land. Some are cautiously present, or else composed of something entirely different to their environment and thus set apart. This is the case for the figures made of embroidery floss, which unravel themselves for their own amusement.
As opposed to Freeman’s chaotic aesthetic, Delune’s works are remarkably structured. In its Kandinksy-esque freedom, elements appear to have settled on the canvas in the most natural of orders, and not a leaf or flower is out of place. This month in Los Angeles, there is hardly better painting to see than works from Tiffanie Delune.
Band of Vices
5376 W Adams Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90016
Appointments can be made by email -
Pick of the Week: Andy Moses
William Turner GalleryNature has been the font from which many artists have taken their inspirational sacrament. And it is a pleasure to see an artist who takes that inspiration and so masterfully manifests the power and majesty of our natural world into something entirely new, which is what you will find at Andy Moses’ solo show of recent works at the William Turner Gallery.
Andy Moses is not new on the scene. He has worked as part of the cadre of post-modern greats for most of his career, and has maintained his unique aesthetic sensibility and only ever refined it further. While previous works appear other-worldly, Moses’ collection on display now is far more grounded.
The first works of note are the collection of honeycombed smaller canvases that sit in the back left. They harmonize wonderfully with one another, and offer a natural starting point to the rest of the show. The paint churns and spins, rebounding off one another and appearing like brilliant geodes or St. Elmo’s Fire. These are the groundwork, so to speak, and from here the canvases get larger and take on lives of their own.
The large hexagonal and circular paintings really illustrate Moses’ desired swirling and spiraling effects, drawing the viewer into the whirlpool of brilliantly vibrant color. The gold in particular appears to leap off the canvas like a great whip of light. Here, the lines ebb into and around one another, colliding and crashing like lava flows and ocean waves.
But finally, the true gems of the show are the landscapes. The curved canvases create a panoramic effect, as if looking over a misty marsh or rainbows dancing lightly over rivers. The colors are hypnotic, and the lines which stack and flow one on top of another give the works both height and breadth.
Many words describe the paintings on display at William Turner Gallery: iridescent, geodetic, entrancing, to say just a few. But no words do Andy Moses’ works true justice, as just like in nature, to truly appreciate their beauty you must immerse yourself in them.
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Pick of the Week: Hosai Matsubayashi & Trevor Shimizu
Nonaka-HillThere is a natural tension drawn between old and new, conservative and progressive. Often times, it can feel that between those two positions there can be no resolution. Even in art, it can be difficult to fit the opposing ideals together; though when it happens, the results are mystifying. One such confluence of tradition and modernity is the group painting and ceramics show of Hosai Matsubayashi XVI and Trevor Shimizu, on view at Nonaka-Hill.
For those who haven’t seen a roman numeral that large since the French Revolution, our era’s Hosai Matsubayashi is the sixteenth in his family to run their kiln in Uji, Kyoto. Since the year 1600, the Matsubayashi family has produced some of the finest ceramics in all of Japan, most notable for their tea ceremony sets – and every ounce of the centuries of creative ability and technical mastery is on display in dozens of precious objects, from waved vases to earthen tea kettles.
Trevor Shimizu, by contrast, does not stand on a mountain of history but rather at the forefront of contemporary art. A painter and video artist based out of New York, Shimizu is known primarily for his sardonic and comedic works, like his exhibition of fart paintings in 2015. His work is deeply expressive, drawing on modernist influences to paint rapidly and with decisive brushstrokes.
Here in Nonaka-Hill, they have been brought together. Matsubayashi’s ceramics (which draw on a wide variety of traditional Japanese technique, most prominently wabi sabi and blue-washes) sit peacefully on low tables, as if they were set out for use in a tea ceremony. And while still in his abstract style, Shimizu’s large landscape paintings take on a new life when hanging alongside the historic ceramics. One begins to notice the influences of calligraphic styles in Shimizu’s work, and an allowance of negative space not unlike that of ink painting. Likewise, Shimizu’s expressive paintings lend their sense of freedom to the pottery, in turn lifting and re-contextualizing this tradition.
Together, Shimizu and Matsubayashi breathe new meaning into one another’s works, creating an entirely unique experience out of their individual brilliances.
Nonaka-Hill
720 N. Highland Ave.
Los Angeles, CA, 90038
Appointment Only -
Pick of the Week: The Lights of Los Angeles
Los AngelesBeauty is all around us. This thought feels simplistic, and given the past year, even wrong. Stuck in our homes, away from family and friends, a city as large and vibrant as Los Angeles becomes terribly claustrophobic. And even for those fortunate enough not to be directly affected by the pandemic (we are all affected in some way), it’s normal to become disaffected from your environment. Spend enough time anywhere, you’ll forget why you’re there in the first place.
The best way I’ve found to re-encounter beauty is to return to that most basic of artistic principles: light. I’ve found that very little warms the soul more than good lighting. Be it blinking and bright neon, soft daylight streaming through waving branches, or twinkling pin-pricks scattered amidst inky darkness, light is beautiful across all of its forms. And there’s hardly a better city, nor time of year, to find good lighting.
The sunsets are earlier and more brilliantly colored. Holiday lights of every hue adorn store-fronts, slanted eaves, and tree trunks. Streets are emptier and night is longer. This last Pick of the Week for 2020 can’t be found in any gallery. No, this week, I recommend getting in your car, putting on some lively music, and driving until you find that special lighting that makes everything stop.
From the thick veneer of shimmering lights that extends all the way to the horizon, visible from up high in the hills, to the dazzling street displays on Rodeo Drive and Santa Monica Boulevard. From the tall, shifting columns of light on skyscrapers downtown, to the festive and demure lights found all over every neighborhood. There isn’t a wrong answer, and no matter which lights you like, you’ll be happy you found them.
Three tips to finding good lighting:
- Trust your instincts. If you left feels good, turn left; if you want to go right, turn right. Mix it up. Drive in circles. In squares. Hell, drive in triangles. All roads lead somewhere.
- Just keep moving. Try not to get bogged down in traffic or stuck on highways, and unless a place really strikes you (which is what we’re looking to happen anyways). No need to get out and gawk either; the magic of light hunting is in the moment of discovery.
- Look at the city with fresh eyes. Act like you’ve never been here before. Hit the big name streets and tourist havens. You’ll surprise yourself with how wonderful our city can be without all the cynicism.
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Pick of the Week: Shiyuan Liu
Tanya Bonakdar GalleryArt, at its most essential level, attempts to fix in space the experiences that pass like sand in an hourglass. On the whole, reality is almost always more complex than can be accurately represented, and meaning is missed in the variety of expression. But Shiyuan Liu doesn’t want to miss a thing.
Of all the ways to describe “For Jord,” at the Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, detailed rises to the forefront almost immediately. In any medium, Shiyuan extracts the most meaning she can out of each material and image. “For Jord” is about the ways in which we define things, and how those definitions change through time or culture.
In her video work, For the Photos I Didn’t Take, For the Stories I Didn’t Read, Shiyuan re-contextualizes the Hans Christian Anderson story “The Little Match Seller,” using images found on the internet to represent each word in the story, displayed over wintery, holiday imagery and gentle music. She is expansive in representing the language of the story, using girls from a wide variety of socio-economic background and culture to represent “SHE” or “HER,” for example. In this way, Shiyuan is challenging the viewers own biases and automatic associations with certain words, images, or concepts.
Her photo series as well, entitled For Jord and Almost Like Rebar, again encourage a broadening of perspective, illustrating the complex cultural programming that everyone has when it comes to theoretically universal imagery. The tessellated photographs and video stills of animals, plants, pianos, diced onions, etc. culminate in an overwhelming sensation not only that you alone could never hold all the answers, but that even the most basic definitions and associations can vary.
This challenge extends even further with the most abstracted of Shiyuan’s work, her Cross Away series. These grids of pigments, kaleidoscopic and variegated yet masterful in their command over color theory and balance, close the conceptual loop of the show. While life may be infinitely complex and ever changing, in each moment we have the ability to stop, to look, and – if we’re lucky – to find something beautiful in the chaos.
Tanya Bonakdar Gallery
1010 N. Highland Ave
Los Angeles, CA, 90038
Appointment Only -
Pick of the Week: Cosmo Whyte
Anat EbgiNothing is just one thing. This is a sentiment that many of us here in the United States, particularly those of us with privilege, are coming to terms with in an entirely new way. From recognizing that many workers who previously went unseen are in fact essential, to understanding that police officers do not always serve and protect, 2020 has taught us that multiplicities abound in this life. This lesson is reinforced in Cosmo Whyte’s show “When They Aren’t Looking We Gather by the River,” on view at Anat Ebgi.
Cosmo Whyte’s work is primarily focused on Black experience, centered on the ongoing Black Lives Matter and related civil rights’ movements happening across the United States. As a Jamaican artist, Whyte is particularly interested in the complexities of Black identity and the Black diaspora.
The first work you encounter hangs in the entrance to the viewing room as a beaded curtain. Entitled Wading in the Wake, a monochromatic image of men running into water and collapsing into its surf is printed upon the beads. At first glance, the image appears playful, but the reality is far from that initial impression. The image was lifted from a 1964 civil rights protest, in which Black activists swam illegally in white-only beaches and were subsequently attacked by violent segregationists.
The works beyond the beaded curtain again contain multitudes. Mixing images of Jamaican Carnival and riotous protests, Whyte conflates celebration and struggle, indicating that despite pain and oppression, joy persists.
The work which conflates the two most subtly is entitled Breadfruit, which shows a Black woman standing and smiling on a busy street, her face and body partially obscured by tropical branches – those of a Breadfruit tree. The breadfruit is an incredibly popular fruit in Jamaica, though it is not indigenous. Like 92% of Jamaica today, the ancestors of the contemporary breadfruit trees were brought over by European colonialists, uprooted from native soil and deposited into a foreign land. Nevertheless, these trees survived and thrived, created a rich cultural and culinary heritage, and serve as a powerful allegory in Whyte’s talented hands.
Anat Ebgi
2660 S La Cienegas Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA, 90034
Appointment Only -
Pick of the Week: Joni Sternbach
Von Lintel GalleryIn 1839, the very first portrait photograph was captured of (and by) Robert Cornelius. It must have been a difficult – albeit likely humorous – process, as Cornelius set up his camera before hurriedly running to sit motionless in front of it, arms crossed and hair tousled. To go to such an effort demonstrates the essential connection between portraiture and photography. They’ve been attached to one another from the beginning. Moreover, portrait photography is more important and accessible to the public in ways Cornelius could never have imagined. But in Joni Sternbach’s new exhibition “Surfboard” at Von Lintel Gallery, we see the oldest techniques of photography implemented in the capturing of a different kind of portrait.
As the title of the show suggests, “Surfboard” continues Sternbach’s ongoing “Surfland” series by capturing surfing culture through the use of tintype and silver-gelatin photographs. However, unlike her previous works, there are no actual surfers in the show at all. Instead, Sternbach photographs a wide array of boards, from weathered and beaten Hobies to modern fiberglass boards. The boards act as canvases themselves, showing not only the scars of their use but also elaborately painted designs like those in #2 Lightning Bolt and #5 Skeleton.
While a surfboard in the abstract is a utilitarian item of sport and leisure, under Sternbach’s careful eye and expert photographic skills, the boards take on an entirely new quality. Sternbach refers to this quality as “totemic,” and they do inspire a certain reverence. Especially when clustered together on the beach, they become an altar to the ocean.
And by giving these boards the dignity that such a laborious process as tin-type prints require, Sternbach glorifies the craft itself. One can take a moment to appreciate the gently sloping curves and precise symmetry of the boards, as well as the varied decorative elements. The care and talent with which these boards were created shines through in Sternbach’s work. It’s fitting that the only bit of an actual human being captured in Sternbach’s many portraits are two hands, clutching a board to hold it upright, as if to say “These crafted this.”
Von Lintel Gallery
1206 Maple Ave. #212
Los Angeles, CA, 90015
Appointment Only
