Jeff Koons, November 14-January 9th, Gagosian Gallery “To live outside the law you must be honest,” sang Bob Dylan in 1966, in his brash classic Absolutely Sweet Marie. It’s a line Dylan presumably appropriated from Don Siegel’s dark 1958 noir, The Lineup, a fact Jonathan Lethem insightfully pointed out in his 2007 essay ‘The Ecstasy of Influence.‘  Siegel’s film used the more unwieldy “When you[…..]

Originally published on September 3rd, 2009 Second Nature, currently on view at the UCLA Hammer Museum, provides a freshly intelligent glimpse into Los Angeles’ past decade, depicting a world in which art can insouciantly assert itself without resorting to contrivance. 1. “‘There’s going to be a seismic change,” said Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter after 9/11. “I think it’s the end of the age of[…..]

  In 1994, the year Kara Walker graduated from RISD, Jeff Koons made his first balloon dog, and OJ’s white Bronco became a celebrity, Timothy Blum and Jeff Poe opened a gallery in Santa Monica. In 2003, the year Charles Saatchi called white walled galleries “antiseptic” and Arnold Schwarzenegger became California’s governor, Blum & Poe relocated to Culver City. Now, in 2009, the year Holland Cotter proclaimed that ‘The[…..]

Josh Azzarella Untitled #27 (Unknown Rebel) (2006), Video Mark Moore Gallery has been organizing its annual Ultrasonic exhibitions for four years now, featuring emerging artists from the U.S. and elsewhere. This year’s installment, Ultrasonic IV: Fresh Perspectives, more subdued than its high-strung title suggests, seems to confront the present through the lens of the past, rephrasing visual legacies in a way that suggests nostalgia can[…..]

Installation view: Regen Projects, Los Angeles 2009 Photography by Brian Forrest Sometimes simplicity can be stunningly difficult. Jane Campion or 303 Gallery, and then on the face of a building at the 55th Regen Projects‘ Almont Street gallery and, when the sun sets, as a two channel installation on two exterior walls of Regen’s Santa Monica Blvd building. Installation view: Regen Projects II, Los Angeles[…..]

Frencesca Gabbiani’s The Present, her new exhibition at Patrick Painter, opens on September 12. Gabbiani, known for richly detailed drawings that marry ornamentation with vacancy, has dedicated one of her new pieces to the Greek goddess Nyx, patron of the night. The exhibition’s venture into mythology will be accentuated by a series of decorated mirror pieces that pit surface and depth against each other. These[…..]

Second Nature, currently on view at the UCLA Hammer Museum, provides a freshly intelligent glimpse into Los Angeles’ past decade, depicting a world in which art can insouciantly assert itself without resorting to contrivance. 1. “‘There’s going to be a seismic change,” said Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter after 9/11. “I think it’s the end of the age of irony. Things that were considered fringe[…..]