Obsessively attuned to the use of space, Tony Hope stages deceptively spare sculptural environments within the gallery of ASHES/ASHES in his first Los Angeles solo exhibition, TH+. The two installations, which are suggestive of one another in their polarity, speak to the larger context of the show as it pertains to the value of manufactured identity. Hope displays a deep understanding of the transience found within subcultural materials that do[…..]
The stylistic shift in Frank Stella’s work has been met with fierce criticism, to say the least. Much has been written recently about his current retrospective at the Whitney, trying to connect his wildly expressive, three-dimensional works of the past few decades with his singular striped paintings of the 1960s. More than thirty years ago, Douglas Crimp characterized Stella’s late work from the 1970s as[…..]
The history of the artist-as-collector is as long as the history of art itself. From Rembrandt to Damien Hirst, artists have amassed collections in order to satisfy a range of interests and obsessions. A Shared Space: KAWS, Karl Wirsum, and Tomoo Gokita, at Tulane University’s Newcomb Art Museum, consists of artworks culled from the Brooklyn-based artist, designer, animator, and commercial guru KAWS’s private collection, allowing[…..]
Like with mazes and haunted houses, there’s a magnetic appeal in unraveling the mysteries that fictitious places offer. We enjoy undefined atmospheres where a strange comfort assures the encounter with the unknown and is met with the thrill of discovery. Because our sense of control struggles with the powerful forces of uncertainty, we are challenged by our own idea of self-representation, despite being aware that[…..]
Today from our partners at Art Practical, we bring you Brian Karl’s review of Equations at Altman Siegel Gallery in San Francisco. The author notes, “Johanson eschews in this set of paintings the strategy of inserting text directly into the worlds he creates. The titles of the pieces do some of that work.” This article was originally published on November 30, 2015. In this exhibition of ten new works (all[…..]
What is a city? How can it be conceptualized? How does one create oneself within that geographic and symbolic space? These questions frame the most recent show at El Quinto Piso, La Polis Imagi-nada. The curatorial statement talks about the polis and civic participation in theoretical terms, but the exhibit situates these concepts firmly within the symbolic and geographic realities of Mexico City. El Quinto[…..]
“You need to understand, Patricia, that every Canadian recognizes these paintings,” so explained my friend and guide, a native Torontonian, as we walked through The Idea of North: The Paintings of Lawren Harris at the Hammer Museum. “Canadians who have no other art-historical point of reference know who the Group of Seven are.” This school of early 20th-century Canadian landscape painters occupies the periphery of[…..]
