The Hammer Museum in Los Angeles is currently presenting an installation by artist Christopher Russell. The exhibition utilizes Budget Decadence, a recent novella produced by the artist. His encompassing environment is composed of photography, bookmaking, writing, drawing and digital-media printmaking. The work investigates the human psyche, inviting viewers into a world that has taken a somewhat apocalyptic down turn. Most of the work has a direct conceptual link to the artist’s novella, making use of historical references and exploring implications of home, family and catastrophe. While the exhibition may appear to be disjointed and seeming unrelated, the artist has specifically chosen each manifestation of his work to reiterate the concepts inherent in the book.

Recent solo exhibitions by Russell include Together and The Veil Trembles and is Very Thin, both held at Acuna Hansen Gallery in L.A. The artist is also represented by Circus Gallery in L.A.

Christopher Russell’s exhibition at the Hammer Museum will be on view until April 12, 2009.

Currently on view at Needles and Pens Gallery in San Francisco is the exhibition Some Word Pictures, featuring documentation of the river, road and freight train travels of artists Bill Daniel and Santiago Mostyn. The exhibition uses photographic and written documentation to capture the spirt of the journey, focusing on the act of story-telling as it relates to traditions and folklore. The exhibition manifests into a myriad of images and writings that culminate into a collective memory of a transient America. The exhibition offers insight into the lifestyle of these travels and individuals met along the way.

Artist and activist Bill Daniel became known for his acclaimed documentary Who’s Bozo Texino?, and the Bozo Texino companion book, Mostly True. Santiago Mostyn is photographer known for his documentation of freight trains and yards, as well as the author of the recently published TV Books.

Some Word Pictures will be on view through February.

Thomas Houseago’s towering figures are monuments that tackle monumentality. The gargantuan Red Man that greets me when I walk into David Kordansky Gallery seems at first threatening; it is bigger than I am, more creature than human, and monstrous in many senses of the word. It reminds me, at first glance, of a crudely crafted god, a fetishistic relic passed down from an ancient civilization, and the figure’s vulnerability quickly overrides its size.

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The current exhibition at Chinatown’s Mihai Nicodim Gallery, previously Kontainer Gallery, explores the precarious political consequences of human desires. Curated by Jane Neal, The Punishment of Lust and Luxury’s featured artists include Cyprien Gaillard, Adrian Ghenie, Ciprian Muresan and Martin Skauen, all of whom respond, whether directly or indirectly, to the socially conscious paintings of 19th Century Italian artist Giovanni Segantini. Segantini, who depicted bad mothers in his 1891 series The Punishment of Lust (later renamed The Punishment of Luxury), provides a springboard for artists considering the timeless problem of materialism in today’s cultural landscape.

The exhibition at Nicodim Gallery includes an array of media, from drawing to video, and the tone is noticeably understated, echoing the mood of a world facing economic uncertainty. Some of the work is tedious, like a video in which soldiers peel potatoes ad nauseam, and other work, like Adrian Ghenie’s collage and acrylic depiction of a wolf standing in a room full of political propaganda, is more ominous. The Punishment of Lust and Luxury continues through February 28, 2009.

Western Project‘s current exhibit, Sush Machida Gaikotsu: New Wave of Turner, New School Pollock is as rife with art historical reference as it is pertinent to contemporary art. Public Image, one of Machida’s smaller, four-part compositions, entices us to enter the gallery, where we’re surrounded by roiling seas and flocculent clouds. The mural-scale paintings are multi-paneled and linked by vibrant lines that follow a spiral or curvy course until they are interrupted by cresting waves. Machida uses phalangeal forms to represent sea foam, which calls to mind 19th century Japanese woodcuts. Often, Katsushika Hokusai’s Great Wave Off Kanagawa is mentioned by reviewers when citing Machida’s inspiration. Hokusai’s famous woodcut also influenced Takashi Murikami. Contemporaries Murikami and Machida share a common process as well, which involves masking hard edges and using air-propelled paint to flaunt a “superflat” surface. Subtle chromatic shifts, varying tones, and hard edges make Machida’s lines appear to glow like neon lights. His artifice becomes obvious only when looking closely at the paint-ridged edges of the glowing lines or the tiny dots of misted paint.

Machida received his M.F.A. from University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in 2002. New Wave of Turner, New School Pollock is his third solo exhibition at Western Project. His work is represented in prominent collections such as Las Vegas Art Museum, Phoenix Art Museum, Portland Art Museum, and the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, Los Angeles, CA. His show at Western Project runs through February 7, 2009.

Broken, Beaten and Buried is the title of a new site specific installation by the artist James Marshall (aka Dalek), currently on view at the Redux Contemporary Art Center in Charleston, South Carolina. The exhibition was organized by DailyServing founder and editor Seth Curcio, and was completed in its entirety over a seven day period by a team of 10 assistants led by Dalek himself. The show broke new ground for the artist, being his most ambitious exhibition to date. Featuring an entirely new and more reductive style of painting, the immersive installation focuses on the psychological effects of color. Dalek painted every part of the exhibition space, literally placing the viewer directly in the artist’s paintings with little to no room for escape.

In April of 2008, Dalek appeared on the cover of Juxtapoz Magazine and in late 2007 he was a featured artist in Swindle Magazine. In years past, Dalek has been featured in countless publications including Tokion Magazine and New American Paintings. In addition, he had his first monograph printed in 2003, Dalek: Nickel Plated Angels, published from Gingko Press.

The artist is a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and in 2001/02 he worked as an assistant to Takashi Murakami. He is currently represented by the Jonathan LeVine Gallery in New York, Irvine Contemporary in Washington, D.C, Elms Lester in London and Galerie Magda Danysz in Paris.

Broken, Beaten and Buried will be on view until March 7th, 2009. Upon the closing of the exhibition, DailyServing and Redux Contemporary Art Center will release a full-color catalog, featuring full documentation of the installation with rare photographs, articles and interviews featuring the artist.

Well known filmmaker and installation artist, Isaac Julien came to prominence in the film world with his 1989 drama-documentary Looking for Langston. By incorporating themes of sexuality and race, Julien’s work expands conventional strategies of narrative and beauty to explore stereotypical cinematic portrayals of gay and black subjects. Julien’s work addresses issues of class, sexuality, and artistic and cultural history, creating a cinematic experience that draws from different artistic disciplines. He comments on film, dance, photography, music, theatre, painting and sculpture to construct a powerfully visual narrative. Julien founded the Sankofa Film and Video Collective in 1984 and was a founding member of Normal Films in 1999. In 1991, Julien received the best film prize at the Cannes Film Festival. He has won many other prestigious awards such as the MIT Eugene McDermott Award in the Arts, Frameline Lifetime Achievement Award and an Andy Warhol Foundation Award. Julien’s work has recently traveled from the Pompidou Centre in Paris, to the MoCA Miami and Kestner Gesellschaft, in Hanover and many other locations.