HIGHLIGHTS
August in LA may be the hottest month of the year, but definitely not so hot for the art scene. Still, while many choose to spend the month traveling, some of the most unconventional and interesting spaces in town are putting up excellent summer shows that gather a lively crowd for their openings. Some standouts are Make Room, La Loma Projects, and Track16.
I Go to Seek a Great Perhaps at Make Room, @makeroom.la
On view through: Aug 31, 2024
Featuring: Alice Ningci Jiang, Analia Saban, Christian Quin Newell, Dabin Ahn, Daniel Um, Franz Kline, Joaquin Stacey-Calle, Kate Casanova, Naomi Nakazato, Shana Hoehn, Soumya Netrabile, Taylor Prendergast, Terence Koh, Yassi Mazandi, Yoab Vera, Yongqi Tang, and Yves Klein.
In an intimate exhibition, I Go to Seek a Great Perhaps, unites mostly small works by young contemporary and iconic historical artists. While lacking an overt visual theme, the exhibition is bound by the immediate visual impact of each piece. Many works present an intriguing, often perplexing first impression tinged with an innate strangeness. Such are Analia Saban’s woven gradients where paint intertwines with thread, or Shana Hoehn’s boat with mushroom-like inner folds, uneasy-looking figurehead, and a twisted mast. Just as thematic threads seem to emerge, the next work surprises with an unexpected juxtaposition. Gradually, a network of subtle connections emerges, defying easy categorization by color, material, or subject matter. Each small work offers a glimpse into a larger artistic universe, hinting at the artist’s broader practice and prompting further exploration. These disparate threads, tied together through spatial interaction, evoke a sense of anticipation: perhaps there’s something more here? Perhaps some new grounds are being mapped by these threads? A feeling of “perhaps” pervades the exhibition, suggesting that new meanings might unfold given some patience and curiosity.
When the summer bullet sings at Track16 (Tenth floor location), @track16gallery
On view through: September 7, 2024
Curated by: Sean Meredith and Diana Sardaryan
Featuring: Lisa Adams, Damariz Aispuro, Sacha Halona Baumann, Sandow Birk, Debra Broz, Nao Bustamante, Cash-Cooper, David Daigle, Georganne Deen, Simone Gad, Victor Gastelum, Gregg Gibbs, Terrick Gutierrez, Margarete Hahner, Kathleen Henderson, Jon Huck, Bill Kleiman, Laura Krifka, Evri Kwong, Curt LeMieux, Charlotte Lethbridge, Karen Lofgren, Siobhan McClure, Mondongo, Rubén Ortiz Torres, Carolie Parker, Elyse Pignolet, Alicia Piller, Molly Segal, Laurie Steelink, Nick Taggart, Camilla Taylor, Shelli Tollman, Chris Ulivo, Deirdre White, Patty Wickman, and Eve Wood
Track16’s sprawling summer group show, featuring 35 artists, embraces eclecticism with a dystopian flavor. As could be expected from the darkly poetic title, many of the works are gritty, but many are also unexpectedly funny. The summer heat and smells of the DTLA Fashion District, where the gallery is located in the historic Bendix building, seem to invite dark humor. Yet, within the exhibition, playful poetry prevails over darkness. Most works are decisively figurative, and even those that aren’t are often anchored by titles that guide interpretation. Each work carries a distinctive statement and an individual voice, and the chorus of these voices feels deeply rooted in the locality of Los Angeles. While the curatorial text alludes to trauma, the show ultimately indicates resilience. It reflects pathways of being that embrace the gritty, absurd, painful, and alluring reality in which it is grounded as if suggesting to “Stay with the Trouble.” The welcome hum of the gallery AC nurtures the viewer’s sense of hope that if we are still laughing, perhaps not all is lost. Highlights include Curt LeMieux, Karen Lofgren, Chris Ulivo, and Alicia Piller.
Oasis at La Loma Projects, @lalomaprojects
On view through: Aug 31, 2024
Curated by: Anastasija Jevtovic
Featuring: Paul Davies, Raffi Kalenderian, Annie Lapin, Jasmine Little
A different approach to this tense and hot summer can be seen at the La Loma Projects summer group exhibition: Oasis. As the title suggests, the show offers a visual and thematic respite. Using landscapes, interiors, and cityscapes as points of departure, the artists delve into the medium itself, finding bliss within its possibilities. Varying in their approach to light in color, the artworks feel the space with chromatic vibration. The works flow between past and present, reality and dream, offering viewers a space to breathe, meditate, and find grounding. Rafi Kalenderian’s interiors are hyper-saturated and richly textured. Figures weaving in and out of focus make them uncanny in a strangely satisfying psychedelic manner. Annie Lapin collapses time by layering fragmented art-historical landscapes with abstract digital art-inspired elements. Her works provide a view distanced from the tumultuous current moment yet reflective of the contemporary flattened and fragmented visual field. Jasmine Little’s intensely material floral work grounds itself in the still-life painting tradition. The ephemeral beauty of flowers is counterweighted by the moist and comforting coolness of a forest floor, providing a sense of refuge from the urban heat and noise. Finally, Paul Davies’ elusive works, hovering between presence and absence, depict cityscapes and landscapes with a reductive lightness that evokes weightlessness, impermanence, and non-attachment.
About the writer: Vita Eruhimovitz is Los Angeles-based artist, and an occasional curator and writer. Through her work, she navigates the tri-lingual mind and non-conceptual states of being. Vita’s background in science and technology inspire and inform her interest in the intersection of biological life and consciousness. Vita holds a BFA from Shenkar College and an MFA from Washington University in Saint Louis. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally, including at the Brattleboro Museum in Vermont, San Diego Art Institute Museum, Museum of Design Holon in Israel, Mildred Lane Kemper Museum, and the Contemporary Art Museum in Saint Louis. Her work is in private and public collections in the US and abroad.@vita_eruhimovitz