Art Los Angeles Contemporary Art Fair 2011

Eighth Veil
Detail of Paul Heyer's Truffle BO


Luis de Jesus Projects
Christopher Russell's work from Framing Exercises series.

 

Annie Wharton
View of space with Mary Anna Pomonis painting on the left and John Espinosa sculpture in the foreground/right.


L.A.N.D. (Los Angeles Nomadic Division)
Jancar Gallery
Image includes Maya Lujan's gold piece from her solo show at Jancar this past December....I like her work quite a bit.
Also pictured here is a delicious assortment of small works by Jancar artists.

 

Total: 5

++PLUS++ keep scrolling to read the review of the Quint Contemporary booth at the fair.

Jancar Gallery and Luis de Jesus Projects both tied for the unofficial win of MOST FRIENDLY (and enthusiastic and descriptive conversations).

Quint Contemporary was doing laundry at the Art LA Contemporary fair.
Featuring work of Lee Materazzi.

Materazzi's work takes us into her characters' domestic mishaps and relationships. Her interactions and struggles with the banal and tedious things around her impart a feeling of discomfort while at the same time a tone of the ridiculous. As in, we cannot help but laugh at the predicaments that our protagonist finds herself in. It's not a belly laugh, but more like that laugh in your heart you get sometimes when you see someone lose the scoop off of their ice cream cone.


I was remembering a time when I was attempting to remove the ugly cabinet that surrounded the little sink in the bathroom. At some point during the deconstruction, I found myself lying on my back with my feet propping up the sink. I remember lying there trying to maneuver tools and brackets I needed to use with my hands to get the job done, all the while not able to let go of the sink - remember, I'm holding it up with my legs while I was lying on my back - otherwise it would fall forward and bring the whole plaster and lathe wall down with it...

Back to Materazzi:
Task becomes toil and ritual, with a distinct relationship overtone between the every-day and fetishism. There is also a tension regarding the purpose of the things that she engages with - each item carrying with it a personality, each interaction containing a conversation.
For example, A vacuum cleaner is no longer a cleaning tool, but a late afternoon romp in the sheets, arms and legs entangled....or is this a struggle? A wrestling match with an uncooperative inanimate object?



Did she trip over it's hose while rounding the corner in a hurried cleaning session before guests arrived? Or has the vacuum become a replacement friend or lover, someone reliable who won't argue back? This mind-fantasy that ensues in viewing her work is to me, the very crux and ultimate success of this series.

We have seen these domestic/sexual/ritualistic/identity/gender roles issues addressed many times over, but for some reason, to me, these capture something new about it. It lacks kitsch, and it lacks a chip on the shoulder. It has instead, a simple truth and humble reality quality. The way in which the pieces are created rides on the fence between actuality and staging. The mood is not a moment captured in the time, but rather a simple documentation of occurrences. I found myself creating scenarios in my head about what lead up to the event and how in the world this woman would get out of what I was looking at.

My favorite was the triptych "Birthday Cake".



I have to now confess that this work is getting to me more the next day.
In the onset of the task to make a birthday cake, the protagonist has chosen to do this act instead. The result is a decided action that ruins the intended meaning of the original form. It is no longer a food gift/given, it is now a food that must be taken - and in the most intimate way by licking it off her face...or it must be denied, by not having it all and washing it away.



Overall, there is definitely an enmeshed relationship going on with her subjects and the viewer.
images courtesy of Quint Contemporary

Reciprocal Hello Acknowledgements go out to:
Honor Fraser, Brenna Youngblood and Alexandra Grant
Mat Gleason and Leigh Salgado,
Sean Gall,  
Country Club; John Knuth
Graham Kolbiens
Tulsa Kinney of Artillery Magazine ,
Peter Frank,
and Tim Fleming of Art LA Contemporary Fair.

Because I like her work and I used to show her brother, Michael Hsiung at Gallery Revisited. (Pearl is with Steve Turner Gallery)
In fact, I pretty much like every show I ever see at Steve Turner Gallery...

I will be posting other favorites from the fair soon,
so check back regularly to The Scripted Landscape for artists profiles and more!