Elizabeth Huey, 'The Lover's Discourse,' 2008
Cover Version
through August 10
Taylor deCordoba
The typical summer group shows are beginning to appear, and this exhibition, curated by New York artist Timothy Hull, cleverly spins a group show into a requisite summer reading list. Hull invited 20 artists to reinterpret, represent, mimic or simulate a book cover of their choosing. The result is a collection of amusing works that mix the acts of "looking" and "reading."
Brian Bress in 'Against the Grain'
Against the Grain
Through August 10
Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions
'Against the Grain' is artist Christopher Russel's reinterpretation of one of LACE's seminal exhibitions, 'Against Nature: A Group Show of Work by Homosexual Men', a group show curated by author Dennis Cooper and artist Richard Hawkins in 1988. While the references to this source are tenuous, the exhibition presents a fine group of young, primarily L.A. based artists that deal with themes of decadence and, at times, darkness.
Installation view 'Summer 08'
Summer 2008
Through August 9
Margo Leavin Gallery
It's always a treat when a long established gallery pulls together a group show of long established artists. 'Summer 2008' at Margo Leavin does just that; among the fourteen artists included are John Baldessari, Cindy Bernard, Dan Graham, Joseph Kosuth, William Leavitt, Gabriel Orozco, Allen Ruppersberg, and Alexis Smith.
Installation view 'Red Wind'
Red Wind
Through August 23
Blum and Poe
After suffering through L.A's first weekend of 103 degree (Fahrenheit) heat, a show like 'Red Wind' takes on new meaning. Responding to Southern California's unique phenomenon of the hot and heavy Santa Ana Winds, this group of artists--Peter Coffin, Thomas Helbig, Liz Larner, Jennifer Nocon, Cristina Lei Rodriguez, Markus Selg, Anna Sew Hoy, Katja Strunz, Mungo Thomson--flesh out the anxiety and ambiguity embodied in the local summer climate.
Shobha Broota
Contemporary Art from India
Through August 2
Western Project and d.e.n. contemporary art
Two concurrent exhibitions present photography, sculpture, video, collage, drawing and painting by six, mid-career female Indian artist. Highlights include Shobha Broota's geometric abstract canvases and Santana Gohain's ephemeral graphite works, which harmoniously fill the entire space at Western Project. Selections at d.e.n. deal more outright with issues of gender and Indian popular culture while displaying notable material experimentations.
Dennis Koch
Dennis Koch and Claudia Nieto
Through August 2
High Energy Constructs
This two-person exhibition shows off the meticulous yet effervescent nature of colored pencil drawings. At times referring directly to painting and at others resembling digital outputs, this group of large works on paper offers strange, abstract planes bursting with color and motion. A logical pairing, Nieto and Koch's worked marks seem perfectly complementary.
Ali Smith
Ali Smith
Through August 16
Mark Moore Gallery
If Duchamp's 'Nude Descending a Staircase' exploded in a candy shop and was reassembled using bubblegum, you might end up with something resembling Ali Smith's canvas 'Geek Love' (2008). This group of delightfully busy and colorful paintings displays the young artist's careful balance between detailed line and bulky brushstroke. It will be thrilling to watch as Smith develops her technique from here.
Ami Tallman
Ami Tallman
Through July 26
Seeline Gallery
Ami Tallman's delicate drawings often depict the curiously humanist side of power, politics, imperialism, and enculturation. In this exhibition, the young L.A.-based artist draws parallels between world dictators and cults and tries to locate the shared behaviors of both types. This group of loose, colorful images reveals the sometimes blurry distinction between individual and collective ideologies.
Kristen Morgin
Kristen Morgin
Through August 16
Marc Selwyn Fine Art
For her second solo show with Marc Selwyn, Kristen Morgin has created "objects for everyone [she] has ever known" out of unfired clay. These include vintage looking comic books, board games, tea cups, pulp novels, toys and other miscellaneous items. The objects speak to nostalgia and memory while remaining totally anonymous.
Antonio Ballester Moreno
Antonio Ballester Moreno
Through August 16
Peres Projects
Gorgeous, folksy paintings cover the Peres Project walls from floor to ceiling in this solo exhibition by Spanish artist, Antonio Ballester Moreno. Interior scenes of domestic life and leisure are rendered with a certain brutality that keeps the images from slipping into the simplicity of pastoral representation. The exhibition continues in Peres Project's second, private space on Chung King Road.
Catherine Taft is a Los Angeles-based writer and critic. Her writing on contemporary art and culture has appeared in magazines including Modern Painters, Art Review, Artforum.com, and Metropolis M and in various museum catalogs. Her recent projects include curating a series of video and film screenings throughout LA, and research and curatorial assistance for the Getty Museum's exhibition, 'California Video' (March 2008).
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