L.A. Louver

Pairing sculpture with painting, [Jason] Martin has effectively created works that one can’t help but get right up next to. Nose-to-drip with the cloth-covered aluminum panels, part of the work’s appeal comes in the (almost uncomfortably) close examination of it; look inside the cracks to see what other colors lie beneath the surface, try to feel the hardened sprayed-on color with your eyes. The heavily-applied paste medium in Dolomie—positioned in a smaller gallery space just off of the main drag—looks like the the tragedy of a cake set to rest for hours in the sun; the drips of paint, suspended from the edge of the aluminum sheet are nothing if not precarious. In a nuanced blend of pastel blue, lavender and yellow tones, the Dolomie palette, like that of the majority of the works in Counterfeit, lends an ethereal quality to the painting. Its airiness is juxtaposed with the weight of the materials and media used to make the work, as well as the effort with which Martin dragged his fingers through the mounds of applied paste to make his mark. That is one of the things most striking about these works; how Martin manages to make something that looks labored—pulled, stretched, raked—look graceful, fluid. 

via Whitehot Magazine

Jason Martin: Counterfeit is on view through May 14, 2016. More details here. 

We are sad to convey the news that artist Charles Garabedian died on February 11, 2016 at the age of 92. The cause of death was prostate cancer. A lover of literature, opera, jazz, horse racing, golf, poker, cigars, Scotch, and daily visits to Peet’s Coffee and Tea in Santa Monica, Garabedian was beloved both as an artist and a teacher. Described by critic Christopher Knight as, “among the best painters Los Angeles has produced,” Garabedian, or ‘Chas’ as he was known by his friends, created narrative paintings that often featured awkwardly posed figures that spoke to the human condition. Embracing grand themes, he created paintings that were idiosyncratic and compelling.

Garabedian came to painting at age 32, and was almost 40 before he had his first solo exhibition. This followed service as a Staff Sergeant and gunner during World War II, when he flew 30 missions in Europe. He subsequently worked for the tire company B.F. Goodrich, assembling cars for Chrysler, and as a clerk for the railroad. Garabedian studied history at USC, and encouraged by his friend Ed Moses, he took art classes with Howard Warshaw, which led him to UCLA.  At UCLA, Garabedian studied with William Brice. After graduating with a MA in 1961, he went on to teach at UCLA, Collage of Creative Studies at UC Santa Barbara, and other established art institutions throughout the 1960s, ’70s, and 80s.

In 1962, Garabedian began showing with the Ceejee Gallery in Los Angeles, alongside good friends Louis Lunetta and Ed Carrillo, whom he credited as his greatest influences. He had his first solo museum exhibition in 1966 at the La Jolla Museum of Art, and his first retrospective at California State University Northridge in 1974. In 1978, Marcia Tucker included Garabedian’s work in the exhibition, ‘Bad Painting’ at the New Museum in New York. Numerous solo and group gallery and museum shows that followed culminated in a survey exhibition curated by Julie Joyce at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in 2011, which drew widespread critical acclaim. In 1979, Garabedian joined L.A. Louver. Over 36 years of representing Garabedian, L.A. Louver mounted 17 solo exhibitions, including most recently, ‘Sacrifice for the Fleet’ in October-November 2015. Garabedian also shows with Betty Cuningham in New York and Gallery Paule Anglim in San Francisco. His work is included in the collections of Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; San Francisco Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Whitney Museum of American Art; and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, among other museums.

The youngest of three children, Garabedian was born in Detroit in 1923 to parents who had fled the Armenian genocide. Following his mother’s death in 1925, and his father’s subsequent injury, Garabedian spent part of his childhood in an orphanage. At age 9, his family moved to California. After his service during World War II, Garabedian settled back in California, and in 1963 married Gwen. Garabedian is survived by his wife, two daughters Claire and Sophia, son-in-law Jonathan, and three grandchildren, Lulu, Dinah, and Rex.  

The story behind what inspired the name L.A. Louver and the gallery’s original 1976 logo as told by Peter Goulds:

“A Rose by any other name Peter Goulds on L.A. Louver”

In 1920, Marcel Duchamp made a miniature French window and called it Fresh Widow — bad pun, right? It was made by a French window maker, sits on a baseboard, and has panes of leather rather than glass. The act of cleaning the window is actually one of polishing, so it shines. In my apartment at UCLA every single window was a louvered window, and coming from England as I do, I’d never seen a louvered window in my life. They have them, of course — I’d just never seen one. If you look at the device that opens the window, it looks like the coffee grinder in Duchamp’s The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors. 

In 1931, André Breton (the surrealist poet and critic) wrote an article called “The Lighthouse of the Bride.” Evidently (from the article) Duchamp had given Breton his notes of the making of and thinking behind The Bride Stripped Bare by her Bachelors and Breton took these notes and ciphered the painting. Duchamp had previously given no information of what the painting was about, gives this critic his notes for the first time, and this man reads all the notes diligently and writes an essay about the true meaning of the painting. The first paragraph says — and I’m paraphrasing — that Duchamp invites us on a journey through the artistic looking glass and he goes on to explicate the meaning of the painting.

So my miniature Los Angeles window doesn’t have leather and doesn’t have glass but it has mirrors. So, when it’s closed you see your own reflection but when you ratchet the coffee grinder — via the reflection of the outside world in the mirrors — you journey through the artistic looking glass.

Duchamp’s baseboard reads (and it’s the first time he used his female pseudonym), “Fresh Widow, 1920, Rose Sélavy.” My baseboard now reads, “La Louver, 1976, Eros it is the mirror.”

When I opened the gallery my ego was such that I wouldn’t put my name on something that might fail. So, I needed a pseudonym. My wife said, “Why don’t you call it that wretched LA Louver?” It was one of the many props I had made for film projects that were littering the house at the time, and I thought that was a good idea.

Now we’re stuck with it.

In light of the opening of “TOUCH: Experience 19″ at El Segundo Museum of Art (ESMoA) on Oct 11, a show in which few of our artists are featured, we would love to share with you some of the amazing work done by photographer Jim McHugh and our fellow artists, such Alison Saar, Enrique Martinez Celaya, Tony Berlant, Peter Shelton, Matt Wedel, Charles Garabedian, Michale McMillen, Gajin Fujita and Heather Gwen Martin.

L.A Louver is pleased to announce artist Rina Banerjee’s participation in the 2015 Asian Art Biennial in Taipei:

The theme for the 2015 Asian Art Biennial is “Artist Making Movement” and the exhibition is curated by Iris Shu Ping HUANG from the museum Exhibition Department. This subject matter reflects the current sense of discomfort in Asia and the trend for artists to break through the status quo via actions in their creative work. If we review art and creative types over the past few years, Asian artists have increasingly reflected social realities and focused more on local history, immersing themselves in important contemporary issues in Asia. In this context, artists are paying more attention to their own role, socially-oriented work and public responsibility, having concluded that ineffective public mechanisms make personalized creative energy more important than ever. These trends energetically reflect the personal values of a new era, wherein artists seek to kick start public interaction through perceptual works and seize opportunities for “qualitative change.” This represents the ongoing reflection and creation of new Asian culture, which reflects the sense of expectation and action as the people of Asia embrace a positive vision of their future.

The 5th Asian Art Biennial shows 140 works by 28 artists and groups from 17 areas/countries across Asia, featuring the wonderful diversity of contemporary Asian art, including painting, sculpture, installation, sound, video, performance art and workshop.

Shows open this Saturday, 19 September. On view till 26 December 2015.

Read more at: http://www.ntmofa.gov.tw/english/ShowInfomation_1.aspx?SN=4562&n=10135

Friday 7pm: An Evening with Jo Harvey and Terry Allen [Texas]

Terry Allen’s Deer Sculptures, with their anthropomorphic bodily gestures, have assumed their lounging positions on the banks of the Scioto River since last September. Commissioned by the City of Columbus as permanent public sculptures, these anatomically-correct deers offer spectators a companionship as familiar strangers. In the process of creation, Allen derived the deer armatures from deer styrofoam forms he collected from professional taxidermists.

Here’s a video on more of Allen’s thought process behind the Deer Sculptures: https://youtu.be/Scxqj-QTLDQ

Many thanks to those who joined us at the ‪#‎Hockney‬ ‪#‎lecture‬ at the ‪#‎Getty‬ last night. For those who couldn't make it, you can watch the spectacular event here!

Econo-can by Edward and Nancy Kienholz at Hood Museum of Art, New Hampshire

22 August – 6 December 2015

The Hood Museum of Art presents a group exhibition featuring the collection of Trevor Fairbrother, an independent curator, and John T. Kirk, a scholar of early American decorative arts, who have donated important works in their collection to the museum. Titled Collecting and Sharing: Trevor Fairbrother and John T. Kirk, the exhibition features historical works by a distinguished group of artists, including Ed and Nancy Kienholz’s Econo-can (1984).

Often a blatant critique of American civilization, Kienholz works, like Econo-can, point to the media, consumerism, cultural tragedies, wars and violence, and our relationships to them. Television sets, machines, and objects enabling the consumption and propagation of violence are recurring motifs that embody Kienholz’s social criticism towards the shadow side of American culture at the time.

Other artists include: Andy Warhol, Marsden Hartley, Glenn Ligon, Carl Andre, Mike Kelley, Robert Wilson, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Richard Artschwager, Tom Wesselmann, Joseph Beuys, Catherine Opie, Elizabeth Peyton, Sol LeWitt, John O'Reilly, John Singer Sargent, and many others.

The Hood Museum of Art 4 E Wheelock St, Hanover, NH 03755 (603) 646-1110

Visit the museum’s website for more details: http://hoodmuseum.dartmouth.edu/exhibitions/2015collectingandsharing/ 

In this week’s blog post we want to revisit some of the behind-the-scene moments of artists in their studio space. As a place where both contemplation and production of art happens, studios capture the magical spark and audacity of an artist’s imagination.

 In his Athens, Ohio studio, Matt Wedel works closely with nature…

His ceramic sculptures converge harmoniously with the forces of nature, creating a picturesque scene in which his sculptures quietly stares back at you…

And sometimes, he brings in an extra pair of helping hands… or two.

Matt’s studio also houses kilns that enable him to fire works of a larger scale…

 And we end up with beautiful works like these…

Enjoy more of Matt Wedel’s creative process and life as an artist in the following interview:

LALOUVER.com 45 N. Venice Bl, CA 90291 ___________________________ David Hockney: Jul 15 - Sep 19 Tom Wudl, Charles Garabedian: Oct 8 - Nov 7

THIS DAY IN GALLERY HISTORY: 21 November 2003

Eleven years ago, Michael C. McMillen’s Red Trailer Motel opened at L.A. Louver. A dimly lit gallery succumbed to the murky tone of this immersive installation of rusted trailer components accented with pastel doors, car tires and tumbleweeds. This work followed in the tradition of the assemblage tableaux epitomized by Ed and Nancy Kienholz; myriad details hinting at a complicated and seedy underbelly of American culture and the human condition. 

      See UFO Site, a mixed media assemblage work that was featured in this historic exhibition and now on view until December 1, at V-Scape Gallery at Hal’s Bar & Grill, Venice, CA.

We hope you will enjoy the following excerpt from Charlie Scheip's blog New York Social Diary as much as we did...

Another one of L.A.’s major long-time galleries is LA Louver just off Venice Beach. When I was at the Ken Price reception last week, seeing so many familiar faces, I remembered the 1986 party I attended for the 10th anniversary of that gallery. The evening was also a foil for a surprise birthday party for the gallery’s founder — Englishman Peter Goulds.

I first met Peter a year before I moved to L.A. when he came to Chicago for the opening of a major Edward and Nancy Reddin Kienholz exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA). That exhibition included the fantastic Kienholz’s 1977 work entitled The Art Show (now owned by the Berlinische Galerie Museum of Modern Art) that was re-titled The Chicago Art Show for our presentation.

Peter and his long time gallery director Kimberly Davis have since become dear friends of mine  — first when we worked together on the many projects surrounding their long-time representation of David Hockney, and for decades since as I have followed their amazing program and promotion of their artists in museums and private collections around the world. 

LA Louver's Peter Goulds. Photo: Jim McHugh.

LA Louver's Peter Goulds (founder, director), Tony Bevan (artist), Elizabeth East (director), Kimberly Davis (director), and Glenys Johnson. Photo: Jim McHugh.

The LA Louver Gallery has for several years been at work creating an amazing archival website documenting their long history and the accomplishments of the many artists they have represented over the years.  After all my nostalgia for that wonderful era they were able to provide me with photographs taken during that 10th anniversary party almost thirty years ago. Do visit LA Louver’s wonderful website — I could spend hours surfing around it, www.lalouver.com.

Talent’s something you know and you feel and the gods tell you...

What I look for in an artist, in a dancer, in a musician, is invention,” Fagan said. “Wynton plays notes I can’t find anywhere else. My dancers go a bit slower, a bit faster and they jump a bit higher. When I go to a gallery, it has to call me, pull me in. I am not going to go searching.

- Wynton Marsalis

This month Brooklyn Rail's Joseph Masheck blogs of his discovering a provocative cultural theme in Leon Kossoff's exhibition of paintings on view last spring at Mitchell-Innes & Nash (New York). 

"Over and over again, apparently, Kossoff has painted this church [Christchurch Spitafields] in his somehow lyrically heavy, putty-like manner. Asking myself why has led quite unexpectedly into a possible political iconography."

Click Here to read more. 

Leon Kossoff Christchurch, Spitalfields, 1999-2000 oil on board 56 3/8 x 51 1/8 in. (143 x 130 cm)