#charleslong

Not often that I get a chance to do a post from the West, but I had a day wandering the galleries in LA. I was duly impressed by the 10,000 square foot space of Sarah Gavlak and her summer group exhibition. I posted a couple of the images on Instagram.

At Diane Rosenstein, I was introduced to the work of a sculptor named Eben Goff, a product of UCLA. I was immediately struck by his confrontation with the sculptural traditions of the second half of the twentieth century. I do not mean that in a combative way, rather an incorporative one. 

Take for example, “"Eternal City” (below), the title, a reference to the images Piranese made of Rome, but the sculpture a reference to the main protagonist of twentieth century sculpture, the cube (module) from David Smith to Donald Judd. 

Much like the ruined image of the Statue of Liberty in “"Planet of the Apes”, 

Goff’s sculpture reflects our disillusioned cultural past while at the same time acknowledging its importance to our artistic present.

 Throughout his work there is an emphasis on our tarnished environmental landscape and the relationship to our use of natural resources, both for artistic purposes and otherwise. Many of his works are made of a combination of metal, steel or aluminum, and wood. 

The impression is of the wood almost molding itself to the metal creating a foil to the sheen of the material and its rigorous geometric shape. There is an immediate tension between incorporation and integration.

What sprang to my mind was the image of a Joel Shapiro being swallowed up and re-homogenized  

“"Flood Triangle” is part of a series where Goff took the metal sculpture to the LA River after a big rain fall and placed it in the river and it accumulated detritus. 

What results is both beautiful and compelling and a little bit alarming. The refuse indicates the cavalier way we dispose of it. Goff is not the first to make sculpture from the LA River. Charles Long went to the empty concrete and made sculpture out of bird droppings, yet what is common to both artists is the recognition of the geometric metallic form with the refuse emphasizing the alchemical nature of transforming shit into creative gold.

In the show, “"Inclusions” is certainly an appropriate title, Goff has a series of photographs entitled “"Butte Speculation” that incorporate “Arc”, an ark-like sculpture that he literally dragged into the landscape calling attention to the many ways humans have “intervened” into the earth for better or worse. 

The ark recalls the icon forms of Martin Puryear

While the overall format of the grouping of the photographs aesthetically resonates with that of Olafur Eliasson

Goff

Eliasson