#chateaushatto

WHAT’S ON: Aria Dean, Chris Kraus, Bunny Rogers, Sturtevant, Martine Syms, Body by Body, Gardar Eide, Einarsson, Hamishi Farah, Parker Ito, Jordan Wolfson, At this stage, June 10 – August 12, Chateau Shatto, Los Angeles. 

Aria Dean, Dead Zone (1), 2017. Cotton branch, polyurethane, bell jar, wood, signal jammer. 13.25 x 12.5 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Chateau Shatto, Los Angeles.

www.sculpture-center.org

The stars have aligned for several “must-see” exhibitions and spaces in downtown L.A.  If you haven’t ventured to the new and not-so-new galleries in the rapidly morphing region south of the urban core, I would encourage you to do so in the coming weeks.  If you go on a Saturday, let me know and perhaps I can meet you there!

First stop: Parker Ito at Château Shatto

March 28 – April 30

http://chateaushatto.com/

One of the newest downtown spaces is this generous and inviting one located in the neighborhood called South Park near Staples Center. Recently designated one of “The Super-hot Galleries” by British Vogue, the gallery was founded last summer by Liv Barrett and Nelson Harmon. Unlike many of the super-power galleries momentarily swarming Los Angeles, Château Shatto represents just a handful of artists:  Body by Body (Melissa Sachs and Cameron Soren), Cayetano Ferrer, Parker Ito, and Helen Johnson.

The current exhibition is, on the surface, a frenetic installation of work—artistic output would be a more apt term—by Angeleno Parker Ito. Rising from the vestiges of scattershot installation set forth by the late artists Dieter Roth and Jason Rhoades, Ito’s environments are distinctive for their underlying sense of formality and control. Every surface has been touched if not carefully considered by the artist in this ambitious installation: from the digitally-generated imagery on storage boxes piled up Warhol-(Brillo Box-) style on the floor, to the dangling paintings and lights, to the precise and gaping holes in the ceiling.  For the recent take in artforum.com go to:

http://artforum.com/words/id=50913

 This week Ito is adding to the installation, which re-opens anew on Saturday, March 28; when the gallery will also debut a group exhibition of works by the up-and-coming Kelly Akashi and Sean Raspet.

(View of “Parker Ito: A Lil Taste of Cheeto in the Night,” 2015)

Second stop:  Francois Ghebaly Gallery (SOGTFO thru Apr 11) and

Night Gallery (Karl Hendel: thru Apr 4)

 It has taken me a while to warm up to two of downtown’s biggest spaces, partly due to their locations—in a virtual desert of industrial space far south of historic downtown.  While gentrification has spread quickly southward since 2013, when Francois Ghebaly opened his downtown space (prior to this he was in an even more awkward multi-level garage in Culver City), some recent renovations to the space are a welcome sight. On view now is a promising group exhibition curated by the provocative Los Angeles artist Charlie White.  Artists include “emergers” Kelly Akashi (also at Château Shatto soon), Nevine Mahmoud, and Kathleen Ryan; along with “veterans” Andrea Zittel and Amanda Ross-Ho.  http://ghebaly.com/

Simply walk through the open hole in the fence at the back, and you’ve arrived at Night Gallery. This project space, founded by artist Davida Nemeroff and dealer Mieke Marple, opened in a grungy Lincoln Heights strip mall in 2010 and was characterized by black cavern-like walls, dim lights, and strictly late-night hours. In 2013 Night Gallery moved into the industrial building it now occupies, which is deliberately outfitted with just a few diagonally placed white walls, leaving the industrial atmosphere paramount. Group shows are mainly their “thing,” but on view now is a particularly clever solo project by Karl Haendel.  http://nightgallery.ca/

Final stop:  William Pope.L at MOCA’s Geffen Contemporary

(through June 28, 2015)

MOCA’s recent change of leadership was refreshing news, and we’re thankfully beginning to see a post-Deitch era take shape.  Bennett Simpson has organized for the Geffen Contemporary an already critically hailed installation by Chicago-based artist William Pope.L called Trinket.  Please see yesterday’s review in the Los Angeles Times: