Stille Post
7 Curators > 7 Artists:
Whitney Carter > Christopher Russell > Darin Klein > Kate Barclay > Brian Bress > Peter Harkawik > Jan Tumlir > Craig Stecyk > Cindy Ojeda > Laurie Steelink > Doug Harvey > Scott Marvel Cassidy > Daniel Mendel-Black > Alex Sanchez
July 31 - August 28, 2010
Opening reception Saturday, July 31, 6-9pm
Peter Harkawik, The Yacht in the Lagoon (restaged), 2009. Inkjet print from 8 x 10 photograph, 44" X 31".
Taking its cues from the game commonly called Telephone or Stille Post, this exhibition asked each curator to choose an artist who then chose a curator who chose an artist in succession until 7 artists and 7 curators were selected. The game serves as both a metaphor for cumulative error and the unreliability of memory, thus each curator chose an artist whose work deals with themes of story telling, documentation, memory and often the reconstruction of an existing narrative or an imagining of future, unknown possibilities.
About the Artists:
Kate Barclay focuses on in between moments when potential outcomes and transitions are examined, predicted and fabricated. Her works possess a collage like quality that, according to Darin Klein "demonstrate both the beauty of chaos and the labor of lyricism." Barclay received her BFA from UCLA in 2004 and her MFA from UC San Diego in 2008. In 2008 Barclay's solo exhibition "Rawhang Teewang (Between Spaces)" was seen at the Bangkok University Gallery. Her work has also been in group shows at Angstrom Gallery (Los Angeles), Black Dragon Society (Los Angeles), and L.A.C.E. (Los Angeles). Barclay lives and works in Los Angeles.
Scott Marvel Cassidy's paintings take imagery from popular culture and documents psychological and aesthetic developments both personal and familial to the artist. In 2009 Cassidy had a solo exhibition at Las Cienegas Projects. His work was also exhibited in group exhibitions at Circus Gallery (Los Angeles), Track 16 (Los Angeles), High Energy Constructs (Los Angeles), and Rolf Rick (Cologne, Germany). Cassidy is based in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles based Peter Harkawik chronicles obscure novels through his photography, sculpture and installations while also constructing what Brian Bress considers a "complex and wonderfully baffling personal mythology." His work has been exhibited in New York, L.A., Paris and is the subject of a two person exhibition this July at Night Gallery (Los Angeles). He holds a BA in Critical Theory from Hampshire College.
Christopher Russell employs photography, bookmaking, writing and drawing to illustrate his explorations of the darker side of the human psyche. Through the lens of a present day flâneur, viewers are made privy to Russell's observant, analytical wanderings along the physical and emotional outskirts of society. Russell received his MFA from Art Center (Los Angeles) in 2004 and has since had solo exhibitions at Circus Gallery, Sam Freeman Gallery (Santa Monica), and The Hammer Museum (Los Angeles) among others. He is currently represented by Luis De Jesus in Santa Monica.
Alex Sanchez recently graduated from Otis College of Art & Design with a BFA (2010). He was born in 1984, which he likes to point out was also the last time The Los Angeles Raiders won a Super Bowl Championship. He currently resides in Los Angeles.
Craig Stecyk has been documenting the Southern California surf and skate scene since the early 1970's when, along with Jeff Ho and Skip Engblom, he opened the Jeff Ho Surfboard and Zephyr Productions surf shop. Stecyk's graphics and attitude played a prominent part in the rise of skate culture as we know it today. According to Jan Tumlir, Stecyk is credited with giving skate culture its particular look: urban, black and white, and gritty.
Laurie Steelink's work has been exhibited at PØST (Los Angeles), Track 16 Gallery (Santa Monica), and currently can be seen at Guerrero Gallery (San Francisco) in a group exhibition curated by Andrew Schultz. Steelink paints on mylar, layering image upon image in what Cindy Ojeda calls a "meditative repetition of form" which calls upon "a collective unconscious of the human mind, primordial memories that remain mostly repressed or forgotten." Steelink received her MFA from Rutgers University and her BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. She lives and works in Los Angeles.
About the curators:
Brian Bress is a Los Angeles based artist and filmmaker. His collages, photographs, videos and paintings have been exhibited in various group shows and film festivals in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, including New York Director's Club Biennial and The LA Weekly Biennial. Bress has curated group shows in Los Angeles and New York including From Panic to Power at Angstrom Gallery, Surface Sounding: Joe Deutch at See Line Gallery, The Magic Show at Hayworth Gallery and UCLA's 2004 Wight Biennial. He is represented in Los Angeles by Cherry and Martin. Bress is currently participating in Portugal Arte 10.
Whitney Carter is currently the Co-Director at Kinkead Contemporary where she has co-curated and organized exhibitions such as Mysterium, Drawn and Jered Sprecher: Monumental Dust among others. Carter received an MA from San Francisco State University and a BFA from Arizona State University.
Since graduating with an MFA in painting from UCLA in 1994,Doug Harvey has written extensively about the Los Angeles and International art scenes and other aspects of popular culture, primarily as the art critic for LA WEEKLY. His curatorial projects have included the first (2005) and third (2007/08) Annual LA Weekly Biennials at Track 16 Gallery in Los Angeles. Harvey has written museum and gallery catalogue essays for Jim Shaw, Jeffrey Vallance, Tim Hawkinson, Marnie Weber and many others.
Darin Klein's most recent exhibition Original Plumbing #3 Release Party was held at REDCAT Roy and Edna Disny/CalArts Theater to celebrate the third issue of San Francisco's trans male quarterly Original Plumbing. Klein hosts and organizes a series of exhibitions and events under Darin Klein & Friends. He is currently the Programs Coordinator at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles.
Daniel Mendel-Black's last L.A. exhibition received an ArtForum "Artist's Artist Best Of" mention. He has also exhibited in LA Weekly's Annual Biennial exhibition Some Painters, curated by Doug Harvey (2008). He has shown regularly around the country and in Europe and appears in "LA Artland: Contemporary Art from Los Angeles". He currently lives and works in Los Angeles where he teaches at Otis College of Art and Design.
Cindy Ojeda is a Los Angeles based curator who most recently organized exhibitions at Track 16 Gallery in Los Angeles. She has also curated several exhibitions at the Eagle Rock Center for the Arts.
Jan Tumlir teaches art and film theory at the Art Center and USC and has contributed to ArtForum, Frieze, and Flash Art. Tumlir has curated extensively at galleries throughout the U.S., among which include Gallery I-20 (New York), ACME (Los Angeles) and Margo Leavin Gallery (Los Angeles).
