Gustavo Godoy. "Vacant Marker," 2017
Cast concrete. 66 x 28 1/2 x 12 inches (167.6 x 72.4 x 30.5 cm)
Courtesy of Steve Turner Gallery
The wall, that Trumpian threat and promise, figures prominently in many shows for this fall's LA/Latin America version of the Getty's Pacific Standard Time, or PST. At Steve Turner Gallery in Hollywood, Mexico City-based artist Pablo Rasgado has constructed his own versions of such boundaries in an exhibition titled This Too Shall Pass.
Pablo Rasgado, "This Too Shall Pass," 2017
Installation view
Courtesy of Steve Turner Gallery
Rasgado's has worked with reconstructed walls for some time. Here the walls establish a maze of open-ended rooms. One side of each wall is covered in a cracked mosaic of industrial drywall. This material is in fact the remnants of past shows, gallery walls removed from the Museum of Modern Art in Antwerp and the Carillo Gil Museum in Mexico City. The dusty white surfaces are repurposed at the gallery in what Rasgado calls "unfolded architecture." The presence of these walls brings to mind their previous history as physical support for cultural ideas. Each wall also stands as a work by Rasgado.
Tim Hawkinson, "World Clock," 2012
Medicine cabinet, ace bandage, lotion bottle, prescription medicine bottle, dental floss, deodorant, toothbrushes, plastic cup, pump soap bottle, nail clipper and clock motors
25 1/2 x 16 x 21 inches (64.8 x 40.6 x 53.3 cm)
Courtesy of Steve Turner Gallery
The artist complicates the implications by hanging some of these walls with art by others artists who are mostly from LA. The selections tangentially address issues of history, perspective and impermanence. Tim Hawkinson's World Clock (2012) is an open medicine chest with objects such as dental floss, nail clippers and pill bottle wired to function as actual clocks clicking away the seconds.
Brian Rochefort. "Bull Head," 2017
Terra cotta, glaze and glass fragments
11 x 11 x 9 inches (27.9 x 27.9 x 22.9 cm)
Courtesy of Steve Turner Gallery
Brian Rochefort covers terracotta pots or skulls with layers of ceramic glaze and glass. Gustavo Godoy stacks cast concrete fragments that look like the blocks used by architect Frank Lloyd Wright in his Mayan-influenced buildings. Like Rasgado, many of the artists re-purpose materials with symbolic intent. Rasgado, himself, includes one work of a single penny imprinted with the memorable words, "This too shall pass." Life and its interpretations are never finite but art carries on. The show continues to October 28.
Jorge Méndez Blake, "Apollinaire's Misspell I (White)," 2017
Acrylic on linen 102 1/3 x 78 3/4 inches
Photo by Stefanie Keenan
Courtesy of the artist and Kohn Gallery
Chingaderas Sofisticadas — sophisticated f**kers — is the provocative title of a group show of artists associated with the culturally rich city of Guadalajara. Organized by Esthella Provas with Samantha Glaser, it includes a marvelous painting by Jorge Méndez Blake. The word chingadera is repeated in stencils cut from white paint like a long stutter of profane poetry. (Blake's interest in poetry is more thoroughly revealed in his current solo show at 1301 PE.)
Eduardo Sarabia, "Mango Fruit," 2017
Glazed white clay and acrylic on pine wood
Ceramic 11 3/4 x 7 3/4 x 7 3/7", Box 11 x 14 x 11"
Photo by Karl Puchlik
Courtesy of the artist and Kohn Gallery
Artists were chosen for a loose association with the artisanal strengths of the Mexican city, Eduardo Sarabia in particular. One his own altered blue and white ceramics stands atop a wooden stand labeled mango fruit. (A survey of his art is now on view at The Mistake Room.) As such, the show offers an introduction to these particular artists as well as operating as a map for the ongoing treasure hunt offered via PST LA/LA.