dayoutlast is a record of my direct engagement with mostly contemporary art, mostly Los Angelean.

As this blog has evolved since its 2010 inception, so has my perspective. What I once perceived as central within the investigation was what was central, literally, within the photographic frame that I shared here. While still an important consideration, such thinking has also given way to more peripheral considerations, ones also accompanied occasionally by text (written manifestation of thought) and the oscillations between them. What's missing here are larger unknowns surrounding issues of presentation and representation; the amount of time and space it actually takes to accomplish such first-hand observations; and the quandaries between documentation and interpretation.

Despite my attempt to communicate here with image and text what is essential in some respect about the artwork, neither representation should ever be considered a substitution for the primary viewing experience. Of course, occasionally there are exceptions.

Most of the time, these posts are merely remnants---residual fragments---from my last day out.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Selections from "Picture Industry (Goodbye to All That)" Organized by Walead Beshty @ Regen Projects, West Hollywood

Imi Knoebel, "Z.T. 1," 1987-88
Acrylic on wood
99 1/4 x 75 1/2 inches
Caught the Knoebel at either a very serendipitous or very frustrating moment depending on how you want to look at it... While I liked the relationship between the grid of color and the one of light and shadow from the skylight above (in fact suggesting a potential source for his work from an architectural feature elsewhere), I would have preferred to see it without such casual happenstance.

Seth Price, "Untitled," 2008
Inkjet print on protective film over acrylic
48 x 96 inches
Another problematic of the viewing condition (such is the all-consuming nature of reflective materials), I stopped and looked anyway.

Tauba Auerbach "Untitled (Fold)," 2010
Acrylic on canvas
48 x 40 inches
A seductive illusion to be sure...

Isa Genzken "Untitled," 2006
Plastic, metal, floor lamp, artichokes,
adhesive tape, spray paint, lacquer,
coconut fibre, and cable
79 x 17 x 17 1/2 inches
When a body can be thought about as mostly a system of synthetic parts, fluid ones that attach to power structures, I know I'm seeing a reflection of the now (at least partially metaphorical). I'm torn between fascination and disgust, perhaps a bit like a Warhol car crash (or perhaps an electric chair?).

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