dayoutlast

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.

--Justin Lowman

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Allison Miller "Screen Jaw Door Arch Prism Corner Bed" @ The Pit

Screen, 2016

Oil and acrylic on canvas

48 x 48 inches

Jaw, 2016

Oil, acrylic, and collage on canvas

60 x 52.5 inches

Prism, 2016

Oil, oil stick, acrylic, and modeling paste on canvas

35 x 35 inches

Corner, 2016

Oil, oil stick, acrylic, and pencil on canvas

64 x 82 inches

Bed, 2016

Oil, oil stick, acrylic and collage on two canvases

113 x 93 inches

Saturday, December 17, 2016

Martin Boyce in "Concrete Islands" @ Kayne Griffin Corcoran

and Empty Pools, 2010

Jesmonite and steel

88 1/4 x 61 1/4 x 2 inches

Kathryn Andrews "Black Bars" @ David Kordansky

Stormtrooper, 2016

stainless steel and replica film prop

74 x 28 x 44 inches

Black Bars: Dejeuner No. 7 (Girl with Maracas, Lemons, Gummy Bears, Ice Cream Sandwich, Candy Cane and Ice Cube Tray), 2016

aluminum, Plexiglas, ink, paint

92 x 73 1/4 x 4 1/2 inches

Black Bars: Dejeuner No. 4 (Girl with Creamsicle, Thermos, Pocket Knife, Cupcake, Melon and Flute), 2016

aluminum, Plexiglas, ink, paint

92 x 73 1/4 x 4 1/2 inches

Black Bars: Dejeuner No. 8 (Girl with Cotton Candy, Sucker, Pretzels, Ping Pong Paddle, Golf Ball, and Kazoo), 2016

aluminum, Plexiglas, ink, paint

92 x 73 1/4 x 4 1/2 inches

Black Bars: Mr. and Mrs. Smith, 2016

aluminum, Plexiglas, ink, paint, certified film prop

92 x 73 1/4 x 4 1/2 inches

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Jennifer Boysen and Michael Rey in "Top Heavy" @ Cherry and Martin

Jennifer Boysen

Untitled, 2016

Tempera and pigment on canvas on found objects

60 x 48 inches

Yellow: 35 x 10 x 4 1/2 inches

Bone: 60 x 6 x 5 inches

Black: 16 inches

Michael Rey

Tutsy-Dfe, 2016

Oil on plasticine clay on panel

52 x 27 inches

Ha Chong-Hyun @ Blum & Poe

Conjunction 15-132, 2015

Oil on hemp

71 x 47 1/2 inches

Conjunction 16-104, 2016

Oil on hemp

47 3/8 x 71 inches

Conjunction 15-131, 2015

Oil on hemp

71 x 47 1/2 inches

Conjunction 16-152, 2016

Oil on hemp

48 1/8 x 96 1/4 inches

Conjunction 14-119, 2014

Oil on hemp

51 1/2 x 64 inches

Conjuction 15-135, 2015

Oil on hemp

51 1/2 x 64 inches

Context is everything. Otherwise, how to talk about these outside of Robert Ryman, for example? Also motivation and intent. Stylish. Bordering on design. Fiber...

These paintings are very nice to look at in person. They do no reproduce well in terms of light and scale. That said, you can get a visual taste of what they are like, the subtlety and surface nuance between ground and painted mark, a seemingly painstaking process-driven task. The surface quality reminds me of Evan Nesbit paintings which can be seen from time to time at Roberts & Tilton, just around the corner from Blum & Poe. See here and here. Whereas Nesbit revels in mostly brighter colors, Chong-Hyun maintains a very minimal, monastic palette.

The detail photos in this post reveal the complications of scale in such paintings. Whether they be full size or detail, abstract images all, it's difficult to get a handle on their relative size to a human viewing situation. I suppose this variability and complication is what I like best as the mechanical belies any emotional suggestion, thought it is best when both are palpable and present.

Overall, these paintings seem to be more about ritual than anything, and this is good enough for me.