“(un)Restricted Pleasures” -
photographs and video installation by CORINA
GAMMA
reception for the artist January 19, 5-8pm
- view images -
d.e.n. contemporary art is pleased
to feature (un)Restricted Pleasures, the first major Los
Angeles solo exhibition by Swiss-born artist Corina Gamma.
Presently based in Los Angeles, Gamma will exhibit photographs and
video installations, which document quintessential California recreation
in amusement park rides and new suburban landscapes, and hold subtle
intimations of risk involved in the pursuit of leisure.
At once, Gamma’s photographs formally evoke a mysterious atmosphere
with a colorless background, in contrast to the prototypical California
scenes of saturated colors and omnipresent sun. Often utilizing a
square format, her photographs include cropped views of park rides
isolating playfulness, as harnessed bodies with dangling and outreached
limbs soar toward adventure. Rooftop views of repetitive housing constructions
stretch toward the horizon, depicting a sprawling population and their
quest for leisure. The intricate patterns of colorful rollercoasters
and rows of uniform houses appear to taper off into a background of
an incongruous and seemingly infinite sky.
In the back gallery space, the exhibition will include a wall-projected
video of multiple gondolas in motion, triggering a vertiginous effect
similar to the experience from riding a rollercoaster too long.
The imagery shows both a literal and metaphoric foundation from which
pleasure is sought. Captured in the work is the moment when, in the
pursuit of freedom and security, the paradoxical element of restriction
is revealed.
About the Artist
Gamma was born in Altdorf, Switzerland and educated at Kunstgewerbeschule
(School for the Arts) in Zürich and the École des Beaux-Arts
in Lausanne. In 1998, she received her M.F.A. from Claremont Graduate
University, California. Her photos and video projects have been the
subject of solo exhibitions at Apertura Gallery in Switzerland and
at the Experimental Campus Gallery, Arizona State Museum, for which
she received a grant from the Durfee Foundation. Her films were awarded
‘Best Documentary’ at the Black Earth Film Festival, Galesburg,
IL (2004), and at the Santa Clarita Film Festival, CA (2005).
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A reception for the artist will be held Saturday, January 19, from
5 – 8 pm. (un)Restricted Pleasures will be on view through February
23. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, from 11:00-5:30. For
additional information or to request visual material, contact the
gallery at (310) 559-3023 or info@dencontemporaryart.com