January 6 – February 17, 2007
RANGE
Heimir Björgúlfsson, Gustavo Herrera, Timothy Hutchings,
Kayo Nakamura, Ruby Neri, Ruben Ochoa, Ben Shaffer, & Macha Suzuki
Group exhibition curated by Kristi Lippire
d.e.n. contemporary art proudly presents
the group exhibition RANGE. ‘Range’ suggests
a specific area or parameter, but can also mean diversity. This exhibition
features eight artists working in diverse practices, who create work
that tends to shift in scale, imagery, material, and/or concept. Neither
predictable nor easily categorized, the work emphasizes ideas over a
consistent production.
Curated by Kristi Lippire, RANGE includes seven Los
Angeles-based artists: Heimir Björgúlfsson, Gustavo Herrera,
Kayo Nakamura, Ruby Neri, Ruben Ochoa, Ben Shaffer, and Macha Suzuki;
and, New York-based Timothy Hutchings in his Los Angeles debut.
With over half the pieces created specifically for this
exhibition at d.e.n., RANGE includes a range of work
from ten inch drawings of squirrels to a 13-foot quilt, also carved
floor molding, glowing light constructions, stained glass pieces, a
marble horse, paintings, drawings, video, and more.
These artists express their ideas through more than one art practice
(painting, drawing, sculpture, video and/or installation). By doing
so, instead of communication via a single language, their dialog becomes
a network of dialects. Their inclination for multiple ways of expression,
plus the gamut of such possibilities, plus their dexterity in media
application, equals RANGE.
Historically many artists have explored working in different media,
and today it seems even more commonplace, as these artists feel more
of a license to present diverse work openly and naturally from the beginning
of their career. In this exhibition, the viewer is encouraged to contemplate
how this multifaceted self-expression represents today’s climate
of hyper informational and sensory overload with seemingly unlimited
technological resources literally at our typing fingertips. The pieces
are well-crafted, smart, complex, and edgy, and also quite fun!
RANGE artists will be in attendance at the opening
reception on Saturday, January 6, from 5 to 8 pm. The exhibition will
continue through February 17. Regular gallery hours are Tuesday through
Saturday, from 11:00 to 5:30. For visual material of additional information,
please contact the gallery at (310) 559-3023 or info@dencontemporaryart.com.
ABOUT ’RANGE’ ARTISTS
-Heimir Björgúlfsson
often uses imagery of Icelandic birds (and their eggs) as figural stand-ins
for himself. Video, audio, photo collage drawings, sculpture, and installation
art make up his oeuvre, wherein flora and fauna exists incongruously
within an environment increasingly populated by humans. Born in Iceland,
Björgúlfsson currently lives and works between Los Angeles
and Amsterdam. He has exhibited his work internationally, most extensively
in the Netherlands.
-Gustavo Herrera’s
work shifts from painting and drawing to sculpture and installation
of sometimes multiple objects arranged in dense compositions. The initial
air of folly is undercut by a darkness that emerges, reflecting the
emotional hurdles and potholes of a contemporary urban existence. Herrera
received his M.F.A. from Claremont Graduate University in 2004, and
since then has exhibited his work internationally.
-Timothy Hutchings wittily
explores new ideas with a nod to the past in his conceptual videos,
sculpture, and drawings. One of the works included in the show will
be a video of the artist dancing, with the image continuously multiplying,
in the Larkin Building by Frank Lloyd Wright. The Larkin is considered
the architect’s first major public work, which slyly references
Wright’s idea of productive labor as the foundation for the social
contract. Hutchings’ work reflects the precarious balance of labor
and life, and of the public and the private. Born in St. Louis, MO,
Hutchings graduated from Yale University in 1998. Now based in New York,
he has exhibited his work internationally since 1996.
-Kayo Nakamura subtly embeds
unsettling imagery in traditional, socially acceptable crafts. Narratives
on elaborately sewn quilts, as well as geometric compositions with occasional
text on stained glass comprise a small segment of her work. In her storytelling
quilts, she alludes to suicides, homicides, shark attacks and poker
games, while her stained glass works engage the viewer with timeworn
platitudes. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Nakamura earned her M.F.A.
in 2003 from Claremont Graduate University and is presently an Assistant
Professor in the Graphic Arts Department at Biola University, La Mirada,
CA.
-Ruby Neri’s
diverse practice consists of figural sculpture, abstract painting
and drawing. Her sophisticated work is the result of a complex meeting
between modernist aesthetic concerns and contemporary consciousness.
The work is familiar in form, yet curious in color and composition,
which belie an awareness of the past versus the present. Neri received
her M.F.A. in 1998 from University of California, Los Angeles, and has
had several solo exhibitions in California.
-Ruben Ochoa works in public
and private spaces, with performance-based, photographic, and sculptural
pieces, varying from large-scale projects to intimate objects - all
dealing with ideas of societal structures and their expansion, and the
existence of the human presence within them. Through the prism of social
concerns, his work prompts viewers to rethink structures in our everyday
surroundings. Ochoa was born and raised in Oceanside, California and
in 2003 received his M.F.A. from University of California, Irvine. He
has received an Emerging Artist Fellowship from the California Community
Foundation, and grants from the Durfee Foundation and Creative Capital.
-Ben Shaffer’s work
stems from his exploration of occult and spiritualist group behavior
as he questions social and political “truths.” Shaffer’s
work ranges from mesmerizing videos to large wood sculptures incorporating
a range of materials from mirror fragments to plants and soil. The work
is both solid and vulnerable, both personal and universal, embodying
many group behavior contradictions. Shaffer received his B.S. from James
Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and recently received
his M.F.A. from Claremont Graduate University in 2006.
-Macha Suzuki uses a range
of materials, from mat board to fiberglass and from pipecleaners to
light bulbs. His work includes drawings and illuminated sculptural objects
that depict morality tales and relationship dynamics. Drawn from personal
life experiences, he creates a surreal and fable-like world embellished
with elaborate fabrications. In 2006, Suzuki received his M.F.A. in
Sculpture from Claremont Graduate University, and in 2004 he was highlighted
in SEEN magazine as one of the 25 exciting emerging artists.
-RANGE curator Kristi Lippire
is a Los Angeles-based artist represented by d.e.n. contemporary
art.
©2007