NINE LIVES: visionary artists from L.A.

Victoria Reynolds. Flight of the Reindeer, 2003. Oil on panel, (81.3 x 111.1 cm, framed).Collection of Barry Sloane. Photo: Tony Cuñha

Llyn Foulkes. Dali and Me, 2006. Mixed media, (83.8 x 66 cm). The Collectionof Patrick and Soo Jin Jeong-Painter

Hirsch Perlman. An Animus Cat Amok & Asunder, 2008. Chromogenic print, (182.9 x 246.4 cm).Courtesy the artist and Blum & Poe, Los Angeles.

NINE LIVES: visionary artists from L.A.

Nine Lives: Visionary Artists from L.A. is the fifth in the Hammer Museum’s biannual invitational exhibition series highlighting work created in greater Los Angeles — Lisa Anne Auerbach, Julie Becker, Llyn Foulkes, Charles Irvin, Hirsch Perlman, Victoria Reynolds, Kaari Upson, Jeffrey Vallance, and Charlie White.

March 8 – May 31, 2009

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The reinvention of oneself is central to several of these nine artists’ practices. They createcharacters and tell stories of fantasy and science fiction, building alternate worlds groundedon their obsessions. Popular culture, folk and urban mythology are common themes, as arealternative lifestyles, conspiracy theories, forgotten rites and subcultures. The exhibition iscurated by Ali Subotnick and it is her first large-scale project since she joined the curatorialteam at the Hammer in 2006.

Lisa Anne Auerbach’s artistic practice is multi-faceted — she is a writer, a passionateadvocate of bicycling, a knitter, a photographer, and a political activist. Auerbach has cooptedthe traditional female craft of knitting and transformed it into a tool for wry, pointedpolitical messages. Her contribution to the exhibition includes sweaters with hand-knitpolitical jokes and riddles, as well as ‘cover girl’ self-portrait photographs featuring the artistin deadpan poses revealing the her sly sense of humor.

Julie Becker’s work is often based on the obsessive imagined intimate details of fictionalcharacters. For this exhibition Becker shows video, photographs, collages, drawings, andsculptures from the ongoing (w)hole project which is based on the life of the deceased formertenant of her last apartment. She weaves connections between the mysterious man’s life andher own.

Llyn Foulkes’s career can be traced from his First Award for Painting at the Fifth ParisBiennale in 1967, through his participation in the legendary Helter Skelter (1992) exhibition atthe Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. This exhibition will include ten works spanningfour decades that use both humor and horror to expose the hypocrisies and the absurdities ofAmerican culture.

Charles Irvin presents, in addition to drawings and paintings, a new video in the style ofconspiracy theory documentaries, exploring the origins and agenda of the False MemorySyndrome Foundation, a support group for individuals who claim to have been falsely accusedof perpetrating child sexual abuse.

Hirsch Perlman makes photographs and videos that capture mysterious landscapes, strangeexperiments, enigmatic characters, and unexplained phenomena. For this exhibition Perlmanmade a new body of photographs—portraits of a cat shot with a 4 x 5 camera – which arestudies of movement and stillness, both beautiful and haunting at the same time.

Victoria Reynolds creates rich, highly detailed paintings of raw meat. She paints pictures ofvenison, bacon strips, tripe, and reindeer meat in bold strokes, often encasing the paintings inelaborate rococo frames, which give the meat an almost regal portraiture quality. The sinewytissues and tendrils resemble gems, pearls, and blossoms both seductive and repulsive.

Kaari Upson has created a new installation which re-imagines the grotto at the Playboymansion with several video projections and a bubbling pond. It is a continuation of theongoing Larry Project, which investigates the life and identity of a stranger whose personalitems Upson discovered in an abandoned burned out home in 2005. First shown as a HammerProject in 2007, this body of work confronts ideas about identity and privacy as Upson exploresa bizarre fantasy life with this stranger whose biography she has become absorbed with.

Jeffrey Vallance is a collector of objects from all over the world and is often described as anamateur anthropologist. However, unlike most anthropological studies, Vallance’s work zeros inon the overlooked treasures of everyday life. He takes kitschy and seemingly banal objects andideas and transforms them into humorous works of art. For this exhibition, Vallance presentsone of his many object collections which is displayed on a replica of a wall from his home.

Charlie White’s work reflects his fascination with mainstream American popular culture and hisinterest in subcultures. In this show, White presents a new video, American Minor (2008) whichexplores the angst and boredom of a pre-teen girl, and a new photo series pairing teenagegirls and pre-op transwomen, both on the verge of womanhood.