LA><ART

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT MELISSA GOLDBERG

323-951-9790, LAXARTPRESS@LAXART.ORG

2640 SOUTH LA CIENEGA BOULEVARD                 

LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA 90034 WWW.LAXART.ORG

LA><ART PRESENTS A NEW ARCHITECTURAL INTERVENTION BY LOS ANGELES-BASED ARTIST YUNHEE MIN; ISRAELI-BORN ARTIST URI NIRʼS UNITED STATES SOLO DEBUT; AND A PUBLIC BILLBOARD BY FELIPE DULZAIDES

Yunhee Min, Continuum: Structure #003 (production image), 2008, aluminum, glass, paint, and florescent lighting fixtures, dimensions variable, courtesy of the artist and LA><ART, Los Angeles; and Uri Nir, Mommy (still), 2008, single-channel Blu- ray projection with sound, TRT: 4:48, courtesy of the artist and LA><ART, Los Angeles

January 10 – March 7, 2009

Yunhee Min: Continuum: Structure #003

LA><ART is pleased to present a newly commissioned site-specific sculptural intervention by Los Angeles-based artist Yunhee Min. Reverberating from the galleryʼs existing architecture, Continuum: Structure #003 renders the existing space into lines, planes and openings through, and by which, new spaces are made. Mimicking the logic of Minimalism, the sculptureʼs oblique placement within the orthogonal plan of the gallery extends from one corner to another to suggest a sense of continuity. Continuum: Structure #003 functions as an architectural appendage, paralleling the galleryʼs sloped ceiling and reorienting the experience of its layout. Fields of colored glass punctuate the space carved out by the sculpture, while internal lighting imbedded within its channels further the overall relationship to functionality and design.

Born in Seoul, South Korea, Yunhee Min currently lives and works in Los Angeles. She received her BFA from Art Center College of Design, Pasadena in 1991 and her MA in design studies at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 2007. Recent notable solo exhibitions include Yunhee Min: Above and Beyond (x,y,z) at the Pasadena Museum of California Art (2006); Distance is Like the Future, Cerca Series: Yunhee Min at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (2005); another country at Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects (2005); and Double Positive at Artpace, San Antonio (2004).

Uri Nir: Mommy

Curated by Aram Moshayedi

LA><ART is also pleased to present the first solo exhibition in the United States by artist Uri Nir. Organized around a newly produced video entitled Mommy, Nirʼs installation engages a series of formal concerns relative to sculpture, photography, cinema and architecture. Documenting an entirely self- sufficient performance initiated in the artistʼs studio, employing a single person to operate the devices of its production, the video employs rapid, syncopated editing to link together two images of a prop Pharaohʼs coffin installed in the studioʼs ceiling and a mummy figure situated below. It is in this vein,bearing resemblance to early experimental film, that Mommy attempts to imbue moving images with physical, sculptural presence. Capturing sand as it pours from the coffin to the mouth of the mummy, from ceiling to floor, the video and accompanying soundtrack attempt to establish the relationships between each separated entity through repetition and an attempt at the visualization of time. The falling column of sand makes a series of explicit connections, as it links together images of the body and its suggested disfiguration. While the video provides the platform upon which a varying sound accompaniment was later recorded in real-time using a wind instrument to emphasize the circularity of breath, the relationships between visual and auditory experience are herein both destabilized and reinforced.

Uri Nir currently lives and works in Los Angeles and Tel Aviv. He received his BFA from Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem in 2001 and his MFA from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2008. Recent solo exhibitions include Plantation at ByArtProjects Gallery in Tel Aviv, Israel (2005), and Lost Herbs at the Herzilay Museum of Art, Israel (2004). His work has also been included in such group exhibitions as Real Time-Art in Israel 1998-2008, at the Israel Museum (2008); Personal Landscapes: Contemporary Art from Israel, The American University Museum, Washington (2008); Such Stuff as Dreams are Made On, An Exhibition of Contemporary Israeli Art, Chelsea Art Museum, New York (2005); and The Height of the Popular, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel (2002). In 2010, Nir will have a major solo exhibition at the Helena Rubenstein Pavilion in Tel Aviv.

LA><ART PUBLIC PROGRAM

Exhibition walk-through with Yunhee Min and architect Peter Zellner

January 10, 6pm

Artist Yunhee Min and architect Peter Zellner will lead an exhibition walk-through of Continuum: Structure #003, followed by an opening reception for Min and Uri Nir.

LA><ART PUBLIC BILLBOARD

Felipe Dulzaides: Las ideas son el arma esencial en la lucha de la humanidad (Ideas Are the Essential Weapon in the Fight of Humanity)

Mounted concurrently throughout the month of January will be a newly commissioned billboard project facing north on La Cienega Boulevard between Venice and Washington Boulevards by Cuban-born, San Francisco-based artist Felipe Dulzaides. This project is affiliated with the 2008 California Biennial, organized by the Orange County Museum of Art, and produced by LA><ART Public Projects with ForYourArt.

About LA><ART

Responding to Los Angelesʼ cultural climate, LA><ART questions given contexts for the exhibition of contemporary art, architecture and design. With a renewed vision for the potential of independent art spaces, LA><ART provides a center for interdisciplinary discussion and interaction and for the production and exhibition of new exploratory work. LA><ART offers a space for provocation, dialogue and confrontation by practices on the ground in LA and abroad. LA><ART is a hub for artists based on flexibility, transition, spontaneity and change. The space responds to an urgency and obligation to provide an accessible exhibition space for contemporary artists, architects and designers.

LA><ARTʼs programs are made possible with the generous support of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Peter Norton Family Foundation, the Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation,

Danielson Foundation, the Audrey and Sydney Irmas Charitable Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Eileen Harris Norton, the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, ForYourArt, Michael and Sirje Gold, Rebecca Bloom, Lisa Schiff, Joy Simmons, Chris Massey, Ben Spector, and the LA><ART Board of Directors, Producers Council, Curators Council, founding members, and patrons.

This exhibition is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

Upcoming: March 21 – May 2, 2009: Walead Beshty: Travel Pictures (2006-2008)

LA><ART is located at 2640 S. La Cienega Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90034 T.310.559.0166 F.310.559.0167 office@laxart.org www.laxart.org

LA><ART is open Tuesday through Saturday 11am – 6pm.