LA><ART

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT BETTINA KOREK

310-962-0399, LAXARTPRESS@LAXART.ORG

2640 SOUTH LA CIENEGA BOULEVARD           

LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA 90034

WWW.LAXART.ORG

LA><ART PRESENTS LOS ANGELES SOLO DEBUT OF NEW YORK-BASED LISA TAN AND LOS ANGELES PREMIERE OF VOLVER A NEW SITE-SPECIFIC OUTDOOR INSTALLATION BY MARK BRADFORD

Opening reception November 11, 2006 6-8 PM Exhibition runs November 11 – December 31, 2006

Lisa Tan, Courtesy of the artist and LA><ART. Mark Bradford, Niagara 2005, video still, Courtesy of the artist and Sikkema Jenkins & Co.

Lisa Tan: One Night Stand

For One Night Stand, New York-based artist Lisa Tan travels to a major international city, in this instance Paris, for a night, taking only a notebook and a change of clothes. Documenting the experience through the task of writing (as inspired by the “nouveau roman” style particular to names such as Alain Robbe-Grillet), One Night Stand is an opportunity to see the world through an intimate lens.

Text that mimics the strategies of image captions features prominently in the projected work, however, here these texts lack their visual support. The passing standardized subtitles are derived from Tan’s writing during her trip, and float in a projected field of monochromatic black that is devoid of moving image. This form of representation – both literally descriptive and visually oblique – competes with a myriad of easily conjured iconic images of Paris as experienced by a history of representation through film and photography. Willfully dislocating and disorienting herself,

Tan observes the city’s surfaces, evoking her voyeuristic connection to the environment. In this way, Tan’s intention is to see how words themselves become iconic, and how they can support a vision of the intangible feelings associated with place through personal memoirs.

A site-specific sculptural installation Roman Lovers that includes a lamppost, plant and wrought-iron fence will complement the silent, moving textual installation. This environment is restaged from a photograph and engages the significance of both photographic memory and psycho-social projection, while investing mnemonic and emotional importance into inanimate objects. This urban moment is captured photographically and then theatricalized in the space of the gallery—the installation representing a cross-section of urban space as well as a psychological moment of suspension and longing.

Mark Bradford: Niagara

Mark Bradford, a Los Angeles based multi-media artist, will mount his L.A. debut of a new video installation entitled Niagara. Based on the 1953 Marilyn Monroe film of the same name, Bradford aesthetically documents a local flâneur sauntering down the sidewalk of Los Angeles. Niagara continues Bradfords’ examination of the city, attempting to represent the dynamism and diversity of the local landscape.

In dialogue with the video project, Bradford produces a site-specific installation for the entrance of LA><ART titled Volver. Volver features Nina Simone’s 1963 civil rights anthem “Mississippi Goddam.” The same year of that song’s release, Mississippi’sNAACP field secretary Medgar Evers is murdered in Jackson, Mississippi and thousands of anti-segregation protestors including Martin Luther King are arrested in Birmingham, Alabama, while brutal tactics of unleashing fire hoses and police dogs on demonstrators are implemented. MLK writes his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” calling for the moral obligation to disobey unjust legislation. ’63 marks MLK’s Washington march and the “ I Have a Dream Speech” which fall in line with Simone’s plea while Birmingham bombings persist.

Returning to this iconic historical moment, Bradford is interested in the potential resignification of this sung manifesto. Inserting these lyrics in the context of a new outdoor wall painting composed of found signage and billboard materials, the artist gestures to the possibilities of protest in the present day. Simone’s verse relays,

Alabamas gotten me so upset Tennessee made me lose my rest And everybody knows about Mississippi goddam Hound dogs on my trail School children sitting in jail Black cat cross my path I think every days gonna be my last Lord have mercy on this land of mine We all gonna get it in due time I dont belong here ....Me and my people just about due Ive been there so I know They keep on saying go slow! But thats just the trouble Do it slow Just try to do your very best Stand up be counted with all the rest For everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam.....All I want is equality For my sister my brother my people and me Oh but this whole country is full of lies Youre all gonna die and die like flies I dont trust you anymore You keep on saying go slow! But thats just the trouble Do it slow Desegregation Do it slow Mass participation Do it slow Reunification Do it slow

Mark Grotjahn

In the mini Wrong Gallery at LA><ART’s entrance Grotjahn installs two miniature drawings with a warning that reads:

“Mark Grotjahn’s drawings have become increasingly more valuable. Because of this he felt it necessary to install a black widow spider in the vitrine. The black widow is a dangerous spider and it is meant to be a deterrant and it protects the art from art thieves. Also these are real drawings, not studies.”

Ruben Ochoa: Extracted

LA><ART Public Art Initiatives A project of Creative Capital Launch November 19 11-1pm On corner of N. Soto Street and Marengo Street Eastbound on 10 freeway

About LA><ART: Responding to Los Angeles’ cultural climate, LA><ART, a non-profit contemporary arts organization, 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><ART’s programs are made possible with generous support from Avalon and Maison 140, Grimm|Rosenfeld Gallery Munich & New York, James Irvine Foundation, JET, La Colección Jumex, Helen Lewis, Larry Mathews and Brian Saliman, Max Mara, Peter Norton Family Foundation, Peter Remes, Debra and Dennis Scholl, Sikkema Jenkins & Co., Voce and Volume

LA><ART is located at 2640 S. La Cienega 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 11 AM - 6 PM

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