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Free Paris
opening reception : July 21, 2007 6-10pm
FREE PARIS: A Los Angeles celebration Bastille Day (or Liberty Leaving the People), featuring works by Chris Beas, Drew Dominick, Joey Kötting and Gary Rough. Curated by Allyson Spellacy.
In an effort to divert frenzied paparazzi, Paris Hilton turned herself in to the men’s facility of the Los Angeles County Jail, an ominous downtown eyesore located directly across from an unassuming strip mall, housing bail bonds services. Endeavoring to disrupt art world expectations, the “Jail” gallery opened in this inconspicuous strip mall, facing the LA detention center. The current exhibition at “Jail” hopes to bring together several disconnected, yet seemingly interrelated issues, artists and ideas, and present them through a cluttered and disruptive lens, leaving options open, lines blurred and questions unanswered.
Joey Kötting and Gary Rough are friends and collaborators, who live on opposite coasts of the USA. The latter Glaswegian, the former from London, both share a healthy affinity for boot boy wit, brought about, oddly, through an appreciation for all things art historical. Joey’s current body of work uses portraiture and religious iconography (see image above) as a departure point, making inroads to irony through a self-deprecating and dry demeanor. Gary is working with his own encumbered insignia, realized through over-sized die and wine stained T-shirts, reverence to the past and present, insinuating a kind of halcyon sad sack quality, but the humor and reference is very specific. In Chris Beas’ The Holy Round Grail Flagellation Tree Table with Rooster and Parsifal Effects - a sculptural re-presentation of Wagner’s troublesome opera “Parsifal” - Beas renders a romantic version of hero-ship through an abated formal interpretation, mapping a story that is complex and meaningful in a contemporary context. Similarily, Drew Dominick shares a wry aesthetic but moves the conceptual agenda into a different arena, bringing it back to the USA. Stripping down to a sparse visual containment – he retains a richly narrative yet tongue in cheek observation of the history of the American West. One work in particular which remains significantly poignant today is Dominick’s reinterpretation of the Charles Marion Russell painting: “Meat’s not Meat until it’s in the Pan”. Hilton paparazzi – take note.
ARTISTS' BIOS :
Chris Beas is an artist based in Los Angeles. He has staged DIY projects and exhibitions in his Altadena studio for the last 4 years and recently exhibited his work at David Kordansky Gallery, LA; Black Dragaon Society, LA; Lizabeth Olivera Gallery, LA; Roebling Hall, New York; and Casey Kaplan Gallery in New York.
Drew Dominick was born in Portland, OR. He has had solo exhibitions at Team Gallery, New York, and Pageant, Los Angeles. He has most recently exhibited at Sabine Kunst, Maximilian Verlag, Munich, Germany; Torrance Museum of Art, California; and High Desert Test Sites, Joshua Tree, California. He lives and works in Mar Vista, California.
Joey Kötting lives and works in Los Angeles. Solo exhibitions include From A to B via Zee, Galerie Fortlaan 17, Ghent, Belgium (2007); Help! (bannersflyerstencils), Larissa Goldston Gallery, New York, (2006); and Atrocity Exhibition, Yvon Lambert Gallery, New York (2004).
Gary Rough was born in Glasgow in 1972. A former member of Glasgow art group Filthy Swan, Rough now lives and works in New York. Recent exhibitions include: ‘Size Matters’ a touring show by the Hayward Gallery; ‘Mantelpiece’, Inverleith House, Edinburgh and a solo show at PS.1 MoMA, New York.
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