A Meditation on Contemporary Art: “Made in L.A.: a, the, though, only”
The Los Angeles Review of Books offers a thoughtful review of "Made in L.A. 2016"
According to the Los Angeles Review of Books, the Hammer's Made in L.A. 2016 delivers on its co-curator Hamza Walker's conviction what this type of exhibition needs is flexibility and room to breathe.
"IT MIGHT SEEM oxymoronic when discussing contemporary art, but the word suggested by the third iteration of the Made in L.A. biennial — which runs at the Hammer Museum from June 12 to August 28, 2016 — is “fresh.” From their selection of artists to their takes on the catalog and installation, curators Aram Moshayedi and Hamza Walker bring a thoughtful and innovative approach to their presentation of art in the region. The 26 artists have included work in a range of media and across disciplines, including photography, sculpture, painting, drawing, and installation, as well as film, music composition, dance, fashion, and poetry.
The first suggestion that this iteration of the biennial is fresh are the names of the artists included, the vast majority of whom are unfamiliar to most viewers, even those well versed in the L.A. art scene. This novelty is, to be fair, the mission of the biennial, which the Hammer has claimed is designed to present “an emphasis on emerging and under-recognized artists.” But the impulse to innovation is taken further in the 2016 version. The artists included live and work in the area, but they are not familiar names on the local gallery circuit. The curators’ interpretation of the L.A. area is vast and could more aptly be called Southern California; in preparing the show, they visited artists’ studios across the region, from Compton and East L.A. to San Diego and Joshua Tree.
The Made in L.A. brand was hatched when the Hammer entered the arguably overcrowded world of international biennials and art fairs in 2012. The name seems to aspire to the sort of trademark status enjoyed by, say, the Venice Biennale (established in 1895) or the Whitney Biennial (founded in 1932). But the subtitle remains the terrain of each distinct curatorial team. This year, Moshayedi and Walker integrated this textual space into the project, inviting poet Aram Saroyan to create a work for the exhibition that would double as its subtitle. The resulting a, the, though, only is a slight and tenuous portal through which to enter the porous and inviting space of the exhibition. In many ways, a, the, though, only represents a typical view of contemporary art today: multidisciplinary works in a variety of media, created by artists with hyphenated skill sets and identities, fill the space of the institution and beyond. Guthrie Lonergan’s contribution exists in the museum’s digital profile and Todd Gray’s Fluxus-inspired performance is carried out in the quotidian space of the everyday. It’s not unusual for artists to work in multiple media or for art to live outside the physical site of the museum, but this exhibition seeps into the textual and public spaces registered by the expansive subtitle."— Annie Buckly, August 3, 2016
Read the full article at the Los Angeles Review of Books website.