The Hammer Museum’s Biennial Survey Gives a Rich and Varied Snapshot of L.A.
Artsy reviews the Hammer Museum's Made in L.A. 2016: a, the, though, only
Artsy calls the Hammer Museum's Made in L.A. 2016: a, the, though, only "wide-reaching and inclusive. It's the kind of show Los Angeles needs right now."
"a, the, though, only. So reads a poem by the minimalist poet Aram Saroyan, one that’s awkward to read and difficult to look at. But paradoxically, serving as the subtitle to the Hammer Museum’s 2016 “Made in L.A.,” it’s efficient—if you let it sink in slowly, return to it, reconsider it—in its encapsulation of the biennial exhibition.
Hamza Walker and Aram Moshayedi’s biennial is comprised of work by 26 artists—though some of the artists’ contributions aren’t housed in the museum’s galleries as such. Saroyan’s piece, for instance, is the subtitle poem. Guthrie Lonergan’s work is the exhibition’s website, as well as four cheeky and melodramatic musical interludes, made with the production company Barefoot Music, which are interspersed throughout the public spaces of the museum. Kelly Akashi has hung two fleshy-looking sculptures above the main courtyard.
Then there’s choreographer Adam Linder’s three-person dance performance staged on a camouflage floor, and K-Hole (the trend-forecasting group) founding member Dena Yago’s poems that float in a row of lightboxes in the courtyard. Kenneth Tam’s video Breakfast in Bed (2016) is on display in an isolated gallery space dedicated to video. It is one of the best and most timely works in the show. In it, a group of random men found online are asked to play games, dance, and compliment each other in a small room. Viewers effectively watch them wrestle with their masculinity."— Maxwell Williams, June 13, 2016
Read the full article at the Artsy website.