SUGARTOWN

Los Angeles moves east in Sugartown: a two-part showcase of artists living and working in the greater Los Angeles area.  This exhibition will be held simultaneously in two New York venues, Participant Inc and Elizabeth Dee Gallery.  Sugartown provides a snapshot of the energetic and swiftly developing art scene in Los Angeles while allowing thematic divergences and affinities between the coasts to emerge.  The art/performance collective My Barbarian (www.mybarbarian.com) will stage an opening performance at Participant Inc on July 8 at 8pm.

Part One at Elizabeth Dee Gallery features a diverse group of artists whose works focus on the geographies of storytelling. In these works the halcyon days of summer, ripe with enigmatic romanticism, dovetail with bohemian nostalgia and surface obsession.  Issues of gender and sexuality are explored through the conduit of musical subculture, as in the elegantly examined documentation of the Mexican community’s obsession with Morrissey and the death of Kurt Cobain retold on video.

Part Two at Participant Inc breaks with traditional modes of presentation to outline the lineage and boundaries of emerging discourse in a post-Helter Skelter era. Punk rock, performativity and ‘80s glam culture contribute to a certain dark irony articulated by artists who deliberately assemble conflicted vernaculars.

About the artists:

Walead Beshty graduated in 2002 from Yale University and has participated in exhibitions at P.S.1, New York; the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; and the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA. He is represented by Wallspace, New York.

Jedediah Caesar graduated in 2001 from UCLA and has exhibited in Thing: New Sculpture from Los Angeles at the UCLA Hammer Museum; Locust Projects, Miami; and Black Dragon Society, Los Angeles.

Samara Caughey has exhibited at Midway Contemporary Art, St. Paul, MN; the Walter and McBean Galleries, San Francisco Art Institute; and has had a solo exhibition with David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles.

Harriet “Harry” Dodge & Stanya Kahn graduated in 2003 from Bard College and have screened their work in Los Angeles at the Getty Center, MOCA; LACE (organized by LTTR); and at the Sundance Film Festival.

Shannon Ebner has exhibited at the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco; the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; LACE; and High Desert Test Sites, Joshua Tree, CA. This summer she will also have work at Julie Saul and White Columns in New York.  Ebner is represented by Wallspace.

Robert Fontenot graduated in 1998 from RISD and has exhibited in Los Angeles at LACE, Outpost, and the Mark Moore Gallery.

Will Fowler graduated in 2000 from Art Center College of Design, and has exhibited at Hot Coco Lab, Los Angeles; Galerie Hohenlohe & Kalb, Vienna; and has had a solo exhibition with David Kordansky Gallery.

Skylar Haskard graduated in 2005 from UCLA and has participated in exhibitions at High Desert Test Sites; Villa Arson, Nice; and Anna Helwing Gallery, Los Angeles.

Drew Heitzler is a New York artist who has been living in Los Angeles since September.  In addition to making art, Drew runs Champion Fine Art with his wife and partner, Flora Wiegmann.  The Champion exhibition series will finish in October, so the two have joined up with Justin Beal to develop a cocktail lounge and art space on La Cienega Boulevard, opening in December.

Elisa Johns recently debuted her work at Black Dragon Society, Los Angeles.

William Jones has exhibited and screened his work at the Tate Modern, London; the Whitney Museum, New York; the Sundance Film Festival; the Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH; the Getty Center; Artists Space, New York; and has had a solo exhibition with David Kordansky Gallery.

Ashley Macomber has shown at Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago; New Image Art, Los Angeles; Rocket Gallery, Tokyo; and Agnes B., Paris; she recently participated in the Dreamland Artists Club with Creative Time at Coney Island.

Pentti Monkkonen has exhibited at MetroTech, Brooklyn; with the Public Art Fund, New York; at the UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; and at LACE.  He is currently exhibiting new work at Daniel Hug Gallery, Los Angeles.

Rebecca Morris is currently exhibiting her work in a survey exhibition at the Renaissance Society in Chicago.  In April she participated in a group exhibition at Galerie Barbara Weiss in Berlin and she will be included in a three-person show, “Diamond Hand Grenade” at Midway Contemporary Art in July.  Morris received a Tiffany Award in 1999.  She is represented by Shane Campbell in Chicago.

My Barbarian was formed by Malik Gaines, Jade Gordon, Andy Ouchi and Alexandro Segade in Los Angeles in 2000. My Barbarian has collaborated with a number of musicians and artists, including Scott Martin, Norwood Cheek, Giles Miller, Laura Schnitger, and Pearl Hsiung.  They have performed and exhibited at the Power Plant, Toronto; LACE; and REDCAT, Los Angeles.  My Barbarian will have a performance at the UCLA Hammer Museum on July 28.

Laurie Nye graduated from Cal Arts in 2002 had has exhibited most recently in Having Differences, curated by Kevin Hanley, Steve Hanson and Paul Judelson at I-20, New York; the Santa Monica Museum of Art; and Mixture Gallery, Houston.

Renée Petropoulos recently completed a solo project at the MARTE El Salvador and the iT House with TK architecture. She has exhibited at the ICA, London; the MAK Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House, Los Angeles; and is represented by Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles.

Sterling Ruby graduated in 2005 from Art Center College of Design and recently finished his second solo exhibition with Foxy Productions, New York, where he is represented.  His work has been featured in Artforum and Frieze.

Anna Sew Hoy was born in Auckland, New Zealand, and bred in New York and Los Angeles. Currently she is included in “Diamond Hand Grenade” with Katherine Bernhardt and Rebecca Morris at Midway Contemporary Art.  She is also the curator of “Kicking Rocks” at Champion Fine Art.  She has exhibited with Peres Projects, Los Angeles; Team Gallery, New York; and Massimo Audiello, New York.

Ed Templeton recently completed a solo exhibition at Modern Art, London, and took part in the group exhibition Beautiful Losers at the Orange County Museum of Art.  He exhibits with New Image Art.

Rob Thom graduated in 2004 from UCLA and has had debut exhibitions at Black Dragon Society, Los Angeles, and Zach Feuer Gallery, New York.