A group exhibition curated by Casey Gleghorn at No Gallery – 1115 S, La Brea Ave. LA CA 90036. Opening reception: August 3, 6-9pm.
At Odds will exhibit works from eleven artists focusing on the normalization of violence and fetishization of guns in American culture. These works explore how tradition, symbolic deification, and a history of war play a part in our society, from a national and international viewpoint. Together they ask, how do you communicate when the national conversation about the country’s most pressing issues isn’t a conversation?
The artists in No Gallery’s second show mobilize stereotypes, caricatures, and loaded imagery to explore how deeply these are embedded in art and visual culture while provoking visceral reactions. With ambiguous—even ambivalent— messaging, these paintings, works on paper, videos, reliefs, and a site-specific installation nonetheless have unambiguous symbolism. J.G. Thies and Gordon Cheung both disturb and disrupt flags, foregrounding censorship, distortion, and decay. Paintings by Conrad Ruíz and Jesse Edwards take a deadpan look at grotesque scenes, revealing to us the violence both deep within and on the surface of our everyday. Angie Jennings plumbs these oppositions even further in the montage Black Deaths from Hollywood Cinema that explores Hollywood’s obsession with the destruction of Black bodies, while its companion Shamu cautions us about exploitation lurking everywhere in American culture. Carrie Cook and Aaron Sandnes use minimalist, almost abstract languages to propose how beautiful agents of destruction and division can sometimes appear, ideas also explored by Ekaterina Panikanova and Joshua Miller in their detailed depictions of disciplinary systems. Finally, the works of Mike Cockrill and Kottie Paloma blend violence and humor to produce an uneasy feeling characteristic of the exhibition overall. These are the lingering after-effects of those unafraid to say something even when dialogue proves impossible.
Gordon Cheung (b. 1975, London, UK) – BFA Central St. Martins College of Art and Design; MFA Royal College of Art. Highlights: solo shows with Edel Assanti, London (2015, 2014, 2012) and Arizona State University Art Museum (2010); British Art Show 6 at the Hayward Gallery, London (2005)
Mike Cockrill (b. 1953, NYC) – BFA George Mason University; MFA Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Highlights: retrospective at Cross Contemporary Art, Saugerties, NY (2017); Kent Gallery, New York (2013, 2011, 2009, 2007); Grand Gallery, New York (2006, 2004); Illinois State University
Carrie Cook (b. 1984, LA) – BFA University of Texas, Austin; MFA University of Houston, Texas. Highlights: Visitor Welcome Center, Los Angeles (2019); Odd Art Gallery, Los Angeles (2018); Women’s Center for Creative Work, Los Angeles (2013); Blaffer Museum of Art, Houston (2013)
Jesse Edwards (b. 1977, NYC) – BFA Cornish College of the Arts; MFA Gage Academy of Art. Highlights: Diane Rosenstein Gallery, Los Angeles (2019, 2018, 2017); Colección Jumex, Mexico City (2018); Museum of Sex, New York (2014); The Hole, New York (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013)
Angie Jennings (b. 1984, San Diego) – BS South Dakota State University; MFA University of California, San Diego. Highlights: Best Practice, San Diego (2019); Every Woman Biennial, Bendix Building, Los Angeles (2019); Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (2017); NADA New York (2016)
Joshua Miller (b. 1981, LA) – BFA University of California, Los Angeles; MFA University of California, San Diego. Highlights: Epidemic Agency Darren Romanelli, Los Angeles (2018, 2017); Tin Flats, Los Angeles (2018); Big Picture Los Angeles (2018); NADA Miami (2017); Skowhegan Residency (2017)
Kottie Paloma (b. 1974, LA) – Highlights: Torrance Art Museum, Torrance (2017); Alma Gallery, Riga (2017); Das Gift, Berlin (2014); MOHS Exhibit, Copenhagen (2013, 2011, 2010); collected by MoMA, Yale University
Artists: Gordon Cheung, Mike Cockrill, Carrie Cook, Jesse Edwards, Angie Jennings, Joshua Miller, Kottie Paloma