Elemental @ L.A. Louver, Venice, California

ELEMENTAL: Peter Alexander, Carl Andre, Josh Callaghan, Richard Deacon, Toshikatsu Endo, Richard Long, Nathan Mabry, John McCracken, Richard Nonas, Yoko Ono, Adrian Paules, Fabrice Samyn, Peter Shelton, John Zane Zappas
L.A. Louver, Venice, California
Through 3 March, 2018

Richard Long

Trastevere Spring Line, 2012

Courtesy L.A. Louver, Venice

L.A. Louver presents ELEMENTAL, an exhibition that brings together sculptures by both established and emerging artists, whose works focus on essential materiality and form. The exhibition includes work by Peter Alexander, Carl Andre, Josh Callaghan, Richard Deacon, Toshikatsu Endo, Richard Long, Nathan Mabry, John McCracken, Richard Nonas, Yoko Ono, Adrian Paules, Fabrice Samyn, Peter Shelton, and John Zane Zappas.

While representing a diversity in approaches and techniques, there is a continuity and unification of structural language that unfolds throughout the installation. Freestanding sculptures include a minimalist grid configuration by Carl Andre, a towering column of staggered concrete blocks by Adrian Paules, a sleek black triangular pillar made of resin by John McCracken, and a carved refrigerator by Josh Callaghan; wall mounted pieces include plaster bone forms arranged into letters by Nathan Mabry, Light and Space artist Peter Alexander’s colorful grouping of shimmering resin bars, and an annulus finished with silver leaf by Peter Shelton – each work displays a skilled proficiency in construction and intent.

John Zane Zappas 

A S H T R Æ 4, 2017 

Courtesy L.A. Louver, Venice

Peter Shelton 

sundog, 2003-2017

Courtesy L.A. Louver, Venice

Several considerations of material usage are represented. Raw materials – stone, burned wood, bronze, steel – maintain their original integrity in the works of Richard Long, Toshikatsu Endo, Richard Nonas and John Zane Zappas. While sculptures by Peter Shelton, Richard Deacon and John McCracken take on highly refined fabrication techniques and contemporary materials – fiberglass, stainless steel, resin.

Yoko Ono 

Disappearing Piece (Bronze, cast of 1965 version), 1988

Courtesy L.A. Louver, Venice

The sculptures challenge viewers’ perception of space in relation to their own physicality – compelling visitors to move around and confront the works individually, and as a whole. However, works by two artists engage in a more participatory relationship. The contents of a discreet bronze box in Yoko Ono’s Disappearing Piece (1988) are said to vanish upon exposure to light, and a wall mirror by Fabrice Samyn titled Dust of Breath (2010) captures the spectre of a breath – comprised of dust – on its surface, alluding to the human essence. They also challenge the idea of materiality as not merely a physical manifestation, but that which can be imagined.

L.A. LOUVER
45 North Venice Blvd, Venice, CA 90291
www.lalouver.com