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FTW
Connie DK Lane
Ian Larson

Curated by Jason Ramos

Negativity, cynicism, bleakness, nihilism, solipsism, hopelessness, fatalism, mortality, entropy, decay, decline, misanthropy, anxiety, fear, despair, dread, apocalypse, existential nausea.

Such dark themes found prior articulation within the cultural vanguard of Los Angeles. From the lashing, chaotic youth culture depicted in Penelope Spheeris’s The Decline of Western Civilization, to the hellish, conceptual landscape that was Paul Schimmel’s Helter Skelter exhibition, the work of Lane and Larson can be viewed both as contemporary carriers of similar notions and as direct heirs to specific strains of inquiry that inhabit and define the inspiring wasteland of LA.

As fear and tumultuousness in the world grows, the merit of darker, more aesthetically challenging approaches and concepts emerge. Larson’s McCarthy-esque, nightmare bacchanals of paint and viscera are paired with Lane’s entropic artifacts of unsettling humanoid presence, opening up avenues of response to artists who, like all of us, must bear witness to the world into which we are thrust. Apocalyptic, carnal, confrontational visions and bloated, hulking ur-figures of necrotic vanitas are aesthetically and conceptually expounded upon, emerging in a state of vivid subtext and arresting presence — fuck the world, for the win.

Opening reception Saturday, January 10th, 2015, 7-10 pm
On view until February 8th
Gallery hours San & Sun 1-5 pm