Tonight, Regen Projects in Los Angeles unveils an exhibition of new paintings and works on paper by Season 4 artist Lari Pittman. This show presents seven large-scale paintings, three mid-size paintings, and 17 works on paper. Pittman’s operatic, intricate, multi-layered works synthesize figuration and abstraction to create a unique vocabulary. Each work is composed as a web of interconnections, overlays, and interlockings that resonate on both a visual and conceptual level. The meanings that unfold are emotional, social, philosophical, and above all else, intensely personal.
Pittman’s works are a visual stimulation that seduces and unsettles both the eye and the psyche. In his compositions, images are not arranged traditionally around a central focus. Rather, they are placed expansively – essential elements run laterally across the surface, or dot the perimeter, or sprawl in a dazzling array all over. The surface of the works is multifaceted and the image field appears to be constantly shifting and reinventing itself. This visual cacophony is not accidental but carefully calculated with acute attention to formal properties and rooted in Pittman’s own discourse with the history of modernist painting.
Watch an exclusive clip from Lari Pittman’s Art:21 segment, premiering October 28 on PBS.
Pittman will speak at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) on Thursday, October 4, at a special sneak preview screening of the new episode Romance from Art in the Twenty-First Century Season 4. Read more about the event here.Lari Pittman is on view through October 20, 2007.