Our group show currently on display at L.A. Louver until November 5, weaves an elaborate tapestry highlighting the gallery’s extensive, over forty-year history.
Starting in the late 1970s, among some of the first artists to show at L.A. Louver was David Hockney. Two of his Yosemite Suite drawings from 2010 and are displayed in the group show, as well as his one of his photographs “A Bigger Scrabble Players” (2015). As a major figure in L.A. Louver’s history, Hockney’s first show at the gallery took place in 1978. David Hockney: Drawings and Prints 1961-1977 garnered a great deal of attention. Hockney’s “School of London” colleague R.B. Kitaj is also on view with his hauntingly violent oil painting “Whistler vs. Ruskin (Novella in Terre Verte, Yellow and Red)” from 1992. Associated with L.A. Louver since 1979’s The Knot of Life, Current British Painting and Drawing Part II, Kitaj also took part in the group’s most paramount exhibitions, including The British Picture (1988). Armenian-American figure painter Charles Garabedian, featured in the show with his flatly painted collage “Adam and Eve” from 1974 has also been exhibiting at L.A. Louver since the very beginning with his self-titled solo show in 1979, Charles Garabedian: Paintings 1975-79 and American/ European Painting and Sculpture Part II.
In the 1990s, L.A. Louver developed relationships with several more renowned artists, including one of Japan’s leading minimalist sculptors Toshikatsu Endo. As the centerpiece of Group Show, his “Untitled (Ring of Chain)” from 1995 perfectly sets the unifying theme of the show as it lays in a circle in the middle of the gallery floor. Endo began his relationship with gallery in 1993 with Toshikatsu Endo: New Work and 1996’s solo exhibition, Toshikatsu Endo. Another prominent artist who became involved with L.A. Louver in this era was British monochromatic painter Alan Charlton. His deconstructed piece “Painting in 20 Parts” from 1990 is included in the show, but his first exhibition with L.A. Louver, Alan Charlton: Four Walls Four Greys actually took place in 1991 at the gallery’s New York space. In the realm of photographic color prints, Czech artist Katharina Sieverding’s self-portrait “Stauffenberg-Block III/XI” 1969-96 is a captivating examination of the self and piece in the show. She first started exhibiting with L.A. Louver in 1997 with a series of similarly intriguing prints entitled Katharina Sieverding Stauffenberg-Block.
In 2001, L.A. Louver’s Founding Director Peter Goulds and Exhibitions Manager Christopher Pate began Rogue Wave Projects, a curatorial initiative aimed to celebrate emerging artists working in Los Angeles. The first group show featured 11 artists from Los Angeles including painter Kristin Calabrese, her enthralling perspective-based oil painting “Luck of the Draw” is currently presented in the gallery. Also discovered through this initiative is sculptor Ben Jackel, his helmet sculptures titled, “Closed Burgonet” and “Great Bascinet” from 2014 are also on display.
Group Show is currently on view at L.A. Louver through November 5, 2016. Visit our website for a complete list of artists.