Molly Larkey
The Lost Alphabet, Pants That Fit, and Other Implausible Disguises
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 22nd, 2011, 7pm-10pm
Human Resources is pleased to present Molly Larkey: The Lost Alphabet, Pants That Fit, and Other Implausible Disguises In her new body of work, Larkey continues to investigate the boundaries between the self and the world, by looking at the ways the individual is both hidden and revealed through representation in language and clothing. Including painting and sculpture, the new works incorporate flatness and volume, painted gestures and printed patterns, symbolic language and raw materiality, and evoke a bodily presence while remaining within abstraction. The variety of works in the exhibition - ranging from large sculpture to small painting - actively engage the viewer within the architecture of the exhibition space.
In making welded metal sculpture, Larkey responds to a tradition of modernist male sculptors, from Anthony Caro and Tony Smith to lesser known figures such as Julio Gonzalez and Jorge Oteiza. The sculptures reveal hidden subjects: phrases broken down into fragments of language, and dress patterns made into armor-like edifices. By injecting familiar, everyday content into this tradition of abstraction, Larkey provides a slippage between looking, reading, and wearing - evoking and questioning the different ways that one interacts with an object in the world.
Similarly, in the paintings, what seems to be a straightforwardly painted surface reveals itself to be layers of raw canvas, fabric, clay fragments, and paint. For "The Lost Alphabet," Larkey imagines an alternative to the basic elements of language, suggesting that the world is not as fixed as it might seem, and that new modes of communication are possible. In the series "Masks," each painting contains within it an abstracted face; the paint becomes a kind of make-up, and the painted surface becomes a series of false fronts. Using different materials and techniques to extract both solid forms and subtle gestures, the paintings confuse negative and positive space, yielding lyrical shifts between the covering and the covered-up.
Molly Larkey (b. 1971, Los Angeles) lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. She received a MFA from Rutgers University, New Jersey and a BA from Columbia University, New York. Her work has been featured in exhibitions at PS1 Moma, New York; The Saatchi Gallery, London; The Drawing Center, New York; Horton Gallery, New York; Samson Projects, Boston; Bobbie Greenfield Gallery, Santa Monica; Ochi Gallery, Ketchum; among others. She is the founder of Statler Waldorf Gallery, an alternative art space, which she runs from her home in Echo Park.
On view October 22nd - November 12th, 2011, Thursday - Saturday 12-6pm
Plain Brown Wrapper
Sophie Lee, Anne McCaddon, Allison Miller, Yunhee Min
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 22nd, 7-10 pm
A plain brown wrapper is used when something is too valuable - or too subversive - to reveal to the world. It’s a strategy of concealment, so that the treasured object isn’t immediately recognized for what it is. It’s also an enticement; since only things of value are given a plain brown wrapper, it creates an urgency to know what lies beneath the surface. “Plain Brown Wrapper” presents four LA-based artists - Sophie Lee, Anne McCaddon, Allison Miller, Yunhee Min - whose work shares a seemingly straightforward, humble presentation that leads to layered richness upon further looking. This exhibition is a joint venture between Human Resources and Statler Waldorf Gallery.
On view in the Upstairs Gallery: October 20th - November 2nd, 2011, Thursday - Saturday 12-6pm
Also on view: "Molly Larkey: The Lost Alphabet, Pants That Fit, and Other Implausible Disguises”, October 20th - November 12th, 2011
Sophie Lee has a BA from Mills College and an MFA from the University of California, Irvine. Her work is a response to the formal and psychological manifestations of spaces, whether the frame of the paper or the architecture of a room. Incorporating a variety of found and traditional artist materials, the work manifests as collage, painting, sculpture and installation.
Anne McCaddon received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2002 and her MFA in Painting from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2009. Solo exhibitions include Over-Under Worked, with Artist Curated Projects at Parker Jones and The Alphabet Paintings at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art ARSG Special Exhibitions. McCaddon has exhibited with Statler Waldorf Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Arena 1 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA; Steve Turner Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA; Black Dragon Society, Los Angeles, CA; Glu & Harvey Levine Temporary, Los Angeles, CA; and V&A, New York, NY.
Allison Miller received her BFA in Printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design and her MFA with a concentration in Painting and Drawing from the University of California, Los Angeles. She has had solo exhibitions with and is represented by ACME., Los Angeles and has a forth-coming solo exhibition at Susan Inglett, New York. Group exhibitions include: New Art for a New Century, Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, Meet Me Inside, Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles, Tables and Chairs, D'Amelio Terras, New York, Something About Mary, Orange County Museum of Art, LA Now, Las Vegas Museum of Art, softcore HARD EDGE, The Art Gallery of Calgary, and a four person exhibition at Redling Fine Art, Los Angeles. Her work has been reviewed in Flash Art, Artforum, Frieze, and the Los Angeles Times. In 2009, she was included in Painting Abstraction: New Elements In Abstract Painting, by Bob Nickas, published by Phaidon Press. She has lectured at various colleges and graduate programs and has taught at the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of California, San Diego, the University of California, Irvine, the University of California, Riverside, Anderson Ranch Arts Center and Claremont Graduate University.
Yunhee Min holds a BFA degree from Art Center College of Design and a MA degree from Harvard University. Solo exhibitions include LAX ART, Los Angeles, The Amie and Tony James Gallery at The City University of New York, The Pasadena Museum of Contemporary Art, The Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (Circa Series), ArtPace, San Antonio, TX; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA; and the Luckman Gallery, California State University, Los Angeles, CA. Min has been included in exhibitions at Silvershed, New York, NY; Sweeney Art Gallery, Riverside, CA; the Weatherspoon Museum, Greensboro, NC; the CCAC Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, CA; the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle WA; Artists Space, New York, NY; in “Snap Shot”, UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; in the Altoids Collection at The New Museum, New York, NY; the California Center for the Arts, Escondido, CA; and the San Francisco Art Institute, Walter/McBean Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
Statler Waldorf Gallery is an artist-run exhibition space located in a private residence in Echo Park. We are open by appointment only. For more information, please email: info@statlerwaldorfgallery.com.