In That Far Corner

Julia Haft-Candell, Dan Levenson, Minoru Yoshida
Political events, two World Wars, changing social dynamics, and innovative new artistic movements all led to the purported conclusion of Modernism in the 20th century. However, despite this rumored demise, the evidence suggests these concepts have tenaciously remained woven into ongoing discourses. There are unfinished threads and possible avenues never pursued. In the hands of the right contemporary artists these ideas feel entirely fresh and relevant; alluding to the past but fully part of their own milieu. For others the the artistic achievements of the past can loom as something to rally against or comment on. This is an exhibition about analyzing the past and then taking what parts might still be useful in both addressing the current moment and in thinking about the future.

In referring to Los Angeles of the 1920s architect Frank Lloyd Wright emphasized the region being then a remote place, “that far corner” of the continent. This exhibition examines how two artists working in Los Angeles in the 21st Century, and one working between Japan and Los Angeles, in the 1960s, adroitly engage with the history of Modernism, doing so while working in geographies, social settings, and art scenes far from where Modernist ideas originally developed. Using this phrase in the context of a visual art exhibition is also a nod to Sigmar Polke’s 1969 painting Höhere Wesen befahlen: rechte obere Ecke schwarz malen! (Higher Powers Command: Paint the Upper Right Corner Black!). A work taking the wind out of the strict authoritarian rules of early Modernism, the firm systems of Malevich and Mondrian.

Clay, bronze, marble dust, paint, jewelry, and drawn lines are put to work researching their own contradictory states: fluid or fixed, malleable or memorialized, in Julia Haft-Candell’s artworks. She continues to introduce new forms across a breadth of materials. The intangible and physical are connected, and the messy irregularities of this process are left visible as part of the narrative. The works are contemplations on the constantly changing nature of the universe, nothing truly remains the same. Materials and ideas are forever in flux. Clay is thought to be set and finished once fired, but Haft-Candell continues to add elements, re-fire, and scrape away. The sacrosanct Modernist grid is applied over organic, three dimensional shapes in her recent sculptures. The grid immediately loosing its rigid hold, unraveled by the entropic forces first of gravity and then of heat. The grids concede their sharp lines to the forms they rest on and become part of them. New patterns emerge in blue pigment or are dug out with a sharp tool to reveal depth. The components of the grid are still technically there, but the form has been destroyed and dismantled, the remaining elements transformed into something novel.

Dan Levenson makes work drawn from a completely fictional narrative about a group of Swiss art students in a generic Modernist past. The fictional State Art Academy, Zürich (SKZ) is the protagonist of the story. The paintings, furniture and performances Levenson makes in his LA studio all represent imagined artifacts from the school; projects crafted by students, lesson plans, and objects from the scholastic environment. The paintings from this Bauhaus-esque institution are executed following the rigid formalist pedagogy of the academy. The accompanying sculpted furniture follows similar rules of strict logic in their !form follows function” simplicity of design and standardized proportions. All is made to look old: damaged, faded, cracked, in part to mirror the aging of Modernist utopian ideals. The objects become a vehicle for Levenson to raise questions about the germination of new artistic ideas and their spread into the world, as well as about art education"s often inherently flawed goal of attempting to teach creativity. Examining the past allows for a perhaps a neutral model for discussing contemporary issues. The mechanics of who has access to enter our systems of art education now, how they are taught, the pathways and processes of becoming a professional artist from academia to a global art market, and the ability of art to address and effect larger social and political dynamics.

Minoru Yoshida is known for his performances and the corresponding video documentations as well as kinetic sculptures, producing renowned examples such as Bisexual Flower (1969) and Electric Car (1970), both exhibited at World Expo "70 in Osaka. Bisexual Flower was most recently exhibited in 2013 at the Guggenheim Museum in NY. He was a second-generation member of the Gutai Art Association, joining in 1965 at the invitation of Kazuo Shiraga. He was an active member and essential to the avant-garde group’s development. He also made paintings starting the mid-1960s. He was initially focused on blue forms that grew from from observations of organic shapes. As the 60s progressed they became more simplified, with harder edges and additional bold colors. Still inspired by organic motifs, but further removed from any sources. Fusing the fluidity of nature with industrial aesthetics of the era. They echo the firm geometry of Mondrian and Malevich, but were something new and vibrant. He moved to Los Angeles for a pivotal period in 1970, staying in the home of a LACMA curator, before moving on to New York to work though most of the next decade. He was an active participant in downtown NY’s performance scene, staging events in his Synthesizer Jacket. He was a regular in the New York Avant-garde Festival curated annually by Charlotte Moorman, and also performed at venues like Artists Space.