Luckman
Gallery, Cal State L.A.
Charles
Gaines, "Airplanecrash Clock," 1997
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Lurid
Stories: Charles Gaines
Projects from 1995-2001
March 16 - April 27, 2002
Luckman Gallery
California State University, Los Angeles
5151 State University Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90032-8116
Tel. (323) 343-6604 / Fax (323) 343-6670
e: jjoyce@cslanet.calstatela.edu
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Accomplished Los Angeles-based conceptual artist, instructor and writer,
Charles Gaines is described by Franklin Sirmans as " a part of the
1970s generation of artists for whom the crossover between studio and
the seminar is a crucial facet of their work, one that can be slowly
gleaned and understood through the philosophical nature of his art,
which always prompts more questions than answers. Like (Robert)
Smithson, Gaines is interested in a kaleidoscopic between-ness with
enough room for cosmic perspectives and the sublimities of doubt
delivered ironically and with uncanny clarity...." *
Among the works featured in this seven-year survey exhibition are two of
Gaines' "disaster machines," Airplane Crash Clock (1997) and Falling
Rock (2000). Invoking emotion and spectacle as a means of engagement,
these automated sculptures enact generic disasters based on arbitrary
time schedules: in one a toy plane crashes into an urban landscape, in
another a boulder crashes through a sheet of glass. Also included are
works from the following series: Night/Crimes (1995), juxtaposing images
from the L.A.P.D. and Los Angeles Times archives with photographs of the
night sky from the evening the documented incident occurred; Absent
Figures (2000-2001), which approach the representation of landscape in
relationship to spectacle; and Cancelled Checks (2000), comprising
hundreds of bank checks made out to the first sentence in books selected
from the artist's personal library.
*CATALOGUE AVAILABLE: $10.00 (U.S.) + shipping
Color-illustrated with essays by the artist and Franklin Sirmans (28
pgs)
RELATED EVENTS
Opening reception: Saturday, March 16, from 6 - 8:00 p.m.
Artist's Talk: Charles Gaines, Thursday, April 11 at 6pm.
Lecture: Franklin Sirmans, Monday, April 22 at 7:00 p.m.
Lurid Stories was organized by the San Francisco Art Institute's Walter
and McBean Galleries as the 2001 Adaline Kent Award Exhibition and
presented at the San Francisco Art Institute from June 14 - July 28,
2001. The presentation of the exhibition at the Luckman Gallery has been
made possible through a generous grant from the Pasadena Art Alliance.
For more information go to: h
ttp://www.e-flux.com/site2002/index.phtml?client=welcome/lg
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