Max and I had our first show together, and that feeling of standing in my empty living room, surrounded by these small-scale portraits of movie stars recast as religious deities and still lifes of fruit arranged ever so suggestively is the reason I fell in love with exhibiting art. Here Nastassja Kinski is held at an impossible, formally suspended distance within the picture frame, like Venus emerging from the shadows; similarly, the character Tadzio from Luchino Visconti’s 1971 film adaptation of Thomas Mann’s novella “Death in Venice”, leans on the boardwalk of the Lido like a sculptural form of Pothos. Max’s work is a clear nod to the allegorical portraits of his favorite historical Western European painters, replete with a slightly sardonic wink.

Anastassia, pt. 1

Tadzio on the Boardwalk

Max Xeno Karnig:

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Lupe Vélez in Hussein Chalayan A/W 2000

Nicolas’ show at CASTLE was called “Temporal Vertigo”, meaning a feeling of being lost in time, as opposed to an imbalance in space. He takes seemingly disparate fascinations from across history - art deco period statuettes, iconic runway looks from millennium fashion shows, silent film stars from the 1930s, ancient bronze casting techniques, state-of-the-art 3D modeling and printing, treasured department stores - and levels them into singular sculptural statements. I feel like our minds have a secret handshake–everything he’s into I find totally exciting, and the way he weaves ideas and materials together into stories about our past, present and future feels very special to me and uniquely Los Angeles. If I was a sculptor I would want to be Nicolas.

I. Magnin Tie Box

Bullocks Wilshire Tie Box

Bullocks Tie Box

Nicolas G. Miller:

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Untitled

I walked into Deondre’s studio to find this low side table in the middle of the room, neatly covered in 15 or so small-scale works on cut canvas, some frayed at the ends, with beautiful geometric patterns. They looked like small mazes, or tiny quilts, and we stood over them and didn't say much. I was floored by the intimacy of the work and the presentation, and I had this really surprising, child-like desire to touch the paintings, to try and read them with my hands. We are planning a show for next year that I’m really looking forward to.

Deondre Davis:

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M. M. + M.

Ryan's taste is an art to me. Whether fine art or design, literature or pop culture, he has a real passion for the new coupled with a deep reverence for the old, constantly learning and refining and, thankfully, educating others. You can see that in these works, particularly the image of the Hawaiian mask. It is a photo Ryan reshot from a book on Oceanic art, first published by Albert Morance in 1929. The mask, which is now on display at the Louvre, was also of interest to Man Ray, who shot it from a lower angle in 1930. I love the layers here–intercepting an image that’s become a scholarly reference, and elevating it back to art. This work holds a particularly strong place in my heart, as an earlier print hangs in my restaurant Stir Crazy.

Ryan McKenna:

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Rushing home, caught that (first draft)

Sydney referred to her work as “pre-lingual” and I thought that was a beautiful way to describe her paintings and drawings. She creates vast abstract landscapes that feel like a memory of a memory of a memory - the work shifts and somersaults in front of you. When your eye settles, you can catch a heart, a butterfly, the leaf of a money tree, a hand, a rose - symbols of death and rebirth, diaspora and migration, violence and love. Sydney exhibited three charcoal drawings in her show at CASTLE, and every artist that came to see the work stood in front of them in awe, mesmerized by how much control Sydney had over such a difficult and messy medium. She’s like a master architect building a city entirely out of sand.

Red Night 2 (for Cristian)

Red Night 1

Sydney Acosta:

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Blue Omphale

Antone is one of my favorite contemporary painters. His subjects are vibrant, spirited, and often inviting, quietly ensnaring the viewer in a painting practice that is deeply engaged in formalism and materiality. Antone told me figuration is the best sandbox for abstraction and I like the mischief of that - his subjects are devoid of any representational reality, so I’m constantly finding small abstract worlds within the larger work. This portrait of the Greek mythological queen Omphale is one of my favorite paintings from Antone’s current solo show at the gallery.

Antone Könst:

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Phantom

Tenki had a painting in his show at CASTLE that featured a baseball player swinging a bat, done in an almost Futurist style. The player had this grimace and wore a floppy uniform that reminded me of the 1919 Black Sox. Across the room was a similar figure, this one with the cool calm of a noir detective, donning an oversized jacket reminiscent of David Byrne in Stop Making Sense. I like trying to weave a narrative into Tenki’s work–which appears to present this clear visual world of shadowy characters with hats and smiles and frowns and coats - only to realize I’m completely lost in my own references. It’s like he provides clues to a riddle that he’s never shared, and I like the humor in that.

Boxer

Tenki Hiramatsu:

I have this idea in my head that Braden paints on her tip-toes. Her work is so graceful, concise and confident. She clearly labors over her images, constantly layering and removing and reworking, but the result is so still and so elegant.

CASTLE

CURATED WITH:

CASTLE