Artists: Anna Betbeze, Jesse Fleming, Luis Flores, Deana Lawson, Keaton Macon, K.r.m. Mooney, Litia Perta, Barb Smith, Dorian Wood
Exhibition title: EVERYBODY! COME STAND ON THE ALTAR!
Venue: PSSST, Los Angeles, US
Date: June 24 – July 24, 2016
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and PSSST, Los Angeles
A collaboration between PSSST and Anna Betbeze, Jesse Fleming, Luis Flores, Deana Lawson, Keaton Macon, K.r.m. Mooney, Litia Perta, Barb Smith, and Dorian Wood.
EVERYBODY! COME STAND ON THE ALTAR! is a performance of materials. It is an invitation to engage in an immersive constellation of objects, sounds, images, language, and lighting.
In the first instant of a theatrical encounter, there is abstraction, empathy even, as we begin to ask questions, as we begin to focus. Lights go off and on, sounds overwhelm then recede. Our eyes adjust, if we are sitting, our bodies may sink–we fidget because the feeling is powerful and the space before a beginning is open. In this diffuse moment, we are enraptured by a series of relationships that unfold—things we have seen before, fragments of fantasies and projections, known objects taking different forms. Instinctively, we silence ourselves, we long to know more, we wait for catharsis.
Neutral space–where distinct objects and subjects exist in singular and mythical purity—is a fallacy. The ever-shifting variables of bodies, sounds, smells, colors, temperatures, location, and histories impact our perception and engagement with all that surrounds us. In collaborating with the works in this exhibition, we were allowed to take risks–to mediate and create a new composition, to throw into stark relief the performativity of space while maintaining the integrity of the individual.
Each piece calls for, begs for, a delicate attention. When woven together with bodies in space, PSSST believes that a decentralized sacred space can emerge. There is a stage. There is no stage. The stage is always changing. Come stand on the altar.
Litia Perta, Song for a Rite Parade, 2016
Ink on Paper, 8.5 x 14 inches
K.r.m. Mooney, Circadian Tackle IV, 2015
Boiled steel cable, k9 whistle, steel cathode, cast silver, orange peel and lavender, silver solder, liver of sulfur, steel wire, interlocking mechanism, aluminum 1 x 20 x 22 inches
Barb Smith, Handmade lead tubing, Memory Foam and Aqua Resin, cast aluminum fragment from recycling, marble kitchen counter fragment, Memory Foam covered in granite dust from a monument making shop in Queens, broken head stone, paraffin wax, chunk glass from Kokomo, IN, steel used for welding practice, Yule log cake pan, eyes that can’t see, MDF, floor paint, 2015
Mixed Media, Dimensions Variable
Anna Betbeze, Fugitive, 2016
Mixed Media, 144 x 110 x 10 inches
Anna Betbeze, Fugitive, 2016
Mixed Media, 144 x 110 x 10 inches
Deana Lawson, Altar, 2010
Inkjet print, 32 x 42 inches
Litia Perta, Song for a Rite Parade, 2016
Ink on Paper, 8.5 x 14 inches
Litia Perta, Song for a Rite Parade, 2016
Ink on Paper, 8.5 x 14 inches
K.r.m. Mooney, Circadian Tackle IV, 2015
Boiled steel cable, k9 whistle, steel cathode, cast silver, orange peel and lavender, silver solder, liver of sulfur, steel wire, interlocking mechanism, aluminum 1 x 20 x 22 inches
Litia Perta, Song for a Rite Parade, 2016
Ink on Paper, 8.5 x 14 inches
Anna Betbeze, Fugitive, 2016
Mixed Media, 144 x 110 x 10 inches
Anna Betbeze, Fugitive, 2016
Mixed Media, 144 x 110 x 10 inches
Luis Flores, Cusi, 2016
Wool and foam, 23 1/2 x 3 x 2 1/2 inches, Courtesy of the artist and Grice Bench, Los Angeles
Barb Smith, Handmade lead tubing, Memory Foam and Aqua Resin, cast aluminum fragment from recycling, marble kitchen counter fragment, Memory Foam covered in granite dust from a monument making shop in Queens, broken head stone, paraffin wax, chunk glass from Kokomo, IN, steel used for welding practice, Yule log cake pan, eyes that can’t see, MDF, floor paint, 2015 (detail)
Mixed Media, Dimensions Variable
Anna Betbeze, Fugitive, 2016 (detail)
Mixed Media, 144 x 110 x 10 inches
Anna Betbeze, Fugitive, 2016 (detail)
Mixed Media, 144 x 110 x 10 inches
Deana Lawson, Altar, 2010
Inkjet print, 32 x 42 inches
Deana Lawson, Altar, 2010
Inkjet print, 32 x 42 inches
Barb Smith, Handmade lead tubing, Memory Foam and Aqua Resin, cast aluminum fragment from recycling, marble kitchen counter fragment, Memory Foam covered in granite dust from a monument making shop in Queens, broken head stone, paraffin wax, chunk glass from Kokomo, IN, steel used for welding practice, Yule log cake pan, eyes that can’t see, MDF, floor paint, 2015 (detail)
Mixed Media, Dimensions Variable
Barb Smith, Handmade lead tubing, Memory Foam and Aqua Resin, cast aluminum fragment from recycling, marble kitchen counter fragment, Memory Foam covered in granite dust from a monument making shop in Queens, broken head stone, paraffin wax, chunk glass from Kokomo, IN, steel used for welding practice, Yule log cake pan, eyes that can’t see, MDF, floor paint, 2015 (detail)
Mixed Media, Dimensions Variable
Deana Lawson, Altar, 2010
Inkjet print, 32 x 42 inches
Anna Betbeze, Fugitive, 2016 (detail)
Mixed Media, 144 x 110 x 10 inches
Anna Betbeze, Fugitive, 2016 (detail)
Mixed Media, 144 x 110 x 10 inches
K.r.m. Mooney, Circadian Tackle IV, 2015
Boiled steel cable, k9 whistle, steel cathode, cast silver, orange peel and lavender, silver solder, liver of sulfur, steel wire, interlocking mechanism, aluminum 1 x 20 x 22 inches
Barb Smith, Handmade lead tubing, Memory Foam and Aqua Resin, cast aluminum fragment from recycling, marble kitchen counter fragment, Memory Foam covered in granite dust from a monument making shop in Queens, broken head stone, paraffin wax, chunk glass from Kokomo, IN, steel used for welding practice, Yule log cake pan, eyes that can’t see, MDF, floor paint, 2015 (detail)
Mixed Media, Dimensions Variable
Barb Smith, Handmade lead tubing, Memory Foam and Aqua Resin, cast aluminum fragment from recycling, marble kitchen counter fragment, Memory Foam covered in granite dust from a monument making shop in Queens, broken head stone, paraffin wax, chunk glass from Kokomo, IN, steel used for welding practice, Yule log cake pan, eyes that can’t see, MDF, floor paint, 2015 (detail)
Mixed Media, Dimensions Variable
Barb Smith, Handmade lead tubing, Memory Foam and Aqua Resin, cast aluminum fragment from recycling, marble kitchen counter fragment, Memory Foam covered in granite dust from a monument making shop in Queens, broken head stone, paraffin wax, chunk glass from Kokomo, IN, steel used for welding practice, Yule log cake pan, eyes that can’t see, MDF, floor paint, 2015 (detail)
Mixed Media, Dimensions Variable
Barb Smith, Handmade lead tubing, Memory Foam and Aqua Resin, cast aluminum fragment from recycling, marble kitchen counter fragment, Memory Foam covered in granite dust from a monument making shop in Queens, broken head stone, paraffin wax, chunk glass from Kokomo, IN, steel used for welding practice, Yule log cake pan, eyes that can’t see, MDF, floor paint, 2015 (detail)
Mixed Media, Dimensions Variable
Barb Smith, Handmade lead tubing, Memory Foam and Aqua Resin, cast aluminum fragment from recycling, marble kitchen counter fragment, Memory Foam covered in granite dust from a monument making shop in Queens, broken head stone, paraffin wax, chunk glass from Kokomo, IN, steel used for welding practice, Yule log cake pan, eyes that can’t see, MDF, floor paint, 2015
Mixed Media, Dimensions Variable
Barb Smith, Handmade lead tubing, Memory Foam and Aqua Resin, cast aluminum fragment from recycling, marble kitchen counter fragment, Memory Foam covered in granite dust from a monument making shop in Queens, broken head stone, paraffin wax, chunk glass from Kokomo, IN, steel used for welding practice, Yule log cake pan, eyes that can’t see, MDF, floor paint, 2015
Mixed Media, Dimensions Variable
Barb Smith, Handmade lead tubing, Memory Foam and Aqua Resin, cast aluminum fragment from recycling, marble kitchen counter fragment, Memory Foam covered in granite dust from a monument making shop in Queens, broken head stone, paraffin wax, chunk glass from Kokomo, IN, steel used for welding practice, Yule log cake pan, eyes that can’t see, MDF, floor paint, 2015 (detail)
Mixed Media, Dimensions Variable
Barb Smith, Handmade lead tubing, Memory Foam and Aqua Resin, cast aluminum fragment from recycling, marble kitchen counter fragment, Memory Foam covered in granite dust from a monument making shop in Queens, broken head stone, paraffin wax, chunk glass from Kokomo, IN, steel used for welding practice, Yule log cake pan, eyes that can’t see, MDF, floor paint, 2015 (detail)
Mixed Media, Dimensions Variable
Luis Flores, Cusi, 2016
Wool and foam, 23 1/2 x 3 x 2 1/2 inches, Courtesy of the artist and Grice Bench, Los Angeles
Barb Smith, Handmade lead tubing, Memory Foam and Aqua Resin, cast aluminum fragment from recycling, marble kitchen counter fragment, Memory Foam covered in granite dust from a monument making shop in Queens, broken head stone, paraffin wax, chunk glass from Kokomo, IN, steel used for welding practice, Yule log cake pan, eyes that can’t see, MDF, floor paint, 2015
Mixed Media, Dimensions Variable
Barb Smith, Handmade lead tubing, Memory Foam and Aqua Resin, cast aluminum fragment from recycling, marble kitchen counter fragment, Memory Foam covered in granite dust from a monument making shop in Queens, broken head stone, paraffin wax, chunk glass from Kokomo, IN, steel used for welding practice, Yule log cake pan, eyes that can’t see, MDF, floor paint, 2015 (detail)
Mixed Media, Dimensions Variable
Jesse Fleming, The Snail and the Razor, 2012
Single channel video, color, sound, high definition
