Land of the Smokes: Landscapes and Los Angeles; a group show curated by Mario Vasquez at Last Projects, Los Angeles, California
Sandow Birk
Jaime Becker
Andrea Brown
Franco Castilla
Alika Cooper
Alice Konitz
Laida Lertxundi
Julie Orr
Katie Shapiro
Andrew K. Thompson
Jenny Yurshansky
curated by: Mario Vasquez
Last Projects
6546 Hollywood Blvd,
Los Angeles, California 90028
Gallery hours thurs-sat 3-7pm
Los Angeles based artists look at the landscape as metaphor, allegory, and reflection. In the 16th century when the Spanish explorers viewed the coast off present-day Los Angeles, they witnessed forest fires in the hills above San Pedro harbor. The native Americans referred to the Los Angeles landscape as the “Land of the Smokes.” The relationship between “smoke” and the Los Angeles landscape is also a metaphor between a place that always teeters on disaster, and the use of smoke to create a fantasy; that which blurs the line between the reality and fiction. Each of the artists in this exhibition explore the Los Angeles landscape and its many facets including the natural and the built. The Los Angeles landscape is also about oppositions; paradise and hell; fact and fiction; male and female; fantasy and reality; wealthy and poor. The artists use the Los Angeles landscape as an exploration of these dichotomies.
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