Tif Sigfrids: Joe Sola, A Painted Horse
I share with you today some installation photographs that I shot last week for A Painted Horse by Joe Sola (with Matthew Chambers, Sayre Gomez, Rudy K. Slobeck, and others), July 11 – August 8, at TIF SIGFRIDS.
See the exhibition before it closes a week from Saturday, but be sure to make your reservation first. The gallery states, “only four visitors at a time will be permitted into the gallery to view the exhibition. Appointments are strongly recommended. Between the hours of 1 PM and 2 PM, Riba will be on break and will not be viewable in the gallery.”
Location: TIF SIGFRIDS, 1507 Wilcox Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90028
Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Saturday, 11 AM-3 PM
For appointments email info@tifsigfrids.com
“Joe Sola explores the use of everyday materials and techniques common to contemporary animal grooming practices and presents us with a painted miniature horse. Originally bred as pets for nobility in the 17th century and known to be amongst the rare species of animals in King Louis XIV’s menagerie at Versailles, Sola embraces the animal’s potential for visual pleasure and transposes an abstract language onto this rather unconventional painting surface.
With palatial images in mind, the artist will transform the gallery to resemble the dining room of a prosperous collector of contemporary art. Surrounded by walls adorned with new works by Matthew Chambers, Sayre Gomez, and Rudy K. Slobeck, Riba, the painted horse, will roam freely as if at home.” – tifsigfrids.com
“Riba, the horse that will be used as part of this exhibition, will only be in the installation for opening hours. For the duration of the exhibition she will be shuttled to and from her loving home in the San Fernando Valley by a professional horse wrangler who will look after her general health and provide her with fresh water and choice hay throughout the day. During the exhibition she will receive daily Reike treatments to both measure and support her well being. The artist, working with a leading professional animal groomer, used creative grooming hair dye specifically designed for use on animals. Only four visitors at a time will be permitted into the gallery to view the exhibition.” – tifsigfrids.com
“Riba seems quite content to wander around the small gallery space, standing patiently before paintings and drawings by Matthew Chambers, Sayre Gomez, Rudy K. Slobeck, and others. This is not a group show, however; one of Sola’s most interesting moves is to use these artworks as part of an interactive installation. All of the pieces are abstractions (except for two small figurative paintings, which seem to function as portraits of the fictional collector and his wife). Likewise, Riba is a kind of living abstract painting. Just as these works are valuable within a highly cultivated economy, so are mini horses—they have, since the seventeenth century, been bred as exotic pets. Sola provokes dialogue about the economics of collecting. How does cultural value cohere around objects of visual pleasure, including things as disparate as living creatures and art?” – Jennifer Peterson for Artforum Critic’s Picks