Westside, Los Angeles
Group Exhibition
Jagged Negotiations
Patrick PainterMegan Flanders Chet Glaze Julie Shafer Jagged Negotiations enters into the deep inquiries of three artists whose imagery and mark making disclose fraught, and sometimes disorderly deliberations. Confidently accepting uncomfortable territories and unwieldy dialogues, the artists embrace the resulting cacophony with works that are strident smash-ups that aim to unsettle, just as much as they seduce. Megan Flanders intervenes in the digital transmission of canonic works by women, making the viewer hyper aware of the construct while simultaneously encouraging its disruption. Inserting her own voice, literally her name as an indexical selfie, into the binary code of works such as Vigée Lebrun's monumental portrait of Marie Antoinette, Flanders floods the data with her own, rerouting the strokes and kinking the color palette. The resulting melt heightens the futility of the Queen's attempt to remind agitated rebels of her duty fulfilled, just as the massive industrial nylon canvas insistently toys with binary tropes. Equally scrappy, Flanders' titles derive from dismissive quips aimed at contemporary women artists by patrons and "supporters" that enforce gender inequity and keep the artist's bravado in check. Works in the series pointedly call out such deep seated sexism, the gesture serving as calculated record scratch in the swirling dialogues of feminist debate. Boldly playing with forbidden tools and scale, Flanders' works hold up a finger (you choose which one) to condescending naysayers and mansplainers alike. Unapologetically interested in craft and pattern, Chet Glaze astutely observes the sprawling conflation of textures and surfaces found at the "Happiest Place on Earth" with a charmed delight that nonetheless holds the theme park to intense theoretical scrutiny. Put off by the inability to interact with the exquisitely crafted objects that are on view - but just out of reach - Glaze's paintings in this series hold the artifice accountable. A fitful refusal to dutifully turn to the next contrived view, these painted works suspend glistening and ephemeral decorative notes while being acutely aware that the opportunity to ponder deeply won't fulfill. Bolstered by the 2012 FoxxFur blog post, "The Awkward Transitions of Disneyland!" Glaze's intent focus on the convincing scrims intermingled with evidence of short-sighted changes, painstaking detail next to schlocky construction, and managed traffic amidst unfortunate planning, magnifies surprising signs of disorder given the park's slick branding. As if stealing a peek behind the theme park facades of Glaze's camouflaged decay, Shafer's psychologically powerful works compel engagement as they navigate the rough political terrain of oil dredging in the Louisiana bayou. Breaking with technical protocol, Shafer's inkjet prints were produced by reversing the orientation of the film, forcing it's celluloid substrate to filter all wavelengths but red. The resulting images evoke a sinister cover up. However, the machines, unravelling habitats, and evidence of insatiable demand are right at the roadside and accessible - perhaps hidden in plain sight. Case in point, Shafer's image of Point-aux-Chenes traces the marked erosion and imminent collapse of Native American islands along the Gulf Coast who's oil is being scraped from underneath its mapped borders. Combined in the gallery with a dazzling pool of Lumen prints, the dreamy colors and lyric imprints were achieved by floating the photographic paper face down, woven into plant debris, and fixed into gaps in the sediment filling the spoiled waters of the Atchafalaya Basin. In this way, Shafer utilizes methods that allow nature itself maximum impact on the image, imploring the viewer to be active in their looking and attached to the space that surrounds. Contending with such complex subjects, the works in Jagged Negotiations intersect through myriad forms that are both tangible and virtual, within reach and forbidden, internal and outside. The tension found in individual works, as well as within the group, is palpable and provocative. Through a playful push of materials and an unflinching interest in agitation, the jagged negotiations that Megan Flanders, Chet Glaze, and Julie Shafer conduct with their subjects are sure to continue to coax and snag. - Denise Johnson This exhibition was curated by Denise Johnson and Megan Flanders.