Chris Beas

David Kordansky Gallery is pleased to present Los Angeles based artist Chris Beas in his first solo exhibition titled L.A.. The exhibition will open on December 10th 2004 and be on view until January 22nd.

Chris Beas' first solo show is both an homage to and catharsis of the modal valence that connects identity and location, performed against the setting of metropolitan Los Angeles. From the minute to the grandiose, the work reflects the phenomenological becoming of identity as it is stratified throughout one's environment; there is a sense of "when" one is in relation to where one is. Thus, there is a specific type of temporality at play in the pieces, one that corresponds between the past and the present in hopes of marking the becoming of a fluid process of identification, one in which each tense communicates freely with the next, in any possible direction, in order to effect a new way of engaging with place.

Comprised primarily of paintings which depict this complex notion of becoming through familiar landmarks, as well as direct historical reference, each piece operates both individually and collectively in order to achieve this strange order of the real, a real that is both historical and a-historical, public and private, seen and unseen. Along with the eight paintings, a sculptural replica of the Los Angeles city basin serves almost as a bridge between the the various grammars at work in the paintings. Both striking and serene, the sculpture, with its flowing water and live conifers, undermines a latent pessimism that is often brought to the fore, leaving one asking the question perhaps I am who I am only where I am.

Chris Beas is an artist based in Los Angeles. He has staged DIY projects and exhibitions in his studio for the last 4 years and recently exhibited his work at Casey Kaplan Gallery in New York.

Chris Beas

artists:
Chris Beas