subject: Nye + Brown Plastic Fantastic In Los Angeles By Hunter Drohojowska-philp [print this page] The "Light and Space" and "Fetish Finish" artists from 1960s Los Angeles have recently found a New York champion in Tim Nye, who has
exhibited their cast resin, molded plastic and coated glass works at his New York gallery and at the 2011 Venice Biennale as well.
Now, Nye is bringing the coals to Newcastle, so to speak, by opening a gallery in Culver City with Lexi Brown, formerly of Happy Lion
in Chinatown. The retro bright orange exterior of the gallery with its unconventional Nye + Brown neon sign are a welcome addition to
a dreary stretch of South La Cienega Boulevard. The interior is dedicated to art that shares L.A.s automotive enthusiasms.
The gallery's inaugural show, The Lords & the New Creatures is taken from the title of Jim Morrisons 1971 book of poetry. The
exhibition includes three generations of L.A. artists but its focus is largely on the artists that Nye has collected and included in
his "Venice in Venice" at the biennale. Among the selections are large aluminum dentos by Billy Al Bengston, drawn in 2011 on
material dating from 1967 ($50,000);Larry Bell's Flaw (1968), a glass cube coated in golden minerals ($150,000); a 2011diptych of
acid green resin by Peter Alexander ($45,000); a wall-mounted cement column containing electric argon tubes by Laddie John
Dill($50,000); and a sky blue and sunset red triptych from 1974 by Ed Moses ($120,000).
Judy Chicago is represented by Bigamy Hood,(1968-2011), a car hood sprayed with particularly suggestive motifs ($350,000). More Los
Angeles automotive sensibility is found in the 1999 Ed Ruscha lithograph of the street crossing of Melrose and Vine ($15,000),
andDennis Hoppers Double Standard 1961 photograph of the gas-station intersection viewed through a car windshield ($20,000). Even
John Chamberlain, who lived in Venice in the 1960s, is represented by Gondola Henry Miller (1985) for $950,000.
I suppose these are the lords. Maybe Chicago would be a "lady?" With more than two dozen additional artists, who are no doubt the
new creatures, the show is not exactly focused -- but neither was L.A. in the 1960s. Or now, for that matter.
For the digital catalogue, click here.
"The Lords & the New Creatures," Sept. 10-Oct. 31, 2011, at Nye + Brown, 2685 South La Cienega Boulevard, Los Angeles, Ca. 90034.
Venice in Venice" at the biennale. Among the selections are large aluminum dentos by Billy Al Bengston, drawn in 2011 on material
dating from 1967 ($50,000);Larry Bell's Flaw (1968), a glass cube coated in golden minerals ($150,000); a 2011diptych of acid green
resin by Peter Alexander ($45,000); a wall-mounted cement column containing electric argon tubes by Laddie John Dill($50,000); and a
sky blue and sunset red triptych from 1974 by Ed Moses ($120,000). Now, Nye is bringing the coals to Newcastle, so to speak, by
opening a gallery in Culver City with Lexi Brown, formerly of Happy Lion in Chinatown. The retro bright orange exterior of the
gallery with its unconventional Nye + Brown neon sign are a welcome addition to a dreary stretch of South La Cienega Boulevard. The
interior is dedicated to art that shares L.A.s automotive enthusiasms.
