Sayre Gomez at François Ghebaly

On View: September 20–November 3, 2019

Living in L.A., there is a lot of visual information that buzzes for our attention. Billboards, stacks of strip-mall signage, and layered graffiti—not to mention the daily phenomenon of the sky changing into fluorescent hues as the sun sets westward. Sayre Gomez’s solo show at François Ghebaly is at once a celebration and a critique of our city’s visual cacophony—his hyperrealistic painting of a palm-tree-style cell tower looming in front of a smoggy sunset is at once glorifying and cautionary. The style of these works is keyed all the way up—they are so detailed that they first appear to be photographs. His sculptures fool the eye as well: the weathered and rusty yellow parking stanchions installed throughout the gallery look hyperreal, though are actually created from cardboard, concrete, and foam (and the artist painstakingly recreates the weathered look with paint). Throughout the show, things are not as they appear, as if Gomez is asking us to take a closer look at the things around us.