October 2019
Anya Gallaccio at Blum & Poe
On View through October 26, 2019 Rich scents ooze from a back room at Blum & Poe in Culver City, where the gallery walls have been covered with layers of dark chocolate. Titled Stroke, the work by artist Anya Gallaccio was the first exhibition ever shown at the gallery in 1994, and has been re-presented in celebration of its 25th year. Though walls covered in chocolate might conjure Willy Wonka-esque fantasies of lickable wallpaper or chocolate rivers, the artist insists…
Find out more »December 2019
Harvey Quaytman at Blum & Poe
On view: November 9, 2019 – January 11, 2020 At Blum & Poe in Culver City, curved canvases fill the main gallery, each one lyrically balancing on a unique base. Harvey Quaytman (1937-2002) engineered these unconventional canvases (known as “rocker” paintings), steam bending the wooden frames to give each piece an inherent sense of movement. This movement is furthered by the paint that adheres to each canvas — it too feels bulbous and alive. For Quaytman, paint became a sculptural…
Find out more »October 2020
“Show Me the Signs” at Blum & Poe
More than 100 artists and musicians have come together to make protest signs that will be auctioned with 100% of the proceeds going to the African American Policy Forum’s (AAPF) #SayHerName Mothers Network. Artists include George Condo, Marilyn Minter, and Rashid Johnson, alongside musicians like Billie Eilish, Cardi B, and Bruno Mars, and the signs include powerful messages including“No Words," “Silence = Violence,” and “No More Blind Eyes.” The #SayHerName Mothers network works to elevate the stories of women who have…
Find out more »February 2021
Sarah Rosalena Brady at Blum & Poe
At Blum & Poe, a solo show by Sarah Rosalena Brady explores the artist’s Huichol and Laguna Pueblo heritage alongside ideas of sci-fi futurism, AI and technology, and post-apocalyptic survival. The exhibition is part of a new gallery initiative called Galleries Curate, and was organized by Misha Yoshitake. A series of Jacquard-woven (a computer-guided loom) tapestries, features satellite imagery which maps climate and water variations on Mars. The warm colors and inviting textures of each tapestry feel at odds with…
Find out more »May 2021
“On Boxing” at Blum & Poe
At Blum & Poe, co-owner Jeff Poe has curated a new group show called “On Boxing,” inspired by his childhood experiences of watching boxing matches with his father. The exhibition is anchored by two polished obsidian works by Anya Gallaccio that hang facing each other, flanked by two red tapestry works by Anna Betbeze on the far end of the gallery—perhaps a slightly obvious stand-in for two boxing gloves facing off, red robes for each fighter. “If you look long…
Find out more »November 2021
Sonia Gomes at Blum & Poe
At Blum & Poe, São Paulo-based artist Sonia Gomes’ first U.S. solo exhibition, When the Sun Rises in Blue, uses fabric and found media to create idiosyncratic sculptural objects that speak to memory, soul, and connection. Found materials such as bird cages, driftwood, and fishnets ground the sculptures physically, while also providing nuanced links to the individuals whose lives these objects have passed through. In one untitled sculpture, a low tree branch acts as the armature for the work, its…
Find out more »September 2022
When the Sun Loses its Light at Blum & Poe
A new group show at Blum & Poe, curated by the gallery’s co-owner/founder Jeff Poe, begins with a story of a man’s death. As the press release tells us, recently a man died while getting a brain scan, allowing the doctors to see that memories truly do flash before us as we pass. Poe relates this notion to memories of his own late brother, and takes a hopeful stance that the scenes passing by us in those final seconds are…
Find out more »January 2023
Alma Allen at Blum & Poe
In 2017, Alma Allen moved from Joshua Tree to Topoztlán, Mexico. His practice previously consisted primarily of carved wood sculptures (made often with the aid of a bespoke robotic arm), the material readily abundant in California. Yet, upon moving to Mexico, Allen’s sculptures have shifted in both material and form — his new studio contains a bronze foundry and is in close proximity to stone quarries. Allen’s current exhibition at Blum & Poe is small (in the garden gallery), but…
Find out more »July 2023
Acaye Kerunen at Blum & Poe
Acaye Kerunen’s exhibition of sculptures and dimensional wall works, presented at Blum & Poe, is her first in the United States. The Ugandan artist utilizes traditional materials alongside natural ones — like banana fiber, palm leaf, and raffia — to create detailed and sculptural woven pieces. Pink and purple patterning fashioned in tightly-woven banana leaf cascades across twinned raffia and basket forms. Although each work is an eruption of abstract color and pattern, the artist gives figurative titles (The Matriarch,…
Find out more »September 2023
“Pictures Girls Make”: Portraitures at Blum & Poe
Figuration has been en vogue in recent years in the art world, but Blum & Poe’s ambitious new exhibition, curated by Alison M. Gingeras, focuses specifically on portraiture, and the vast history of the genre. Including almost 60 artists ranging from the 19th century to the present day, the exhibition’s cheeky name “Pictures Girls Make”: Portraitures hails from a dismissive quip that artist Willem de Kooning made about his wife Elaine DeKooning’s portrait paintings. While the exhibition includes both men…
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