September 2019
Alex Reed at Marta
On view: September 12–October 20, 2019 Marta is a new storefront in Highland Park dedicated to applied arts, whose mission is to bridge the spaces between design and art, gallery and domestic. Their inaugural show is by ceramic artist Alex Reed, whose project International Ceramics Friendship Park also seeks to act as a bridge between the past and imagined future. The exhibition includes beautifully glazed ceramic objects such as a series of works titled Puzzles that feature blobby ceramic forms nestled together to fit…
Find out more »September 2020
“Under / Over” at Marta
At Marta gallery, a humble yet familiar subject is featured in their new exhibition “Under / Over”: toilet paper. Fondly nicknamed “The T.P. Holder Show” for this exhibition, the gallery invited 53 artists and designers to create bespoke toilet paper holders. Each design explores a sense of play around the often-overlooked bathroom fixture. Toilet paper rolls dangle from chains and springs, spin on tops, and are contained by wooden cages and elaborately designed geometries. One work by BNAG looks like an…
Find out more »January 2021
Erik Benjamins et al. at Marta
This year, many of us have doubled down on self-care and comfort: more sweatpants, weekly face-masks, or extended cuddle-time with our dogs. Timed nicely with our collective need for de-stressing, Erik Benjamins’ exhibition titled, “For Modern Resting,” highlights just that. Inspired by Japanese reflexology paths — stone mosaic walking paths installed in public areas — Benjamins’ “Reflexology Doormats” are doormat-sized and made of bumpy ceramic tiles. If you happen to be wearing a pair of socks — don’t be gross…
Find out more »March 2021
Peter Harkawick at Marta
Peter Harkawick’s “Pool Toys” takes legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s concrete blocks as its subject matter. Wright famously denounced concrete blocks as a “gutter rat” construction material, and sought to make them more beautiful by inlaying them with intricate geometric patterns and using them to decoratively construct some of his most iconic buildings. Harkawick has created similar molds, modeled on Frank Lloyd Wright studio drawings that are housed within the Library of Congress, focusing on pattern blocks that Wright used…
Find out more »June 2022
Tina’s White Horses
Designer Ross Hansen recently bought property in New Mexico, and his solo exhibition at Marta is hinged to this particular site. Like the duality between urban and rural spaces, Hansen’s new body of work oscillates between slickness and a more raw and quiet organic wildness, the two caught in a blissful balance. On view June 25th - August 6th. To receive the full weekly coverage from Lindsay Preston Zappas, subscribe to our Art Insider Newsletter at kcrw.com/newsletters. Photo courtesy of Marta.
Find out more »November 2022
A History of Frogs at Marta
In a new exhibition by the artist duo A History of Frogs (Antonia Pinter and Chase Biado), the couple propose a new genre: Folk Elf, a series of design objects and drawings made from the perspective of an elven land, in which imperfections, adornment, and ritual guide the making. Bronze candelabras and a mammalian figurine with Giacometti-like elongated features are met with delicate lamps made with patches of burlap that form conical lampshades. Small brass sculptures propose ad-hoc structures that…
Find out more »March 2023
Jonah Takagi at Marta
The works that make up “Brut Vessels” came together after a series of residencies over a five-year period at Cirva (Le Centre International de Recherche sur le Verre et les Arts Plastiques) in Marseille, France. Influenced by the artist’s background in industrial design, and his overall broader inclination toward experimentation, Takagi’s solo exhibition of glass assemblies lives at the intersection of environment, methodology, and fabrication. Takagi’s process of working with improvised molds — which he builds from found objects local…
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