October 2019
Derek Paul Jack Boyle at Smart Objects
On View through November 2nd. Off of Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park, a certain kind of magic brews in the paintings of Derek Paul Jack Boyle. His paintings are potently absent of human life, but the objects in them become animated in unexpected ways—like the infamous dancing broomsticks in Fantasia. In one, eerie pink stairways are plopped into a serene yet ominous forest scape. Elsewhere, clocks or doors pile onto each other in off-kilter interior spaces. Boyle’s works offer us portals—into another…
Find out more »September 2020
Adam Alessi at Smart Objects
From KCRW's Art Insider Lindsay Preston Zappas: "It was somewhat unnerving stepping into 'MIDDAY,' a solo show by Alex Alessi. In his oil paintings, eerie figures float against jet black backgrounds, each skewed to an uncanny angle as if hovering in a harrowing netherworld. By denying the viewer the ability to see these subjects head-on, Alessi builds a suspenseful tension into the act of viewing. Elsewhere, the symbol of the mask ('Finger Puppet' and 'Quiet Comedy') enters to take the exhibition…
Find out more »February 2021
Justin Chance at Smart Objects
At Smart Objects in Echo Park, Justin Chance’s “Low-Life” pulls fiber processes to their breaking point. His wet and needle felted quilts are sheathed in a layer of thin silk that he treats irreverently—rips and tears on their surfaces function as subtle painterly details. In “Dying” — perhaps a pun on mortality as much as the natural dying processes that the artist uses to color his wool — representational imagery bounces in and out of focus. Apples in various stages…
Find out more »November 2021
Will Bruno at Smart Objects
In the center of a vast ravine a clown with bright red oversized shoes hovers dejectedly, a small star floating by his head. This character, plopped inexplicably into a luscious desert landscape, isn’t the only anomaly in Will Bruno’s painting, Rugged Beauty (2021). One shirtless man sits hillside, pointing up and the clown and the other floating figurines, each seemingly pulled from a different toy set. Near the clown, a large cane-like symbol sits strangely on top of the scene,…
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