The exhibition Los Angeles, A Fiction is presenting the work of 34 artists of different generations, and 84 writers, all of whom, in their separate ways, have been involved in constructing and deconstructing the profile of the city, in making and unmaking the myth.
Los Angeles is famous for its glamorous lifestyle, its fabulous climate, the film industry, the film stars, and all those beaches. The entertainment industry, the landscape and the imagery have turned Los Angeles into a myth. To the point where it is almost impossible to distinguish fact from fiction, the light from the shade.
And yet, the literary and art scenes, for all their extraordinary creativity, remain curiously unknown. For this exhibition, the macLYON has assembled an international team of three curators (Thierry Raspail, Lyon; Gunnar B. Kvaran, Oslo; Nicolas Garait-Leavenworth, Lyon/London) and three advisers (Hans Ulrich Obrist, London; Ali Subotnick, Los Angeles; Alex Israel, Los Angeles).
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The macLYON, alone among French museums, continues its exploration of places in the world with a relatively unknown art scene, or one rarely featured in exhibitions. Our latest exhibition is Los Angeles, A Fiction. 34 artists / 84 writers, all living in the global city.
The exhibition Los Angeles, a fiction presents the work of 34 artists from Los Angeles, of various age: major artists (Ed Ruscha, John Baldessari, David Hockney, Larry Bell, Robert Irwin...) alongside younger artists (Ryan Trecartin/Lizzie Fitch, Alex Israel...).
This is not a survey of the art history of Los Angeles; nonetheless, a number of the artists in the show are artistic pioneers and icons within the Los Angeles and international art scene.
The artists: Kelly Akashi, Kenneth Anger, John Baldessari, Math Bass, Larry Bell, Billy Al Bengston, Brian Calvin, Meg Cranston, John Divola, Samara Golden, Hannah Greely, David Hockney, Evan Holloway, Robert Irwin, Alex Israel, Stanya Kahn, William Leavitt, Nancy Lupo, Tala Madani, Paul McCarthy, Rodney McMillian, Nicole Miller, Michele O’Marah, Catherine Opie, Laura Owens, Charles Ray, Ed Ruscha, Alexis Smith, Martine Syms, Henry Taylor, Ryan Trecartin/Lizzie Fitch, Kaari Upson, Jonas Wood
The literary selection is an integral part of the exhibition, with stories that take place in Los Angeles or concern Los Angeles over the last fifty years. They are dotted around the exhibition like pictures. The extracts from these writings are organised so that they tell a
story and amplify the artworks. The written texts emphasise the fictional character of the exhibition.
The writers: Alex Abella, Kenneth Anger, Reyner Banham, Paul Beatty, T. C. Boyle, Vincent Bugliosi, Charles Bukowski, Octavia Butler, Amina Cain, Wanda Coleman, Michael Connelly, Dennis Cooper, Bernard Cooper, Trinie Dalton, Mark Z. Danielewski, Mike Davis, Joan Didion, Dominick Dunne, Bret Easton Ellis, James Ellroy, Steve Erickson, John Fante, Janet Fitch, Angela Flournoy, James Frey, Romain Gary, Ryan Gattis, Kenneth Goldsmith, Paul Haggis, Joseph Hansen, John Haskell, Todd Haynes, David Hockney, Christopher Isherwood, Aris Janigian, Chris Kraus, Rachel Kushner, Cameron Lange, Annette Leddy, Francesca Lia Block, Joe Linton, David Lynch, Terrence Malick, Joyce Maynard, Esther McCoy, Joseph Mattson, Jan Morris, Walter Mosley, Norman M. Klein, Maggie Nelson, Victoria Patterson, Vanessa Place, Eric Puchner, Thomas Pynchon, John Rechy, Nina Revoyr, David Richards, Mary Rinebold Copeland, Jean Rolin, Martha Ronk, James Sallis, Christina Schwarz, Carolyn See, Lisa See, Mona Simpson, Jane Smiley, Jack Smith, Gary Snyder, Matthew Specktor, John Steppling, Matthew Stokoe, Donna Tartt, Karen Tei Yamashita, Paul Thomas Anderson, David Thomson, Rupert Thomson, Héctor Tobar, Bruce Wagner, Joseph Wambaugh, John Waters, Benjamin Weissman, Lawrence Weschler, Christa Wolf, Rudy Wurlitzer
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Titre
The pioneers
Larry Bell, one of the pioneers of Minimalism, invented, together with Robert Irwin, a new type of sculpture termed Light and Space, where they rethought the basic fundaments of the sculptural object. John Baldessari initiated a personal type of Conceptual painting, emphasising the powerful synergy and relationship between images and texts.
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Creativity and diversity
The complexity and the diversity of artistic expression becomes even more accentuated in the 1980s and 1990s, and the artists whom we have selected are among the most innovative in the fields of photography (John Divola, Catherine Opie), paintings and sculpture (Paul McCarthy, Henry Taylor, Charles Ray, Meg Cranston, Laura Owens) and installations (William Leavitt, Alexis Smith).
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Video and new medias
The beginning of the new century has been a time of innovation, seeing a true effervescence built on the use of new media and an original way of conceptualising narratives inspired by MTV and the popular film and entertainment industry (Ryan Trecartin/Lizzie Fitch,Nicole Miller, Michele O’Marah, Martine Syms, Tala Madani).
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Back to the painting
There is also an stimulating continuation of the West Coast sculpture tradition (Evan Holloway, Kaari Upson, Hannah Greely, Kelly
Akashi, Samara Golden, Nancy Lupo) and a return to painting by artists who explore intuitive expression and the art of deformation related to the body (Rodney McMillian), or who revisit and reinvent figurative painting (Jonas Wood, Alex Israel, Brian Calvin, Math Bass).
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