The following is a brief preview - the full content of this page is available to premium users only.
Click here to subscribe...
Jemima Wyman’s show, Whak ‘emall, at 507 rose, was the gallery’s fourth exhibition: this artist-run space in Venice, CA is still young. While its location is not in one of LA’s (many) gallery districts, its proximity to the legendary cultural output of the utopian beach town of Venice gives it a place within an aesthetic history that is rich with possibilities for spin-offs, knock-offs, and, sometimes, one-offs. 507 rose is committed to featuring emerging artists, and the small storefront with its large window is ideal for housing site-specific installations that take into consideration not just the viewers who enter the gallery, but those who pass by in cars and on foot. Wyman’s installation did this in spades, as her graphic blanketing of the gallery’s interior was highly visible from the street and beyond.
The installation was composed of numerous red and yellow hibiscus-printed fabric squares stitched together, each one with an elasticised hole big enough for a head to poke through. One patchwork of squares stretched across the room, about four feet from the floor, and each of the squares had masks attached which gallery-goers could inhabit. Above that patchworked plane, the walls were covered in the squares too (instead of masks, their holes framed more fabric) creating a room-within-a-room for heads only. During most of the three-hour opening reception, Wyman performed in the installation, moving methodically from mask to mask, singing along to a pre-recorded soundtrack that played from a boom box sitting on the gallery floor.
Wyman’s design made good use of the gallery’s window as a kind of proscenium, which, along with her commandeering of the entire room, created two distinct vantage points for the audience