SAM FALLS – SOMEWHERE TO GO
2011-05-16This exhibition, titled Somewhere to Go, presents three different series of work based on his interest in aesthetic trends in photography and their relation- ship to modernism/minimalism in painting and sculpture.
With one set of images, which Falls refers to as “construction paper fades,” the artist experiments with analog photo- graphic processes that abandon traditional materials and methods. He uses colored construction paper, which he masks out certain areas of, then exposes it to direct sunlight. The portions of paper that have been covered (with abstract or geometric shapes) retain the original, saturated color of the paper, while the negative areas become faded – gradated, as the sun’s intensity changes from traveling east to west.
Moving away from paper entirely, Falls then turned to fabric. With this work, the artist hand-dyed large pieces of material, with grommets placed in the corners, which he then staked in a canyon outside of Los Angeles with two-by-four foot lengths of wood laid down the center. By leaving the fabric outside for a period of time, exposing them to the elements of wind, sun, sleet, and rain, the material (outside of where the wood covered it) tells a story of a specific place and time through its faded color and frayed edges.
Opposite – Untitled (Pink, Val Verde, CA), 2011, Hand-dyed cotton fabric and metal grommets
Exhibition runs through to June 11th, 2011
OHWOW Los Angeles
937 N. La Cienega Blvd
Los Angeles
CA
90069
