Friday 1 September, 11am-6pm
Saturday 2 September, 12-2 pm
Jeff Ono (b. 1973 Los Angeles,) lives and works in Los Angeles. Through his hybrid sculptures of organic forms and rigid geometric structure, he explores and contradicts the hubris of the early to mid-century modernist imaginary. His sculptures are constructed from simple, traditional, and industrial materials ranging from paper, cloth, gesso, encaustics and clay to steel and poured concrete, and are displayed in conjunction with low-to-the-ground, handmade stands – a decidedly intimate quality he favours to challenge the typically hierarchical nature and scale of domestic furnishings, the traditional plinth, or the monumental modernist gesture in general. His work eschews any pop or easily recognizable imagery, and is instead based on vague recollections of specific and imagined sites – some of an almost ridiculously utopian vision – including the Triforium in downtown Los Angeles, the Palazzo della Civilta Italiana (Square Collisseum) in Rome, Brutalist architectural and public spaces, or the watered-down thematic versions of modernism seen in strip malls and bank buildings in any American city.
Solo exhibitions include: Naming Rights, London (2015), Steve Turner Contemporary, Los Angeles (2009); Feature Inc., New York (2006); Perugi artecontemporanea, Padova, Italy (2003). His work was included in various group exhibitions such as The Soft Shoe at Rainbow in Spanish, Los Angeles (2016); Can’t Reach Me There at Midway Contemporary Art, Minneapolis (2015); Pamela Jorden, Alice Könitz, Jeff Ono, Samuel Freeman, Los Angeles (2013); Bud – Jim Bidgood and Jeff Ono, curated by Bruce Hainley, USC Roski School of Fine Art Sculpture Gallery Los Angeles, CA (2012); Les Paris sont Ouverts, curated by Caroline May, Freud Museum, London (2011); something left undone, Galerie Bertrand + Gruner, Geneva, Switzerland (2010); The Newest, Phil, Los Angeles (2009).