A solo exhibition of paintings by Constance Mallison, Unmade, is being shown at the Jason Vass gallery (1452 E 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90021) . The exhibition runs from June 10-July 22, 2017 with an opening reception on opening reception June 10, 6-9 PM
In 1983 Ms. Mallinson received a FOCA Curators Award for Variations II: Seven Los Angeles Painters shown at the Gallery at the Plaza, Security Pacific National Bank (now Bank of America) in Los Angeles. In the spring of 2013 she organized a Curators Lab: Decomposition featuring her own work as well as that of Coleen Strerritt, Jonathon Hornedo, Doug Harvey, Marie Thibeault, Yvette Gellis, Nikko Mueller, and Nancy Evans.
As described in the press release:
The current exhibition features a diverse group of paintings composed from natural and manufactured detritus Mallinson collected from the streets on her daily walks through her neighborhood. Decaying plant materials and a fantastical assortment of post-consumer items are deftly interwoven in monumental accumulations suggesting trash dumps, ocean gyres, and urban alleyways, or in intimate, singular portrait forms. The rich details, dazzling color, variety of objects and interplay of forms are rooted in 17th century Dutch still life painting as well as Cubist collage. Intermittent thick painterly gestures within the predominantly figurative compositions further the conversation with iconic Modernist painting. Past, present and future are evoked, prompting questions concerning the complexities and moral dilemmas of living in an a techno consumerist, disposable world as we simultaneously contribute to its demise. Post- apocalyptic, darkly humorous, critical and celebratory at once, “Unmade” revisits Marcel Duchamp in the 100th anniversary of his “Readymades”. The 17 foot painting, “The Large-Blass-t”, a word play on Duchamp’s “The Large Glass”, depicts hundreds of found objects floating down through a stormy, smoke-filled Turner-esque sky. As Duchamp elevated common objects to the status of art, Mallinson’s images of degraded commodities situate us once again in a provocative endgame.
