Black Is The Color Of True
September 24 – October 22, 2011

Opening Reception: Saturday September 24, 7 – 10 pm

Lara Bank, Chris Bassett, Frank Chang, Roni Feldman, Joe Goode, Dan Hockenson, Candice Lin, Jay Lizo, Nikki Pressley, Colin Roberts, Anna Skarbek, Steve Steinman, Devon Tsuno, Tyler Waxman

Monte Vista Projects, in conjunction with Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-198 and Co/Lab, is pleased to present ‘Black Is The Color Of True’. Inspired from Joe Goode’s Nighttime series, painted in the 1970’s, ‘Black Is The Color Of True’ presents artists using a predominantly black palette in their work. The Nighttime series are monochromatic black canvases painted in a loose network of brushstrokes, with cuts into the surface of the canvas revealing the wall color, which starts to create beautiful tension between foreground and background.

The selected artists in this show have various perspectives in what the color black means to them.  Some of the artists used the Nighttime series as a point of departure to create their works, while others are working with the color in their individual ways. Lara Bank’s Black Hole paintings are “scientifically” black, they suck our retina into the deepest shade of blackness. Roni Feldman makes beautifully subtle black paintings of crowds. Candice Lin’s graphite drawings address black from a racial point of view. Colin Roberts makes carefully tiled polycarbon glass tile pillowcase sculptures. Dan Hockenson will do a performance using black coffee serving it “cowboy” style.

As examined in the catalog ‘Black Paintings’ (Stephanie Rosenthal) which featured artists work from the late 1940’s, such as Ad Reinhardt, Frank Stella, Mark Rothko, and Robert Rauschenberg, ‘Black Is The Color Of True’ continues to investigate the meaning of black in art. In addition to this exhibit Joe Goode’s black paintings will be on view at Michael Kohn Gallery from September 16th to October 29th. Viewers will have the opportunity to explore the generational relationship between the two exhibitions. ‘Black Is The Color Of True’ will continue to the Co/Lab Art Platform Los Angeles from September 30th to Oct 3rd at the LA Mart. 

Monte Vista Project’s booth for Co/Lab at Art Platform LA, presented by Artra Curatorial at the LA Mart, Concourse Level, 1933 S. Broadway Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90007. Opening Preview: Friday, September 30th, 3-5pm, General Admission: Sat-Sun 11am-6pm, Mon 11am-4pm. For more information go to: http://www.artplatform-losangeles.com/special-programs/colab/