Elad Lassry’s delightful little show is as smart as it is seductive. He brings the geeky, insider knowledge of an arch conceptualist and presents it with a humanist touch and a poetic timbre. In this respect, he is much like his teacher Sharon Lockhart, who also believes the words “conceptual” and “beauty” mustn’t exist like quarreling neighbors.

Two notable photographic works concern Lassry’s appropriation of a prize winning photograph from Life Magazine. He uses simple gestures to move the image out of the world of the magazines (with its paginations and captions) and into the world of art. By covering the text of the pages with small blocks of color, Lassry reveals a beautiful underlying design which comes across like one of Malevich’s constructions. Like a good Baldessari or Ruscha, the works have a modernist clarity without high minded ideals – they are small human moments with large aesthetic impacts.

Lassry’s film Untitled (2007) borrows its language from the 1970s Structuralist filmmakers. Basically, all that means is that the film reveals its tricks (the projector stands clicking in the room as if saying simply, yes, this is light from life recorded on a physical film). Untitled shows New York City Ballet dancers repeating their moves over and over until they get into the elegance of an unforced rhythm. They dip out of the frame and surge back in, but at times their athletic exertions come into a formal equilibrium – an apt metaphor for an artist if you look at it that way, materials and ideas eventually shedding the difficulty of their formation and coming into a seamless grace. 
 

(*Images, from top to bottom:  Elad Lassry, She Takes These Pictures of His Wife Silhouetted on a Hillside, November 3 - December 15, 2007; Cherry and Martin, Hollywood Bowl, Fog,  2007, c-print, framed, 11 1/2 x 14 1/2 in, Courtesy Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles.  Elad Lassry, She Takes These Pictures of His Wife Silhouetted on a Hillside, November 3 - December 15, 2007; Cherry and Martin, Joanne and Trace, No Distractions B2, 2007, silkscreen on magazine pages, framed, 13 1/2 x 21 1/4 in, Courtesy Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles. Elad Lassry, She Takes These Pictures of His Wife Silhouetted on a Hillside, November 3 - December 15, 2007; Cherry and Martin, Untitled, 2007, still from a super 16mm color film, 13:27 minutes, Courtesy Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles.  Elad Lassry, She Takes These Pictures of His Wife Silhouetted on a Hillside, November 3 - December 15, 2007; Cherry and Martin, Untitled, 2007, still from a super 16mm color film, 13:27 minutes, Courtesy Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles.)

- Ed Schad