Regen Projects is pleased to announce an exhibition of new paintings and works on paper by Lari Pittman. This exhibition will present seven large-scale paintings, 3 mid-size paintings, and 17 works on paper. Pittman’s operatic, intricate, multi-layered works synthesize figuration and abstraction to create a unique vocabulary. Each work is composed as a web of interconnections, overlays, and interlockings that resonate on both a visual and conceptual level. The meanings that unfold are emotional, social, philosophical, and above all else, intensely personal.

In these new works, a rough, dark, and unsettled undercurrent is present. A formal and conceptual tension exists – an antithetical dynamic structured by the co-existence of numerous dichotomies. This simultaneity of opposites is illustrated in the themes found within the works: somber/celebratory, death/life, beautiful/ugly, utopic/dystopic, sublime/profane, radiant/contaminated. Formally, Pittman’s paintings are also structured by dichotomies – abstraction/figuration, personal imagery/broad cultural signs, reality/illusion. Within this play of opposites, a tension is created that draws the viewer in and invites them to explore the event unfolding before them.

Pittman’s works are a visual stimulation that seduces and unsettles both the eye and the psyche. In his compositions, images are not arranged traditionally around a central focus. Rather, they are placed expansively – essential elements run laterally across the surface, or dot the perimeter, or sprawl in a dazzling array all over. The surface of the works is multifaceted and the image field appears to be constantly shifting and reinventing itself. This visual cacophony is not accidental but carefully calculated with acute attention to formal properties and rooted in Pittman’s own discourse with the history of modernist painting.

“A native of Los Angeles, Lari Pittman’s densely layered oeuvre has primarily been read through the long shadow of his hometown…While Pittman has coyly exploited this regional affiliation as one element of his artistic arsenal, the unique “look” of his painting – with their garish color schemes, seemingly ‘eccentric’ imagery, and unbridled use of ornament – can not only be attributed to their Los Angeles-ness. Beyond style or iconography, Pittman seems to borrow something else from his place of residence. As cultural critic Mike Davis suggests, Los Angeles captures the imagination because of its polarity. Sunshine and noir; rich and poor; the spectacular and the vernacular – L.A. runs on an engine of opposites. Extrapolating from this energy, Pittman has harnessed a similar polarizing dynamic in his work.” (Alison M. Gingeras. “Polarized: The Recent Work of Lari Pittman” in Lari Pittman, published by Villa Arson, Nice, 2005, pp. 24-25)