“Edge of the Sun,” Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles
February 24 to June 1, 2024
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Nearly half of Los Angeles’ population identified as Hispanic or Latinx in the 2020 U.S. Census, but the city’s blue-chip galleries rarely exhibit, let alone formally represent, Latinx artists — a trend that Reflects the American art market more broadly. At his Los Angeles gallery space, Jeffrey Deitch set out to remedy this shortcoming with his project “Edge of the Sun,” an exhibition that brought together 12 Los Angeles-based artists. Crucially, “Edge of the Sun” was not billed as a show of Latino art, but rather a thematic group show unlike any other the gallery had staged. Some of the artists featured have previously worked with Jeffrey Deitch or other galleries of equal caliber, but for many of them this is their first time showing in a blue-chip space like this. In a sense, this exhibition is more than just an exhibition: it is also a springboard for future success. The Jeffrey Deitch solo show finally took place after at least one alumnus who participated in the exhibition, Alfonso Gonzalez Jr., appeared here.
To mount this exhibition, the gallery did not adopt the usual model of assigning curators or in-house dealers to form a roster of artists that fit the theme. Instead, 12 artists worked together to design the exhibition and viewed the exhibition as a collective effort. Together, they thought about the places they frequented within Los Angeles—such as Bar Nuevo Jalisco, a gay nightclub in downtown Los Angeles—and found creative ways to honor them and, in the process, resist stereotypes about the city .
This artist-first approach resists attempts to define a single aesthetic, representing a variety of mediums and thematic concerns. Large-scale mixed-media installations by Guadalupe Rosales, Alfonso Gonzalez Jr. and Mario Ayala, among others, with Rafa ·rafa esparza, Jamie Muñoz, Michael Alvarez and Ozzie Juarez paintings blend into one. Elsewhere there are small sculptures by Karla Ekaterine Canseco, Diana Yesenia Alvarado, Gabriela Ruiz and Maria Maea. Shizu Saldamando presents portraits of all artists in a meta gesture. Saldamando’s paintings were created over the past few years and are a visual record of the sense of community that went into the making of the exhibition.
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Honorable Mention: “Means of Production,” organized by Lunch Hour Collective (Do Tuong Linh, Lily Jue Shen, Serena Chang)
“Means of Production” was held not in a commercial gallery in Chelsea or Tribeca, but in a factory in Flushing, Queens, home to Sheerly Touch-Ya and Thirteen Five. The exhibition is closely related to the history of the building. Sheerly Touch-Ya was founded by Taiwanese immigrant James Chang, and Thirteen Houses was founded by his daughter Serena, who worked in Urs Fischer’s studio. Recognizing this family lineage of bringing art and fashion together, curatorial collective Lunch Hour, which includes Serena, has displayed the work of 75 New York artists in the building. At a time when many New York galleries are closing, alternative settings and unusual curatorial styles, along with sculptures stacked around sock bins, serve as creative means of showcasing the work of young artists. Exhibitions like this one, held in unconventional spaces and charged with eccentricity, are one way to advance the conversation around contemporary art practice and experimentation.
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