The new series at Okay Mountain is titled “No American Talent” in loving tribute to Arthouse’s annual “New American Talent” show, which is limited to “all-American” artists. In its series, Okay Mountain – which has used satirical exhibition titles in the past – is showcasing artists from outside our borders to demonstrate that the primacy of art and appreciation of good visual technique does not require a shared language.
This Friday, Jan. 12, the series opens with Benito Laren from Argentina. In this solo show, former chemist Laren has digitally printed images that include outer space, stadiums, airplanes, fish, stars, cows, and parachutes. Some of them look akin to Atari graphics due to the large areas of black sky and bits of bright colors. The gallery’s Web site accurately describes his work as “framed by an irreverent tone towards the figure of the artist and of art itself.” His style combines the sensibility of Joan Miró, the sense of scale of a surrealist, and the graphic pastel flatness from around 1980 with a highly cultivated feeling of childlike optimism. As flat, black, and mysterious as some of his works are, they are never gloomy. Laren’s use of a low tech design aesthetic or “arte lite” has a kitschy social quality that mixes well with odd sci-fi characters and his rainbow palette. Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro, curator of Latin American art at the Blanton Museum, and assistant curator Ursula Davila introduced the Okay Mountaineers to Laren’s work and helped facilitate the show, so in addition to the exhibition, Laren will present and discuss his work on Tuesday, Jan. 16, at the Blanton. (For more information, call 471-8984.)
Part two is the brainchild of Okay Mountaineer Justin Goldwater. “Dark Matter: New Work From Japan” is based on work he saw during recent visits to Tokyo. The artists who ignited his attentions were radical and melancholy simultaneously. Think of a powerful stag with an impotent club foot or a darkly shaded portrait, the face obscured with a hoodie but with radiant, glowing teeth. These are elegant, realistic drawings that have a thoughtfully creepy edge. The show is mostly drawings, with some paintings, sculpture, and animations, all by six artists: Nobuhiro Ishihara, Akino Kondoh, Ginjiro Mawatari, Ryo Mizuno, Genrou Miyake, and Daisuke Nagaoka. “No American Talent” will end in April with a solo show by Basim Magdy from Cairo, Egypt. Curator Regine Basha turned the Okay Mountaineers on to his work. This series is all-new work from three very different parts of the world. Visual arts have the power to transcend language barriers. It’s inspiring to see Okay Mountain use that power.
“No American Talent I: Benito Laren” runs Jan. 12-20, Friday, 7-10pm; Saturday, noon-5pm; and Wednesday, 7-9pm, at Okay Mountain, 1312 E. Cesar Chavez, Ste. B. For more information, visit www.okaymountain.com.
This article appears in January 12 • 2007.