Thomas Solomon Gallery

Thomas Solomon Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new works by Los Angeles artist JOSH MANNIS. This is Mannis’ first solo exhibition with the gallery. The exhibition opens on Saturday, January 9, 2010 with a reception for the artist from 6 to 8 PM.

For his first solo exhibition in Los Angeles, VARIATIONS, Mannis will present a collection of works in different media that address issues of affirmation, presence and appropriation.  Within the framework of the public exhibition, Mannis explores the relationship of his engagement (the process of the works) to the viewers’ engagement.  He uses both performative and repetitive actions to create videos and drawings that call attention to what the artist describes as the state of “perfect containment” and “perfect excessiveness.”  Through repetitive movements (in the video) and those unseen (in the drawings), the artist establishes an overbearing visual experience that presents chains of repeated elements as a framework for a relationship between the viewer and the artwork; one that expands through the duration of viewing.  Through the presentation of idiosyncrasy and iconography in Variations, the artist asserts a unique duality of form and function that is as reliant on viewer participation as is the ubiquitous tree falling in the forest.

In High Noon 2, a similar attention to excessive detail creates an Op Art vibration, a physical (non-emotional) response to a performative act entirely reliant on the exchange of energy over the artwork/viewer threshold.  Riffing further on the idea of making a work as performative act, Every Day Comes and Goes presents to the viewer a simple, appropriated composition on polyester fabric, oriented like a painted or photographic composition.  Like the vibrations inherent in the video and drawings, this “painting” reacts to the viewer with a distinct shimmer produced by the eye in partnership with the offset pattern.  The social contract is framed by artwork presenting its “front” to the viewer, who in turn presents his/her “front” to the artwork on view.

Josh Mannis was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  He was educated at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL. (MFA 2005) and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.  Solo exhibitions include Dawn of Man, 40000, Chicago, IL (2006) and Iron Eagle, Small A Projects. Portland, OR (2006).  Mannis was included in Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock & Roll Since 1967, MCA, Chicago, (travelling 2007-09), and For Those About to Rock, The Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (2005).  Mannis lives and works in Los Angeles, California.