Doug Aitken
Saturday, 6 September 2014
Work from Still Life at Regen Projects.
“Regen Projects is pleased to present Still Life, an exhibition of new work by Los Angeles-based artist Doug Aitken. Spanning a variety of media encompassing photography, sculpture, publications, sound, and single and multi-channel video installations, Aitken’s work explores the modern landscape and posits possibilities for new uncharted frontiers. This exhibition, the artist’s fourth solo presentation at Regen Projects, will feature an installation of new sculptural objects within a labyrinthine space designed to create an experience of unexpected encounters and a sense of mystery and discovery for the viewer to navigate.
Taking its name from the traditional concept of nature morte, Aitken’s Still Life presents an immersive environment where place and time dissolves, where the individual exists adrift in an electrically charged space. Wending their way through the gallery, viewers are confronted with a series of signs and symbols that at first glance appear familiar but upon closer inspection reveal their foreign nature. A series of internally illuminated light box sculptures hover on the gallery walls. Combining text and image into physical form, they each represent the crystallization of an idea captured from the frenetic modern landscape.
Among the other works featured in the exhibition is a cast public pay phone bathed in a luminous glow. Appearing as a relic of a bygone era and removed from its everyday function the work becomes a vessel emitting interactive light that brightens or dims depending on the viewer’s proximity to its surface. A sonic fountain combines water and sound creating a visceral optical and auditory experience. A hexagonal sculpture features a collage photo of an aerial view of the LA freeway system infinitely reflected in a series of mirrors, creating a kaleidoscopic vision. Existing as a series of ruptures, the works in Aitken’s subconscious twilight terrain unfold in a parallel of time and space, perceptually suspended in time.” – Regen Projects