Irreverent Objects
Opening: April 10, 2021 Show runs: April 10 -May 7

What does it mean to be irreverent? Is irreverence a momentary, fleeting state of being where we find ourselves veering away from seriousness as a means of coping with life’s constant and unrelenting challenges? Or maybe sometimes we all just need a bit of cheekiness in the name of good fun. Either way, we should all be irreverent at least once in our lives. In this spirit, Wonzimer Gallery presents a group show of sculptures and drawings that speak in equal parts to notions of playfulness and seriousness, strength and fragility, capricious humor and dramatic intent.

Waylon Dobson’s elegantly crafted ceramic sculptures are divinely understated, monochromatic investigations into both form and content where the central idea behind the work is often deliberately subverted. Working with familiar iconography including a chair, a scythe and cornstalks, Dobson describes his interest in objects where the composition is driven by metaphor and “poses a threat to itself.” Working primarily in ceramic and bronze, Dobson explores the inherent tension between these two materials – ceramic being delicate and fragile juxtaposed against the cold and unforgiving materiality of bronze.

In opposition to this impulse are Retro 1999’s fiercely enigmatic sculptures made from metal, concrete, resin and found objects, that mimic dreamscapes. Drawn from the pulse of LA street life, Retro’s sculptures are more experiences of urban life than they are static objects.

Quintessentially and deliberately obtuse, Retro’s strange amalgamations celebrate both life and death within the scope of a single object.

Eve Wood’s drawings and found objects are equally sardonic investigations into modern life and the thinly veiled absurdist gesture; working with familiar objects including boxing gloves and tiny figurines of dog’s pissing, Wood’s sculptures use humor and the surreal as a means of touching on deeper more complex psychological concerns​.

Natalie Westbrook’s large-scale figurative grisaille drawings carve out light from the cavernous darkness of the paper, as though the image could be made visible by twilight, or by a flashlight from outside the painting, illuminating the secrets of the night. The tension of concealing/revealing, and the material/ethereal, are themes in the work that play on the larger archetype of “struggle”. Adopting the Baroque tradition of movement, sensuality, desire and tactility, the works seek to evoke our reality as a reflection through the looking glass - as though a vivid living dream or strangely tactile nightmare.

Exhibiting Artists :

Eve Wood

Retro 1999

Waylon Dobson

Natalie Westbrook