Lari Pittman

Employing such decorative elements as scrolls, arrows and patterns, Los Angeles-based Lari Pittman--one of the most influential and challenging voices in contemporary painting--expertly directs our eye through his busy constellations of fragmented imagery (landscapes, domestic interiors, roots, flames, rope, spiderwebs), cobbling together a truly unique language. Critic Alex Farquharson has noted that Pittman's work is cut up, overlayered and elaborately stylized... The very excess of imagery in the paintings, and the innumerable narratives they spark off, has the comparable effect of flattening illusionistic depth. This echoes the horizontal sprawl of L.A.'s diverse communities, and the pluralistic languages of commerce and dwelling with which each gives its pitch and establishes its patch. This collection of works from 2005 to 2008 features texts by independent curator and writer Klaus Kertess and Anthony Vidler, Dean and Professor at The Cooper Union School of Architecture.