LOS ANGELES, CA.- "LATER LAYER", a site-specific installation designed by architects Johnston Marklee and artist Walead Beshty, will be on view at the Italian Cultural Institute (IIC) in Los Angeles from January 16-February 28, 2010. The installation will feature architectural models of Johnston Marklee’s work in Italy and Beshty’s photograms in the DEPART Foundation Collection. Presented as two connected projects, Johnston Marklee’s architectural models and Beshty’s photograms will be displayed throughout the gallery in a field of modular nesting boxes designed collaboratively by the artist and the architects. Sponsored by DEVELOP RE and presented by the DEPART Foundation and the IIC, "LATER LAYER" reflects the DEPART Foundation’s mission of fostering critical discourse and innovation in art, architecture and design. There will be an opening reception on January 15 at 7:00 pm at the IIC, located at 1023 Hilgard Avenue. "LATER LAYER", the title of the installation, refers to the serial aspect present in the strategies deployed by both architect and artist. The word ‘Later,’ which means ‘brick’ in Latin, alludes to Adolf Loos’ definition of an architect as ‘a bricklayer who had studied Latin;’ while also referring to the unit module and the serial rpetition in Johnston Marklee’s and Walead Beshty’s work respectively. Johnston Marklee’s contribution to the installation includes a series of elemental building blocks that form coherent groups of disparate masses designed to accommodate a variety of uses including art exhibition and production, creative businesses and residences. Walead Beshty uses photography to as a tool to explore the social and political conditions of our material culture with a focus on the social and political dimension of transitional spaces. His work in the DEPART Foundation Collection includes abstract photograms which question the principals of photography and visual culture as well as geometric glass sculptures dimensioned to fit inside FedEx containers where the cracks and fissures accrued from their own transportation become intrinsic content of the work.DEPART Foundation As an emerging arts organization predicated on the Discussion, Exhibition, and Production of Art; DEPART Foundation is dedicated to fostering an exchange in contemporary artistic production between Italy and the rest of the world. As part of this global mission, the Foundation has commissioned Los Angeles based architects Johnston Marklee to design buildings in Grottaferrata, Italy, Tuscany and Los Angeles for the first phase of its artists-in-residence program.
DEVELOP RE DEVELOP RE is a global real estate development company, headquartered in Rome, which specializes in building spaces for individuals who aspire to a creative and sustainable way of living and working. Founded by Italian art collector Pierpaolo Barzan, DEVELOP RE is committed to building deep and long lasting value in its projects. The company’s philosophy is influenced by the tenants in Italo Calvino’s book Six Memos for the Next Millennium including: lightness, quickness, exactitude, visibility, multiplicity and consistency. DEVELOP RE is currently working on a mixed use art/residential project outside of Rome, a commercial project in Tuscany, the renovation of the Baxter-Hodiak house in Los Angeles designed by architect John Lautner and the View House in Rosario Argentina.
Johnston Marklee Architects Since its founding in 1998, Los Angeles-based architects Johnston Marklee has designed award-winning residential, commercial, hospitality, and institutional projects in the United States, Argentina, China, Portugal, and Italy – with a particular focus to the arts and an inherent commitment to employing innovative building practices. Johnston Marklee has designed projects for global companies such as BP and Maison Martin Margiela, as well as art institutions such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles, the Lannan Foundation in Marfa Texas, and the DEPART Foundation in Rome. The firm’s principals have held teaching positions in Los Angeles, Zurich, and Berlin; and its work has been widely exhibited and published and garnered several international design awards (including several AIA awards, the Progressive Architecture Design Award, the American Architecture Award from the Chicago Athenaeum, and the Argentine Silver Medal of the Biennale).
Walead Beshty Walead Beshty (b. 1976, London, UK) is an artist and writer living and working in Los Angeles. Beshty has exhibited widely, including Tate Britain, London; The Whitney Museum of Modern Art, New York; and The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, in addition to solo exhibitions at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC; and P.S.1, Long Island City.
His work is currently on view in New Photography: 2009 at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and in his solo exhibition, Production Stills at Thomas Dane Gallery, London.
Beshty is associate professor in the Graduate Fine Art Department of Art Center College of Design. His writing has appeared in numerous publications, such as Artforum, Aperture, Texte zur Kunst, and Parkett.
In the spring of 2010, JRP/Ringier will publish a monograph of his work.
Italian Cultural Institute The Italian Cultural Institute in Los Angeles, located at 1023 Hilgard Avenue, is directed by Francesca Valente and is one of five government cultural agencies established in the United States by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Founded in 1984, the Institute acts as a cultural intermediary between Italy and the US, in a multifaceted perspective. IIC is a center for cultural and academic activities, a school of Italian language and culture, and a center for art exhibitions, film screenings and videos. It promotes the translation of Italian authors by encouraging local publishers and makes the public aware of Italian artists, as well as literary contests and awards.
