Peter Alexander	Lisa Bartleson	Edith Baumann	Larry Bell
Walead Beshty	Juan Capistran	Mary Corse	Laddie John Dill
Spencer Finch	David French	Brian Getnick	Steve Hough
Kristin Klosterman	Paul McCarthy	John McCracken	Andy Moses
Bruce Nauman	Claudia Parducci	Ed Ruscha

Essay by Max Presneill, 2011:
As a prelude to the gigantic history lesson that is the Getty's magnificent Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945-1980, we at TAM decided to construct a two part response - to investigate two very different aspects of the art of Los Angeles, at either ends of the historical parameters of Pacific Standard Time. The first segment starts here in January 2011 with What's New Pussycat? (WNP) and the second section, G2G, this time next year.

For WNP we are introducing a theme of continuation. The moments of discovery and the development of bodies of work of those artist's who fill the recent history of Los Angeles, as viewed by Pacific Standard Time, is not one of isolation and of discrete endings but rather is an ongoing investigation. In WNP we are pairing a range of those original contributors with some younger artists who have found new reason to propel those earlier practices forward via their own. The dialogue for all of these artists has changed and mutated but has remained vibrant and one can see the reflections of this around the schools, galleries and museums of Southern California. Those concerns and the solutions found by each has helped to formulate the art of this area and is worth acknowledging in an exhibition such as WNP. Our intention then is to examine the continued relevance of those years and how they have shaped and continue to shape art here and now, as Los Angeles expands its influence as a major art city of the world, onto new generations and geographies.

WNP will highlight the starting point of most discussions of California art from the 1960's by the presentation of some of those artists who formed that core grouping of Light & Space and its fascination with perception, with the light particular to California, as well as those materials such as glass, resin, plastic. The demands of space and time have forced us to be selective of whom to include but should in no way indicate a rejection or a lesser appreciation for those we know have been left out of this particular version.

At some point in the early 1960's a group of artists, centered around the beat-up surf town of Venice, the decayed bulwark against the sea, began experimenting with their materials in reaction to a fascination with the atmosphere and luminosity that is the southern California sky and become known as Light & Space from the UCLA exhibition titled Transparency, Reflection, Light, Space, in 1971. Los Angeles being somewhat of a sleepy backwater in the art world at that time perhaps lent a hand to this something that sauntered away from the influence of New York at that time and used those familiar elements to construct a new way of looking, a new preoccupation with color and the act of perception. The intersection with the Californian version of Conceptual Art also helped in the amalgamation that is Los Angeles and its way of doing things to produce other artists engaged with distinctly LA based themes and attitudes. This vibrant little art world grew and came to encompass artists who broke new ground with Assemblage, Text art, Performance and other areas. It was the beginning of the long road to world class status that we have come today to recognize.

As these artists grew to prominence, alongside the city itself, to become important markers of the cultural set for the late 20th century and early 21st century we can see some of those investigations have lured the attention of younger artists into following through with some of those earlier experiments. This exhibition unites a few of those original artists with emerging artists who have trawled the same oceans – casting their nets deep over the same waters, while knowing that the water itself is perpetually in motion and therefore is now different than that which flowed past before.

Still. Things change, especially here. The skies of LA are cleaner now, crisper than they were. Color is still that peculiar mix in the sky. Sometimes cold and clear, a sense of clarity and sometimes hot, too bright, scouring the streets clean and killing shadows. At other times a soft glow of warmth, shifting minute by minute with the pinks, oranges and yellows as the sun bolts down over the sea ending the short day and sending LA to the neon evenings and early nights. The art produced here often cannot be separated from this aspect of the city but the myriad of directions and influences present in Los Angeles art now have exploded outward, have mutated and merged, have become something other.

This exhibition is not a regurgitation of the Light & Space thang but a consideration of some of the key elements that emerged during that time and how those artists have moved forward with their inquiries and their relationship to some younger artists who have maintained some of those directions, whilst incorporating some of the other developments that have come to signify Los Angeles art

This is the new LA. A mega-opolis of the world, one of the most dynamic art cities in the world now and a place where drive and ambition are welcomed, where the past, forever close by in this short-memory town, has built upon itself and continues to encourage risks, to strive to equal the Hollywood machine as the cultural center of life here and that no longer looks longingly towards the East Coast but has settled into the glow of its own coming of age.

The second part of our diptych of shows will be From Gangs to Galleries - The Development of Street Art in California and will target the cross cultural backgrounds and influences that have shaped Los Angeles art – from the early Latin gang cultures use of grafitti through surf/skate culture appropriation of those, Kustom Kar and tattoo design, the Los Angeles muralists and on to todays Street Art. This will provide the logical bookend to Pacific Standard Time, if in reverse, encapsulating influences both leading to and from the period that Pacific Standard Time encompasses.

On view January 22 - March 5, 2011

VideoRow
Artist: Davida Nemeroff

On view from January 22 - March 5, 2011

BAKER'S DOZEN
Main Gallery & Gallery 2
September 18 - November 9, 2010

Artists:

Baker's Dozen is an annual survey of the zeitgeist of Los Angeles contemporary art. In bringing together these 13 artists we feel that a reflection on current directions in art here in SoCal can be gleaned from the inter-relationships of themes and materials presented in the works of art. To some degree it reflects our own preconceptions and bias, of course, be we hope that on a deeper level we are locating a number of important nexus points of artistic endeavor.

Rise of RAD
Main Gallery
July 24 - September 4, 2010

Erupting from the Californian surf scene and branching out into music, language, street art and street clothing, skateboard culture has spanned the globe with its focus on individuality, freedom and a transgressive mixture of sport and play. This exhibition will focus on contemporary art that can trace its roots to this sub-culture-gone-mainstream, exploring urban architecture, resistance, and the core values of the skate phenomenon through the matrix of urban theory and politics. It will utilize theoretical, historical, sociological and contemporary art facets to fully explore how a Californian children's toy went through technological advances that led to a revolution throughout youth culture and, in turn, spread to the world and impacted culture from the street to the museum.

Juan Aizpitarte

Steven Bankhead

Sandow Birk

Olafur Eliason

Shaun Gladwell

Jonhston Foster

Katharina Grosse

Lia Halloran

Andrew Lewicki

Albert Oehlen

Jonathan Rockford

Paul Rusconi

Matthew Schenning

Josh Smith

Thaddeus Strode

Zimmerman