@delaplane
Trickster Makes The World is a two person exhibition featuring new work from Los Angeles-based Michael Bala & Bay Area-based Gay Outlaw.
As it was thought you could not pray before you laugh, the Trickster, a lighthearted, and contemplative person, traditionally performed before religious and spiritual ceremonies, thus opening a door to ascension. That ascension being freedom from rigid preconceptions.
Through their individual interpretations of domestic objects, Bala and Outlaw encourage you to reconsider these objects as important or something to behold. Mailboxes, keyholes & keys, latex gloves, and cardboard. All of which take center stage under the light of Bala and Outlaw.
Materials such as stone, glass, & metal, all live as prop, or ingredient in their respective practices, making normal objects holy, or toy-like, and at times appearing almost edible. Giving a brief nod to Outlaw's previous life as a formally trained pastry chef.
We invite you to explore the manipulated world[s] of two artists from different generations working in tandem.
Does an unusable object, existing as a stand-in make it any less real?
An illusory experience
Things not being what they seem
Hard appearing soft
Wonder in turn
Michael Bala
b. 1994 Maui, HI.
Michael Angelo Bala’s practice begins with the acquisition of material: unopened envelopes, unemployed tools, and lockless keys are transformed into playful sculptures. This obsessive accumulation of discarded objects is not a thoughtless compulsion but is instead the result of a profound sensitivity to things otherwise forgotten. These static objects are reanimated through Bala’s care, replete with memory and meaning. In their movement from floor to gallery wall, the found objects are literally elevated from detritus to items of contemplation and connection.
Text by Isabel Casso
Michael Angelo Bala currently lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. Bala earned his BA from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Recent solo and group exhibitions include Red Ball at The Line Hotel, Los Angeles, CA (2020) and Street View at Park View / Paul Soto, Los Angeles, CA (2020).
Gay Outlaw
b. 1959 Mobile, Alabama
In a career of over 25 years, Gay Outlaw has examined relationships of sculpture and picture-making, especially photography. She interweaves formal abstraction with 2-D techniques of illusions, opening up possibilities within traditions of artistic production. While respectful of traditional processes—her practice includes educating herself in lesser-known techniques—the artist delights in subverting the expected result. Outlaw realizes her abstract forms in a challenging mix of materials including glass, plastic, felt, and found materials like pencils or rubber hoses; at times, she has employed food in her sculptures. Even as a fan of minimalism, she offers viewers new relationships to formal art, taking them beyond its past rigors.
Outlaw’s work has been shown nationally with exhibitions at the Sculpture Center in New York; the University Art Museum, Cal State Long Beach; Mills College; the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art; and SFMoMA, where she received the SECA Award. Her artworks are in the collections of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, SFMoMA and the Berkeley Art Museum. In 2020, she completed a significant permanent commission for the San Francisco Airport.
The gallery will have an in person opening on July 10 from 7-10 pm.
Please follow the link below if you would like to reserve a 30-minute private viewing at a later date.
Reservations must be made at least 24 hours in advance:
http://calendly.com/delaplane/trickster
Proper face covering is required upon entry.