JOSH MANNIS – KNOWLEDGE OF THE FUTURE ESTATE
2016-11-14A fixture in the Los Angeles art scene, Josh Mannis is best known for his singular ink-on-paper drawings that revel in the obsessive-compulsive experience of creating work and the viewer’s absorption in looking. The show will present a new suite of these complex all-over compositions that feature the artist’s trademark fetishistic attention to surface. In his non-hierarchical approach to image—making, each element—every object, twisting baroque-posing figure and background-is equally insistent. The resulting image creates a shimmering, vibrating graphic effect.
This exhibition will also debut a new painting series by Mannis. These paintings allow for a broadening of the gestural mark and an expansion into color. As with the works on paper, the emphasis is on the experiential project of visual pleasure-the overwhelming optical effect of detailed patterns, colors and flourishes on the canvas. Thematically, these works describe an attempt to imagine a life of equilibrium in various forms, from Southern California culture to new age Orientalism. Mannis’ work is informed by a broad but interconnected range of art historical and contemporary cultural references.
Opposite – All Things Shining, 2016
Exhibition runs through to January 7th, 2017
M+B
612 North Almont Drive
Los Angeles
California
90069
