Benjamin Hirte / Group XXXVI, Apr 2013 - Sep 2013

SMILE

9/13/13 to 9/15/13

Mackey Apartments and Garages 1137 S. Cochran Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90019

Artist Benjamin Hirte presented two countering gestures in the apartment and garden he occupied during his residency. Both projects highlighted his impressions of Los Angeles, including reflections on privacy, monstrosity, cars, gardens, freeways, exclusivity, and meditation. His first project featured a large inflatable jumper (of the type used for children's parties), tropical in design and purposely oversized for the garden space. Somewhat under-inflated, the jumper became an evocative sculptural presence. Hirte also showed an artist's book he created consisting of accordion-folded pages. The stream-of-consciousness literary style, authors Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Richard Brautigan (both California writers), and the weaving methods and forms of Navajo rugs all inspired the book.