ARTISTS USE PHOTOGRAPHY
Los Angeles
30 March – 11 May 2019

EXHIBITION VIEWS

WORKS EXHIBITED

ERIC BELL & KRISTOFFER FRICK, STEVE BISHOP, ANTOINE CATALA, JOHN MILLER, KAYODE OJO, MARTHA ROSLER, ANALIA SABAN, SUNG TIEU, PHILIPP TIMISCHL

JM 
More specifically, Alex Alberro argues that the informational status of conceptual art corresponded not to dematerialization, but to the then-emergent forms of advanced capital. But, even if you don’t believe in capitalism or in the critique of capitalism, it’s hard, even impossible, to extricate yourself from its contradictions. You’re still stuck. I think we’re in a dynamic period right now. The old model was that the avant-garde distilled art and democratized it, but then the public hated that because they wanted to see masterpieces and genius. To some extent it still does, but now there’s another relationship where the public—and by that I mean museum-going nonexperts and nonprofessionals—looks at artworks and says, “Well, this is just like what we’re doing anyway, and we like it too.” I, of course, don’t embrace the old position of mastery; but now that seems to be a moot point. If the public is in agreement with you—

LG 
The fact that everyone has joined you with their cameras should be a good thing, but we know it’s not. But why isn’t it a good thing?

JM 
It’s the photographic abyss or the technological sublime. Sometimes you have good days, sometimes bad. […]

Praz-Delavallade Los Angeles is pleased to present Artists Use Photography, a group exhibition that considers the photographic medium as a malleable resource, exemplified by the practices of Eric Bell & Kristoffer Frick, Steve Bishop, Antoine Catala, John Miller, Kayode Ojo, Martha Rosler, Analia Saban, Sung Tieu and Phillip Timischl.

The exhibition’s title was borrowed from a 1976 exhibition of the same name presented at Hallwalls in Buffalo NY. In keeping with the nature of the original exhibition, the works presented in this show exploit the potential nature of the photographic medium beyond conceptual and material boundaries.

Curated by Anthony Salvador

Eric Bell & Kristoffer Frick were born in 1985 in St. Catharines, Canada and in Nürtingen, Germany, they live and work in Berlin, Germany. Their work has recently been exhibited at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2018); Iceberg Projects, Chicago (2018); KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2017); Kunstverein Munich (2012). In 2014 they were residents at the MAK Center for Art and Architecture in Los Angeles.

Steve Bishop was born in 1983 in Toronto, Canada, and lives and works in London, United Kingdom. His work is currently on view in a solo exhibition titled Start Over Every Morning at Kunstverein Braunschweig (2019). Recent solo exhibitions include KW Institute of Contemporary Art, Berlin (2018); Frankfurt am Main, Berlin (2017); Carlos/Ishikawa (2015). Recent group exhibitions include Galeria Jaqueline Martins, São Paulo (2018); Bureau Des Réalités, Brussels (2018); Bureau, New York (2017).

Antoine Catala was born in 1975 in Toulouse, France, and lives and works in New York. He was the subject for exhibitions at the Musée D’Art Contemporain, Lyon (2015); Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (2015) and included in the Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art, Latvia (2018); New Museum Triennial (2015). His work has been exhibited at Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster, Germany (2018); Kunsthalle Mainz, Germany (2018); Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago (2018); The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (2018); Public Art Fund, New York (2017); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2017); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2015); and the Dallas Museum of Art (2015). Catala’s work will be included in May You Live In Interesting Times, the 58th International Art Exhibition curated by Ralph Rugoff and organized by La Biennale di Venezia, Venice (2019).

John Miller was born in 1954 in Cleveland, Ohio, and lives and works in New York and Berlin. In 2016, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, presented the first major American survey of his work. Miller has also had one-person exhibitions at institutions such as the Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2011); Kunsthalle Zürich (2009); Musée d’art moderne et contemporain, Geneva (2004); Magasin Centre National d’Art Contemporain, Grenoble, France (1999); Kunstverein Hamburg (1999); and White Columns, New York (1992). His work has been included in major group exhibitions at the MAMCO Geneva (2018), Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2014), New Museum, New York (2013); MoMA PS1, New York (2013); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2012); and Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid (2010). His work was included in the Whitney Biennial (1991), the Gwangju Biennale (2010) and the 33rd Bienal de São Paulo (2018). His writing and criticism have appeared in Artforum, e-flux, and Texte Zur Kunst and has been compiled in the publications The Price Club: Selected Writings, 1977-1996 (JRP Editions and the Consortium, 2000) and The Ruin of Exchange (Geneva and Dijon: JRP-Ringier and les Presses du Reel, 2012).

Kayode Ojo was born in 1990 in Cookeville, Tennessee, and lives and works in New York, NY. Recent exhibitions include Martos Gallery, New York (2018); Sweetwater, Berlin (2018); Galerie Balice Hertling, Paris (2018); and Paula Cooper (with Zoe Leonard), New York (2018). His work has been written about recently in Art in America, Art Review, Cura., the New York Times, Studio magazine (Studio Museum, Harlem) and Flash Art amongst others.

Martha Rosler was born in 1943 in Brooklyn, New York where she currently lives and works. She has had solo exhibitions at various institutions, internationally and in the US, including The Jewish Museum, New York (2018); the Seattle Museum of Art, Seattle (2016); the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2012); The Centro José Guerrero, Granada, Spain (2009-10); the Centre Pompidou, Paris (2007); the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford (1990); and the Dia Art Foundation, New York (1989). She has been included in numerous group exhibitions at institutions such as The Brooklyn Museum, New York (2015); The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2015); the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain (2013); the LA Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA (2011); and the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY (2008). Rosler has also published 17 books of photography, art, and writing, in several languages. She received the Guggenheim Museum Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010.

Analia Saban was born in 1980 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and lives and works in Los Angeles, California. Her work was recently the focus of solo exhibitions at the Qiao Space, Shanghai (2018) and Blaffer Art Museum, Houston, Texas (2016). Recent group exhibitions include the Marciano Art Foundation, Los Angeles (2019); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2019); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2017); Aïshti Foundation, Beirut (2017); Museum of Contemporary Art, Oslo (2015); and Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2013). In March 2019, Saban will be the subject of a solo exhibition at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas.

Sung Tieu was born in 1987 in Hai Duong, Vietnam, and lives and works in London, UK and Berlin, Germany. She will be the subject of solo projects at Museum Arts Maebashi, Maebashi, Japan (2019); Flat Time House, London (2019) and Fragile, Berlin (2019). Her work has been included in exhibitions at Piper Keys, London (2019); Asian Film Archive, Singapore (2019); Manggha Museum of Japanese Art and Technology, Krakow (2018); Kunstverein Nürnberg, Germany (2018) and the Royal Academy of Arts, London (2018, 2017). In 2019 she will present her latest research at Tate Britain, as part of a symposium coinciding with the Don McCullin Retrospective at the museum. She was also shortlisted for the Arts Foundation Awards in 2019 and will take part in the NTU CCA Singapore Residency at the end of the year.

Philipp Timischl was born in 1989 in Graz, Austria and lives and works in Vienna, Austria. He has been the subject of solo-exhibitions at various institutions including Secession, Vienna (2018); Halle für Kunst, Lüneburg, Germany (2016); and Künstlerhaus, Graz, Austria (2014). His work has been included in group exhibitions at the Belvedere, Vienna (2017); Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2015); Zendai Zhujiajiao Art Museum, Shanghai (2016); KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2016); Moderne Museet, Stockholm (2015); and Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2015). In 2019 he was a resident at the MAK Center for Art and Architecture in Los Angeles.