For Immediate Release:  December 29, 2010

Beacon Arts Presents
Pieceable Kingdom
A Seven Artist Exhibition Curated by David Pagel
Saturday, February 5, 2011 – Sunday, March 20, 2011

LOS ANGELES, CA — Beacon Arts continues its Critics-as-Curators series with Pieceable Kingdom curated by art critic David Pagel, opening Saturday, February 5, 2011. The exhibition features works in a range of media by seven artists – Erin Cosgrove, Asad Faulwell, Maxwell Hendler, Laura Krifka, Mimi Lauter, Devin Troy Strother, and Matt Wedel –  who capture the complexity of everyday life by giving form to its down-to-earth beauty and uplifting ordinariness, its tribulations and triumphs, its pleasures and pains. As a group, they piece things together, sometimes literally and sometimes figuratively, creating singular pieces that are complete unto themselves yet also openly invite all sorts of stories, from other times and places, to echo across their sensuous surfaces.

Pieceable Kingdom runs from Saturday, February 5, 2011 to Sunday, March 20, 2011.  Exhibition special events include an opening reception on Saturday February 5, 6:00 – 9:00pm, an artists’ panel discussion on Sunday, March 6, which starts at 2:00pm, and a closing reception on Sunday, March 20, 1:00 – 4:00pm, which will include a catered brunch and a critics’ panel discussion.  Beacon Arts is located at 808 N. La Brea Ave., Inglewood, CA 90302.  Regular gallery hours are from 1:00pm to 6:00pm Thursday through Saturday, Sundays 1:00pm – 4:00pm.  All Pieceable Kingdom events are free.  For additional information please call 310-621-5416 or visit http://www.beaconartsbuilding.com as well as http://www.facebook.com/pages/Inglewood-CA/Beacon-Arts-Building/129817703733091?v=info.  For additional Pieceable Kingdom photos, please see http://gallery.me.com/lynnhasty#100096.

Pieceable Kingdom Curator’s Statement –
Pieceable Kingdom is about the relationship between the past and the present, particularly the way that contemporary reality sometimes seems to be connected to the past by having fallen away from it. This seven-artist show refers to the Biblical idea of the Peaceable Kingdom by way of a misspelling to suggest that age-old ideas often take shape in the present in ways that distort their original meanings, calling them to mind while signaling the unbridgeable distance between the world they were once a part of and the present, which is different — for better and for worse. The rapid pace of modern life has a lot to do with these changes. The same goes for the sheer number of images that bombard our eyeballs and brains, making it easy for attention spans to diminish, perhaps beyond the point of no return. But even more is due to the increasing volume—and increasing brevity—of everyday communication, which leaves more room for misinterpretation and misunderstanding.

“Mujahidat #4” by Asad Faulwell
(courtesy Dean Valentine Collection)

People seem to be increasingly comfortable with what I think of as “horseshoes and hand-grenades” language: a sloppy looseness of choosing words and phrases that are not exactly right for conveying the sentiments and intentions of the writer or speaker, but close enough to get the general idea across—at least until the next message comes back, asking what the first one meant, demanding clarification, or revealing that the damage has been done and that there’s no way to go forward because it’s too time-consuming and annoying to have to hear everything two or three times. The Tower of Babel may not exist, but its spirit seems to inhabit the atmosphere around every cell tower and satellite.

The upside to this potentially grim situation is that it opens up some space in which unusually inventive artists can play fast and loose with business as usual, transforming misperceptions into insights, turning misinterpretations into magnificently mixed-messages, and twisting misunderstandings into multilayered revelations — not those of the Bible but ones within arm’s reach, right here and right now. – David Pagel

“The River” by Laura Krifka

David Pagel, Critic-as-Curator –
David Pagel writes regularly for the Los Angeles Times.  He is an associate professor of art theory and history at Claremont Graduate University and an adjunct curator at the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton, NY.  Pagel has published catalog essays for such artists as Wendell Gladstone, Darren Waterston, Ron Nagle, and Michael Reafsnyder. He was the recipient of an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship in Contemporary Arts Criticism in 1990 and was a Macgeorge Fellow at the University of Melbourne, Australia in 2002. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Pagel

Critics-as-Curators Series –
Critics-as-Curators is the inaugural art exhibition series at Beacon Arts.  In recognition of the gallery’s first year, esteemed art critics and writers — recognized locally, nationally and internationally — have been invited to conceive and curate shows of their choosing at the Beacon Arts Building in conjunction with discussions, lectures, catalogues, or other ways to reveal the thought process behind why exhibition works are chosen with insight into their importance to the curator. The individual expertise and personal taste developed by the curators’ world-view will be on exhibit throughout Beacon Arts’ first year. Critics-as-Curators strives to enrich appreciation of contemporary fine art by critically engaging in art. This series of shows provides a wonderful opportunity for artists and art audiences to learn what individual critics look for, how they think about the art they choose to focus on, and what catches their eye. The series kicked off in October 2010 with Ghost Stories: Happenings, Hauntings, & Curiosities curated by art writer Shana Nys Dambrot.

2011 Exhibition Schedule + Other Events:

•    12/10/10 – 1/30/11 – Densities: Line Becoming Shape, Shape Becoming Object curated by Peter Frank
– press release:  https://www.greengalactic.com/2010/beacon-arts-densities

•    2/5/11 – 3/20/11 – Pieceable Kingdom curated by David Pagel

•    2/26/11 – Ad Hoc #2: David Watson *
Also in February, The Society for the Activation of Social Space through Art and Sound (SASSAS) is presenting Ad Hoc #2: David Watson, a sonic exploration of the Beacon Arts 4th floor on Saturday, February 26th.  Watson, a New York-based experimental music bagpiper, is creating a unique score for a group of local musicians, which will encourage the movement of the musicians in the space and interplay between the sounds created and the listening audience.

•    3/26/11 – 5/22/11 – ARATALAND: A Mid-Career Survey of Artworks by Michael Arata curated by Doug Harvey

•    5/28/11 – 7/3/11 – TEL-ART-PHONE curated by Mat Gleason

•    Future BAB exhibitions TBD

* non-Critics-as-Curators events

Beacon Arts –
A brand-new, risk-taking fine arts enterprise, housed within the iconic Beacon Arts Building, the venture offers innovative art programming to enrich the cultural landscape of Los Angeles. Its primary directive is to provide and maintain the integrity of an exhibition space for contemporary art by Southern California artists working in all media, including painting, sculpture, installation, video, and performance art. Works by both emerging and established artists will be presented in an effort to provide a variety of ideas in different forms that both challenge and inspire. As a catalyst and advocate for new ideas, the endeavor enriches public understanding and appreciation of contemporary fine art by creating conversations through special events, lectures, symposia, and panel discussions with intellectual commentary on exhibitions. Exhibiting artists are encouraged to forge new relationships and learn from arts professionals through programming such as the gallery’s inaugural Critics-as-Curators series – consecutive shows conceived and curated by art writers and critics. This series runs through the first year of the space, from October 2010 to October 2011.

Beacon Arts Building –
The 32,400-square-foot Beacon Arts Building is an iconic four-story, solid reinforced concrete structure located in the heart of the burgeoning Inglewood Arts District. Having stored inanimate items for close to sixty years, originally as the legendary Bekins Moving and Storage Company, this dramatic, 1951 edifice is now transforming into a springboard for artistic expression.  In addition to ground floor gallery and retail spaces, the building offers a gorgeous New York warehouse-style environment for professional artists, with spaces in various sizes up to 8,000 square feet with 11’6” ceilings.  It has a high rear loading facility, large freight elevator, WiFi availability, and sprinkler system throughout. Beacon Arts Building sits prominently on La Brea Avenue, located just 11 minutes south of the 10 Freeway (I-10). On-site parking is available or found on the adjacent streets. For further information about availabilities in the Beacon Arts Building, please contact Scott Lane at 310-576-3543 or scottlaneco@yahoo.com.

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For more information, images, and interviews please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada (née Hasty) at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.

Beacon Arts Building (photo credit: Dave Teel Photography)