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Punch Surveys Sex, Celebrity, Religion And Self-Image
at Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles (through August 17)
Reviewed by Genie Davis
Curated by artist Nina Chanel Abney, Punch, at Jeffrey Deitch in mid-city, beautifully assaults the viewer with color, exciting shapes, and vibrant figuration. The current exhibition is an expansion of one presented at Deitch’s New York outpost last year; here the focus is primarily on LA-based artists, thirty-three in all — contemporary artists creating figurative and abstract connections with culture, society, and humanity.
There is an intense and visceral quality to the show, which upon first entering the gallery shimmers and dances with forceful use of color. There is a filmic sense embodied in the works, perhaps not unexpected, given the skew toward our filmmaking city in this iteration of the exhibition. There is also an intense rush of visual information to take in, and a boldness in the palette and the images themselves. Viewers may find themselves circling the gallery repeatedly to find a starting point, as one image seems to flow into the next, each demanding one’s firm attention. The title of the exhibition tends to bring home the point: it is a visual and aesthetic punch to the soul.
Ranging from sculpture to mixed media to paintings, many of these works veer toward pop and others to…
