Blue Flowers — L E M A X I M U M

Blue Flowers

January 11th - March 7th 2020

Opening Reception on Saturday, January 11th
6PM-9PM

Le Maximum is pleased to announce our inaugural exhibition Blue Flowers curated by Liam Considine and Becca Mann. An opening reception will be held Saturday January 11, from 6:00 to 9:00 pm.

Blue Flowers presents works of postmodern and contemporary art in an exploration of a cross-cultural symbol of enlightenment and intoxication. The blue lotus, known as the Dream Flower, was used in ancient Egypt and Mesoamerica to induce trancelike states. Buddhists revere this flower as a symbol of purity and victory of spirit over the senses. Romantic poets took the blue flower as an emblem mystical pursuits and unrequited love, while the surrealists debased it to uncover subconscious drives towards kitsch, technology and war. Recent adaptations by figures ranging from David Lynch to Dr. Octagon extend this symbolism into the present.

Cauleen Smith and Curtis Harrington probe cultic personalities in arrays of floral and still-life imagery; Kelly Akashi and Tiger Tateishi evoke the estrangement of sensation in a world dominated by spectacle; Max Hooper Schneider's dystopic grotesques hover in a stress dream of our evolutionary future; gloria galvez and Liam Neff salvage moments of poetry from the depredations of urban experience; Greg Parma Smith and Bill Hayden use subcultural tropes to probe the material limits of dream; Kianja Strobert and Mariah Robertson graft abstraction and figuration into alluring hybrids; and Tom Allen and Becca Mann create hypnotic renderings of uncanny flora and fauna. The blue flower haunts this exhibition as an image of the infinite picked from the polluted banks of the everyday, charting a path towards death, dream and enlightenment.

Liam Considine is an art historian and critic.

Becca Mann is an artist and curator.

Le Maximum is owned by chef and restauranteur Kris Yenbamroong.

Kelly Akashi, Leggy Lily, 2019. Borosilicate, 16 x 16 x 8 inches.

Kelly Akashi, Spawn, 2020. Bronze and UV borosilicate, 5 x 4 x 6 inches.

Tom Allen, Blue Flowers, 2017. Oil on canvas, 39 x 31 inches.

Tom Allen, Untitled (the Embrace), 2015. Oil on canvas, 13 x 19 inches.

gloria galvez, transfixion, 2018. Single channel video, 4:00.

Curtis Harrington, The Wormwood Star, 1956. 16mm film restored by AMPAS, exhibited as single channel video 10min. Courtesy of Drag City/Flicker Alley.

Bill Hayden, Everyday can't be the same, 2019. Powder-coated steel, chain, jumprings, 27” diameter, 3/4" tube.

Bill Hayden, Let Me Eat You, 2019. Powder-coated steel, chain, jumprings, 27" diameter, 3/4" tube.

Becca Mann, Pandanus, 2019. Oil and flashe on panel, 11x14 inches.

Liam Neff, Untitled (Butterfly O E), 2019. Oil and gouache on canvas 13 x 10 inches.

Mariah Robertson, 38, 2010. Unique chromogenic print, 20 x 20 inches (unframed dimensions).

Mariah Robertson, 111, 2019. Unique chromogenic print, 30 x 27 inches (unframed dimensions).

Max Hooper Schneider, Delphinidin, 2019. Fiberglass sculpture, automotive paint, dimensions variable.

Max Hooper Schneider, PLANE VIEW, 2019. Airplane interior, stained glass window and LED.

Cauleen Smith, ENTITLED, 2008 Single channel video, 7:02.

Greg Parma Smith, Banner Dragon at Night in Mental Abstraction from Their Paperial Substance, 2018. Ink on paper, 10 3/4 x 7 3/4 inches (unframed dimensions).

Greg Parma Smith, Relief Painting: Love's Dimension (Eyes), 2018. Oil on canvas, 28 x 22 inches.

Kianja Strobert, I love him, I love him not, 2020. Sand, papier mache, canvas, metal lathe, wire, acrylic paint, dimensions variable.

Kianja Strobert, the river and the light, 2016. EL wire, oil paint, sand on canvas, 18 x 18 x 3.5 inches.

Kianja Strobert, Try a little tenderness, 2016. Acrylic paint, grit on canvas, 18 x 18 x 3.5 inches.

Kianja Strobert, Under the see, 2016. Acrylic paint and ink on canvas, 18 x 18 x 3.5 inches.

Tiger Tateishi, Coral Moon, 1978. Silk screen on paper, 18-1/8 x 13-7/16 inches (unframed dimensions).