Stephen Aldahl
Cool Intentions
5 December 2020 – 24 January 2021
Le Maximum is pleased to present Cool Intentions, an exhibition of new paintings by Stephen Aldahl. Made over the course of a year of unprecedented difficulty and change, these layered compositions are at once expressionist and obscure. Aldahl uses photo-transfers, decals, text, and collage elements to mine the subcultural and mass media sights and sounds that have shaped his native Southern California. He draws on the collage techniques of West Coast assemblage artists, as well as the pictorial devices of early Pop art, building printed, embossed, and transferred materials into distinctly handmade paintings. These works aggregate images and references ranging from the iconic lifeguard towers of Newport Beach to the Bates house in Psycho, the lyrics of a Steffi track or the salmon-pink pages of The Financial Times. Adding and canceling image and text by turns, Aldahl guides us through fluid ruminations on a cultural landscape of dream and decay.
Stephen Aldahl lives and works in Los Angeles. Recent solo exhibitions include Realistic Art at Hot Wheels, Athens (2019), and New Realization at Young Art, Los Angeles (2016).
All works 2020
One Too Many Mornings. Oil, acrylic, graphite and collage on linen, 47.24 x 70.87 inches (120 x 180 cm).
Over the Influence. Oil, acrylic, enamel, graphite and appliqué on linen, 47.24 x 70.87 inches (120 x 180 cm).
Cool Intentions II. Oil, acrylic, enamel, decal and appliqué on linen, 47.24 x 35.43 inches (120 x 90 cm).
Where Do I Begin. Acrylic, UV ink and decal on linen, 26.62 x 35.43 inches (60 x 90 cm).
Suicide Bridge. Oil, enamel and appliqué on linen, 47.24 x 70.87 inches (120 x 180 cm).
Under the Influence. Oil, acrylic and decal on linen, 26.62 x 35.43 inches (60 x 90 cm).
Adult Fingers. Oil, acrylic, enamel, decal and sheet mask on linen, 26.62 x 35.43 inches (60 x 90 cm).
Home Burial. Oil, graphite and appliqué on linen, 26.62 x 35.43 inches (60 x 90 cm).
Untitled (Mary). Oil, acrylic, enamel and decals on linen, 47.24 x 70.87 inches (120 x 180 cm).
Vertigo. Oil, graphite, appliqué, sheet mask, 26.62 x 35.43 inches (60 x 90 cm).
Negative Nausea. Oil, acrylic, UV ink and decal on linen, 26.62 x 35.43 inches (60 x 90 cm).
Vernon Gardens. Oil, graphite and appliqué on linen, 26.62 x 35.43 inches (60 x 90 cm).
Positive Nausea. Oil, acrylic and ink on linen, 47.24 x 70.87 inches (120 x 180 cm).
Cool Intentions I.Oil, acrylic, decal, graphite and sand on line, 47.24 x 35.43 inches (120 x 90 cm).
Step Into the Great Unknown. Oil, acrylic, UV ink and sheet mask on linen, 26.62 x 35.43 inches (60 x 90 cm).
INTP. Oil, acrylic, graphite, appliqué and sheet mask on linen, 26.62 x 35.43 inches (60 x 90 cm).