Pure Abstractions: Kent Familton & Jon Pestoni

February 27 – April 25, 2021

Le Maximum is pleased to present Pure Abstractions: Kent Familton & Jon Pestoni, an exhibition that traces a conversation between two artists about the possibilities and limits of abstract art. Familton and Pestoni approach painting as a continuous process of addition and cancellation wherein color, gesture and shape move in constant tension with each other towards uneasy resolution. Luminous hues interact around the edges and through interwoven scrims of paint. Gesture and expression are held in tension with painterly processes of making and unmaking. The results entice the eye with moments of lilting spontaneity yet carry a subdued emotional charge.

To abstract is to withdraw from concrete reality into the realm of ideas and qualities. Both Familton and Pestoni test this notion with elliptical allusions to familiar sights and symbols: figures and graphics lurk within Pestoni's layers, while Familton's shapes and colors evoke fluid scenes from the LA cityscape. A torn and overpainted billboard or a blur of concrete and pink glimpsed from the freeway at sunset are the fragmentary perceptions from which these abstractions are built. Or is it the other way around? These paintings raise the ancient question of whether abstraction precedes or follows perception. Pure abstraction withdraws towards a receding horizon of beauty and contemplation.

Kent Familton was raised between the urban sprawl of Los Angeles and the rainforest in Darién, Panama. He holds a BA in Art from UCLA and an MFA from The Claire Trevor School of The Arts, UC Irvine. Recent group exhibitions include Hat Trick, Moving Space (2020); Odyssey II, Torrance Art Museum, Los Angeles (2018); Abstraction in the Singular, Bentley Gallery, Phoenix, AZ (2017); Public Offerings: 20/20, Autonomie, Los Angeles (2014); and Rogue Wave, LA Louver, Los Angeles (2013). He lives and works in Los Angeles.

Jon Pestoni was born in St. Helena, CA and holds a BA from UC Berkeley and an MFA from UCLA. In 2016 he was the subject of a solo exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Recent group exhibitions include Rosebud, Matthew Marks Gallery, Los Angeles (2019); Trace of Existence, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2016); Abstraction (sound and vision), Todd Madigan Gallery, California State University Bakersfield (2013); and Alone Together, Rubell Family Collection, Miami (2013). Pestoni’s work is in the permanent collections of the Cleveland Museum of Art; Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris; Rennie Collection, Vancouver; Rubell Family Collection, Miami; Sammlung Goetz, Munich; and Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, among other institutions. He lives and works in Los Angeles.

Le Maximum is open Friday through Sunday 1 - 6 pm. For appointments and inquiries email art@lemaximumvenice.com.