HUMAN CONDITION
Curated by John Wolf
The Hospital
2231 S Western Ave, Los Angeles
Opening Reception: October 1, 2016
October 1 – November 30, 2016
www.humanconditionexhibition.com
Daniel Arsham, Louise Bonnet, Polly Borland, Delia Brown, Greg Colson, Zoe Crosher, Gregory Crewdson, Mira Dancy, Marlene Dumas, Celeste Dupuy-Spencer, Danny Fox, Nicole Eisenmann, Derek Fordjour, Louisa Gagliardi, Brendan Getz, Laurent Grasso, Heidi Hahn, Marc Horowitz, Ridley Howard, Leonhard Hurlmeier, Joshua Jefferson, Chantal Joffe, Jordan Kasey, Hoda Kashiha, Friedrich Kunath, Kelly Lamb, Tala Madani, Robert Mapplethorpe, Max Maslansky, Tony Matelli, Simon Mathers, John Millei, Marilyn Minter, Alice Neel, Laurie Nye, Jennifer Packer, Vernon Price, Tal R, Yves Scherer, Alexander Ruthner, Peter Stichbury, Claire Tabouret, Johan Tahon, Mateo Tannatt, Kenneth Tam, Henry Taylor, Ed Templeton, Mark Verabioff, Jessica Williams, Nicole Wittenberg, Bradley Wood
Human Condition is comprised of emerging and established artists from Los Angeles, New York, and Europe within an unusual context – an abandoned hospital (previously the LA Metropolitan Medical Center) in the bourgeoning West Adams district on the border of South Los Angeles. Home to many working artists, this exhibition, curated by John Wolf, strives to bring attention back to this culturally and historically rich area of Los Angeles. Once considered Los Angeles’ affluent neighborhood at the turn of the 20th century, its decay over the years due to the development of the 10 freeway, Hancock Park, Hollywood, and Beverly Hills, has recently made an upward turn with an increasing interest in redeveloping the area and a commitment to supporting the local art scene.
Human Condition will bring awareness to an underrepresented arts district on the brink of change. Using the community as a backdrop, the spaces functional history serves as the thread that binds the transient force of the human condition on the physical plane in this otherwise under-served area.
Human Condition invites artists to explore emotional responses to the physical and psychological experience of an individual in its lifespan. Themes of joy, pain, trauma, and elation are all experienced within the same shell, similar to the exhibition space itself. The reaction to these emotional responses by viewers weaves through the narrative.Working within the context of a hospital is both an architectural investigation and rediscovery of the abundant resources left in this fertile neighborhood. Similar to the human form, both have the opportunity for redevelopment and change.
The works chosen for Human Condition will be on display in various settings within the hospital. Among the surgical rooms, maternity wards, psychiatric floor, cafeteria and foyer, artists will have the opportunity to work with the existing architecture, hospital furniture and the random remains of what has been left at the site. The works will range from sculpture, drawings, paintings, performance, and select immersive installations that draw inspiration from what once was enabling the viewer to transcend and draw a subjective narrative from the unsettling and dilapidated surroundings. The Human Condition is a unique opportunity for both artists and audiences to experience artwork outside of the confines of a white box and in a familiar yet strange platform.
