GALERIE LULLA

SANDSTORM
Curated by Yurina Hattori Roche

August 10, 2024 — September 8, 2024
Tuesday - Saturday 12pm - 6pm

Opening Reception
Saturday, August 17
6pm - 9pm
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Galerie Lulla is pleased to present "Sandstorm," a group exhibition featuring works on paper of Harold Ancart, Piero Golia, Settai Komura, Calvin Marcus, Toru Otani, Daichiro Shinko, Ikko Tanaka, and Tadanori Yokoo. This exhibition juxtaposes traditional ukiyo-e prints with contemporary Japanese-style prints, exploring the dynamic interplay of Japanese and Western cultural influences.

The exhibition's title, "Sandstorm," is inspired by Haruki Murakami's novel Kafka on the Shore. Murakami masterfully blends elements of Japanese and Western culture, referencing figures as diverse as Radiohead, Beethoven, tanka poets, and mystical Japanese folklore. Similarly, the artists in "Sandstorm" weave together their own influences from both traditions through mediums such as traditional woodcut printing, executed in collaboration with a three-generation woodcut printmaker. The ukiyo-e prints serve as a commentary on their time, reflecting the changing tides of culture and society.

"OH NO I'M N★KED!" explores desire and sexuality through explicit self-portraiture of elastic range. By modifying and exaggerating her own figure, Ahn exposes the absurdity and instability of perfection as a state of being that can be procured, even the idealized female form isn’t enough, and isn't safe from the arduous process of revision.

The graphic nature of the work eludes all moral quandaries, and instead the viewer is left to their own devices, forced to reckon with their own inner compass–the most private negotiation of them all. It is the task of the beholder to parse through this tension between vulgarity and beauty, to find some compromise between what we regard as sanctified and profane, to confront the female form for what it is: a vision of terror and delight, and for good reason. Pornographic images are here to make a statement: no matter how much one thinks they possess an object, the reality is that the object possesses you.

Ahn paints her nude figure as a way of reclaiming her image; both the model and the painter, the object and the subject, Ahn explores what it means to see and be seen as a woman and a commodity, if such a distinction even exists at all. Her first solo show includes a shoe collection for Yume Yume SS23 and exclusive merchandise in collaboration with Terminal™

View and Shop the exhibition at Galerie Lulla. On view from April 7th to May 8th.

During this year’s Frieze Los Angeles, Danish design brand FRAMA presents a select curation of furniture pieces and design objects alongside picks from favorite collectors at Galerie Lulla. Paired with timeless, natural materials and guided by a desire to create utilitarian items with a true sense of meaning and permanence, each piece is designed to awaken curiosity and inspire discovery. Human scale and practicality are always at the center. The installation will present a harmonious contrast between FRAMA’s organic universe and Terminal’s progressive spatial vision.

620 Imperial St
Los Angeles 90021
Tuesday-Sunday
11AM - 6PM