Who Are You?: The Failure of Abstraction

Sayre Gomez

"I’m Different"

François Ghebaly Gallery

2245 E Washington Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90021

October 10 – November 22 2014

Press Release

Walk into a tangible netscape, (now François Ghebaly Gallery transformed by Chicago native Sayre Gomez). Surrounded by white walls, you are a blue, faceless mannequin, sat there in such a way that you want others to perceive you. You're in an outdoor environment, standing on a floor covered with wood chips and trash, showered with several sonic timelines coexisting simultaneously. You've walked into the main gallery space––the installation. 

On the walls, hang several paintings that have been made using airbrushed paint, as used on cars or buildings, further adding to their outdoor aesthetic. These paintings depict outdoor scenes pulled from imagery the artist found online, as well as window scenes looking out at nature. These window paintings are redolent of art historical classics, such as Matisse's window paintings.  This allusion supports the artist's notion that humans are intrinsically unoriginal or that an effort to be original will undoubtedly fail; everything is derived from something else, whether that's something we've seen on the internet or in a text book or on the street.  

In the next room, the smaller, indoor gallery space, hangs a large square painting titled "Generation Gap." It reads, "All you need is love," mirrored by the text "I hate myself and I want to die" just underneath, atop a moody, hazy, blue and black backdrop. The piece's orientation could be switched, so that the face-up message would change. This piece is intriguing, and funny at first. I'm sure it could be read to mean many different things, as all of Sayre's work could. Keeping consistent with the other works' themes of identity, this piece could underline how music has an effect on identity. If someone identifies themselves to be a fan of The Beatles, and outwardly shares this identifying characteristic, they are essentially hanging up a huge painting that reads "All You Need Is Love." "Hey, look at me; love is my philosophy." Conversely, if someone's a ravid Nirvana fan, they're putting themselves out there to be perceived as a whole different kind of person. (Not that you can't like Nirvana AND The Beatles). At the end of the day, the point is that the interests we "share" with the world, whether that be on social media or in conversation or by our clothing aesthetic, shape the way others perceive us. Often times, we consciously mold this regard or perception.

Speaking of molding...on two European style coffee tables in the same room, sit bronze casted items one may find laying on the coffee table in any affluent home; a spilled wine glass, an iPhone, an iPad, a stack of books. What's on your coffee table in your apartment? Let's say you have a book about classical music or jazz sitting on your coffee table. Do you play jazz piano? Did you invent opera in the 17th century? You have a wine glass, a designer watch layed out. Both of these items were made in a factory. Millions of others identical to yours exist. Are you really that different? I know I'm not.

The world that Sayre has created is brave. It forces us to reevaluate ourselves and our motivations, and search somewhere deeper than our Facebook profiles to find what makes us "different." 

It's meta. It's fresh. His world feeds back into what its criticizing, or at least commenting on. A gallery is essentially a coffee table, displaying things that it identifies with or wants to be associated with. Visitors of the gallery will undoubtedly snap pictures of the exhibition with their iPhones, and post them to their social media profiles. Why?

My Facebook––an abstraction of myself–– fails to accurately depict me. I look better in my profile picture than I do on an everyday basis and I only choose to share somewhat "interesting" things about my life, and interests I think are safe to say will be approved of. The bands and movies I like don't define me. The next person I click on probably shares 3/4 of my "interests." The things that truly define me are intangible, and transcend something I can post in a status or set on a coffee table.