Steve Lambert » Exhibitions

Group show at Beacon Arts Building: Capital Offense: The End(s) of Capitalism

Steve — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:06:28 +0000

Saturday, January 28 – Sunday March 11, 2012

Beacon Arts presents Capital Offense: The End(s) of Capitalism, curated by Jennifer Gradecki and Renée Fox, which presents a selection of artwork and writing chosen for its clarity in questioning, exposing and reflecting upon various aspects of the current global economic crisis and neoliberal global capitalism. The exhibition features writing, video, sculpture, participatory and interactive installation, performance, painting, photography, and posters by Critical Art Ensemble, Gregory Sholette, Holly Crawford, Andrea Fraser, Noam Chomsky, Martha Rosler, Team Colors Collective, Occuprint, Derrick Jensen, Steve Lambert, Nicolas Lampert, Bask, Alex Schaefer, Cake and Eat It, Flora Kao, Jody Zellen, Meleko Mokgosi, Mira Rychner, Bob Golub, Marc James Léger, Matt Greco, Daniela Comani and Stih & Schnock, Aaron Burr Society, Dara Greenwald, Derek Curry, Ackroyd & Harvey, Pete Yahnke Railand, Lori Nelson, Dehlia Hannah and TWCDC (Together We Can Defeat Capitalism).

Capital Offense opens Saturday, January 28, 2012, and runs through March 11, 2012. Exhibition special events include an opening reception on Saturday, January 28, 2012 from 6:00 – 9:00pm, an evening of entertaining and thought provoking performances on Saturday, February 25, 2012 from 6:00 – 9:00pm with award winning Stand-up comic Bob Golub at 6pm and a Salon hosted by Cake and Eat it at 7:30pm. The exhibition closes on Sunday, March 11 from 1:00 – 4:00pm, with an engaging panel discussion including some of the participating artists and guest speakers (to be announced). Beacon Arts is located at 808 N. La Brea Ave., Inglewood, CA 90302. Regular gallery hours are from 1:00pm to 6:00pm Thursday through Saturday, Sundays 1:00pm – 4:00pm. For additional information please call 310-419-4077 or visit www.beaconartsbuilding.com

Capital Offense: The End(s) of Capitalism
Curator’s Statement:
Since the global economic crisis began in 2008, our economic situation has become all the more urgent to understand and discuss. Social unrest is on the rise as time passes and nothing changes.

Artists, intellectuals, and non-specialists alike are growing increasingly concerned with aspects of the global economic order, including: the destruction of the planet as a means to profit, the exploitation of artists and other workers as a means to economic and cultural capital, the deception of the populous (through fear tactics and disinformation) to maintain the status quo, the impact of gentrification and an unregulated housing market on affordable housing, the increasing power of corporations over people, and the effects of the recession on everyday life, to name just a few.

Artists, intellectuals, and concerned citizens of the world are engaging in various tactics to initiate social and economic change: analyzing the financial sector, illustrating the consequences of economic policies, illuminating relationships between the art world and the world of economic power, democratizing knowledge from specialized spheres, revealing the impact of the economy of fear, questioning capitalist systems of value, and organizing to find solidarity after years of atomization, again, to name a few.

As the disparity in wealth continues to grow, so does public interest in understanding and changing the social order that allowed for it. It is necessary to consider our own complicities in the impact that global capitalism is having on the world and its inhabitants. Please join us and add your voice to this important conversation.

Beacon Arts –

Housed within the iconic Beacon Arts Building, the venture offers innovative art programming to enrich the cultural landscape of Los Angeles. Its primary directive is to provide and maintain the integrity of an exhibition space for contemporary fine art by Southern California artists working in all media, including painting, sculpture, installation, video, and performance art. Works by both emerging and established artists are presented in an effort to provide a variety of ideas in different forms that both challenge and inspire. The endeavor seeks to enrich public understanding and appreciation of contemporary fine art by creating conversations through special events, lectures, symposia, and panel discussions with intellectual commentary on exhibitions. Beacon Arts is now over a year old, having completed its successful inaugural Critics-as-Curators series – consecutive shows conceived and curated by art writers and critics. This series ran for the first year of the space, from October 2010 to October 2011. The gallery plans to continue programming into 2012 with Prince at the Forum curated by Steven Bankhead and Jesse Benson March 24, 2012 – May 6, 2012 and a series of shows in the summer featuring our favorite artists (TBA), peppered with summer night video screenings.

Beacon Arts Building –

The 32,400-square-foot Beacon Arts Building is an iconic four-story, solid reinforced concrete structure located in the heart of the burgeoning Inglewood Arts District. Having stored inanimate items for close to sixty years, originally as the legendary Bekins Moving and Storage Company, this dramatic 1951 edifice has now transformed into a springboard and “beacon” for artistic expression. In addition to ground floor gallery and retail spaces, the building offers a gorgeous New York warehouse-style environment for professional artists, with spaces in various sizes up to 6,000 square feet with 11’6” ceilings. It has a high rear loading facility, large freight elevator, WiFi availability, and sprinkler system throughout. Beacon Arts Building sits prominently on La Brea Avenue, just South of Centinela, located only 11 minutes south of the 10 Freeway (I-10). Free parking is available in the on-site lot or on La Brea. For further information about availabilities in the Beacon Arts Building, please contact Scott Lane at 310-576-3543 or scottlaneco@yahoo.com. For more information, images, and interviews please contact Caroline Meer @ impulse2impact@gmail.com

2012 deCordova Biennial

Steve — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 04:03:28 +0000

Capitalism Works For Me! True/False is included in the 2012 deCordova Biennial. The show will be up in Lincoln, MA from Jan 22nd – April 22nd. The sign will be at the museum, and we’ll be taking it to locations around Boston around late March through mid-April – details on those trips to be announced.

From the deCordova website:

The 2012 deCordova Biennial is a survey exhibition focused on emphasizing the quality and variety of work rather than any single or overarching theme. Highlighting artists from across New England, the exhibition displays a diverse range of approaches to media and content. The exhibition is co-curated by deCordova Curator, Dina Deitsch and Independent Curator and former owner/director of the Judi Rotenberg Gallery, Boston, MA, Abigail Ross Goodman. The 2012 deCordova Biennial features 23 artists and collaboratives and will occupy almost the entirety of the Museum and beyond—reaching into the park, Boston, and nearby communities through several public, off-site projects.

The 2012 deCordova Biennial Artists:

Antoniadis & Stone      Caitlin Berrigan
Taylor Davis                   Jo Dery
Kim Faler                        Matthew Gamber
Jessica Gath                 Jonathan Gitelson
Eric Gottesman             Corin Hewitt
Lauren Kalman             Steve Lambert
Mary Lum                       Megan and Murray McMillan
Ann Pibal                        Matt Saunders
South End Knitters      Chris Taylor
Ven Voisey                    Anna Von Mertens
Joe Wardwell               Cullen Bryant Washington, Jr.
Joe Zane

For The 2012 deCordova Biennial Deitsch and Goodman invited Ian Berry, Curator, Tang Museum at Skidmore College; Richard Klein, Exhibitions Director, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum; and Denise Markonish, Curator, Mass MoCA to participate as Advisory Board contributors.

The 2012 deCordova Biennial will be accompanied by an 88-page, color catalogue featuring essays by the curators and a guest essay about public art by Gavin Kroeber.

This Space Available Documentary Premiers Nov 5

Steve — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 22:27:56 +0000

I did an interview for the film, “This Space Available: The Grassroots Movement Against Visual Pollution” and it’s premiering at IFC Center in New York next month. Jordan Seiler of Public Ad Campaign is also in the film.

This Space Available

A documentary film directed by

Gwenaelle Gobe

Executive Producer: Marc Gobe/Emotional Branding

World Premiere at IFC Center/ New York

Saturday November 5th Time: 7:00 PM

Tuesday November 8th Time: 1:15 PM

THIS SPACE AVAILABLE: Press Release

Billboards and commercial messages dominate the public space like never before. But is a movement taking shape to reverse this trend?

In This Space Available, filmmaker Gwenaëlle Gobé says yes. Influenced by the writing of her father, Marc Gobé (Emotional Branding), this new director brings energy and urgency to stories of people around the world fighting to reclaim their public spaces from visual pollution.

From 240 hours of film, 160 interviews and visits to 11 countries on five continents, This Space Available charts a fascinating variety of struggles against unchecked advertising and suggests that more than aesthetics is at stake. If Jacques Attali once called noise pollution an act of violence, is visual pollution also such an act? Should we also consider, as one Mumbai resident says, “which classes of society can write their messages on the city and which classes of society are marginalized?”

Gobé offers a canny generational analysis of visual pollution, laying blame not just with the advertising juggernaut but also an entire generation of Baby Boomers, whose consumption-based culture has implicated them in the environmental fallout. She argues that it’s her generation, left to do the cleaning up, that is now leading the fight back.But the filmmaker also recognizes the history and politics behind this fight. Turning to such legislation as the Highway Beautification Act of 1965, Gobé shows how the enforcement of this landmark law, designed to regulate outdoor advertising on America’s roadways, has steadily eroded. And today, public space activist Jordan Seiler faces harsh penalties for covering illegal outdoor ads with art, while officials turn a blind eye to illegally erected billboards.

Still, the film strikes a hopeful tone. A standout interview features Gilberto Kassab, the popular mayor of Sao Paulo, who threw a stone into the quiet pond of the billboard industry by successfully banning outdoor media in his city – the eighth largest in the world. The move is not without precedent: Houston’s 1980 billboard ban was also a deliberate tactic to improve its flagging image, economic competitiveness, and quality of life.

In the end, This Space Available challenges audiences to recognize that aesthetics and beauty go hand in hand with responsibility. Gobé asks why brands continue to ally themselves with an industry that cuts down trees, hogs energy, and spends its profits in courts and statehouse lobbies, especially while younger consumers push for improved corporate citizenship? And is everyone equally to blame for enabling the spread of visual pollution, while other humble individuals show that it’s possible to reverse it?

The film navigates these issues without promoting a universal solution. Gobé instead weaves together stories reflecting diverse local responses to an increasingly global condition. This Space Available compels audiences to consider these stories long after the film ends, or at least to remember them each time we speed by a billboard.

Art Toronto & Texas Contemporary Art Fair

Steve — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 13:00:10 +0000

Charlie James Gallery has been out on the road showing selected pieces at art fairs across the country. This month there are two to note and there will be some surprises at each.

The Texas Contemporary Art Fair

Houston, Texas. Charlie James Gallery is Booth: 803

October 20 through October 23

Art Toronto

(I’ll be featured at this one)

Toronto International Art Fair site

October 27 – October 31st

“Capitalism Works For Me! True/False” is touring Cleveland

Steve — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 16:18:54 +0000

“Capitalism Works for Me! True/False”
9ft x 20ft x 7ft

Just a few weeks after the Kickstarter campaign ended “Capitalism Works for Me! True/False” is up and touring Cleveland! Its home base will be SPACES and we’ll be taking it out on the down for the dates below.

More on the project will be posted soon. In the meantime, here’s the dates.

Cleveland Tour

Friday, August 26
Downtown Farmer’s Market at Public Square

Saturday, August 27
Open Air at Market Square
Beachland Ballroom

Monday, August 29
Capitol Theater

Tuesday, August 30
Tremont Farmer’s Market

Boston, Hartford, and Los Angeles are upcoming!

Capitalism Works For Me! at SPACES through October 21st

Steve — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 22:27:37 +0000

Opening Reception August 26th

A Celebration of Revolution and the Vision of a New World

Steve — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 01:52:15 +0000

Dread Scott invited me to be a part of this exhibition at the Harlem Stage on Monday to celebrate the publishing of Bob Avakian’s new book. Dread says “times like these demand a joyous celebration of the possibility of a radically different future.” and I agree.

The show includes artwork by: Derrick Adams, Wafaa Bilal, Richard Duardo, Emory Douglas, Skylar Fein, Kyle Goen, Guerrilla Girls BroadBand, Steve Lambert, Wangechi Mutu, Dread Scott, SEN ONE UZN and Hank Willis Thomas.

“These artist span generations, work in different media, employ different conceptual and aesthetic strategies, come from different countries and show everywhere from major museums to street corners. The exhibit includes photography, screen prints, video and painting. Some of the works starkly confront a world scarred by war and oppression. Other works encourage viewers to imagine how it could be radically different.” –Dread Scott

Monday, 7pm Harlem Stage.
For more info or to buy tickets: revolutionbooksnyc.org

And if you’re still not sure if you should attend, Dr. Cornel West thinks you should:

If These Walls Could Talk – Los Angeles Exhibition

Steve — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 22:25:41 +0000

I’ve been working away at 2 new pieces for If These Walls Could Talk a concurrent exhibition at Charlie James Gallery and Marine Art Salon. These are new signs that are lined with aluminum. I’ve wanted to use this technique for a year, but just now was able to get everything together to make it happen. I’m quite proud of how these new signs turned out. It was exhausting work but I can stand back and say “I can’t believe I actually made this.”

I will have photos up as soon as I can. In the meantime, please come (or send your friends) to these openings:

Santa Monica Reception

Saturday Feb 12, 2011 6-9pm <– I am flying out for this one
Marine Art Salon, Santa Monica

Chinatown Reception

Saturday Feb 19th, 2011 7-10pm
Charlie James Gallery, Chinatown, Los Angeles

If you are in Los Angeles, please come!
If you know people in Los Angeles, please invite them!

False Documents and Other Illusions at Portland Art Museum

Steve — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 05:12:30 +0000

False Documents and Other Illusions, looks at the various ways in which contemporary artists approach the idea of trompe l’oei, lillusion, or fooling the eye. It runs in conjunction with a traditional 19th-century trompe l’oeil painting show on view in another gallery called John Haberle: Master of Illusion.

The New York Times Special Edition will be included in the show.

Portland Museum of Art
Seven Congress Square
Portland, Maine 04101
October 30, 2010—January 2, 2011.

Short Term Deviation at EFA

Steve — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 02:47:07 +0000

I will have work in this show…

Short Term Deviation: A Collaboration with Showpaper

September 23 – October 23, 2010
Opening event: Thursday, September 23, 6 – 10 pm

The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts | 323 West 39th Street 3rd Floor NY NY 10018
(212) 563 5855 | info@efanyc.org

Installations by: Catharine Ahearn, David Berezin, Grayson Cox, Charles Harlan, Steve Lambert, Francisco Marcial, Nadja Verena Marcin, George Pfau, Poster Company, Chris Rice, Borna Sammak.

Special four-part print series of Showpaper featuring new work from: Borden Capalino, Katja Mater, Arthur Ou, and Grant Willing,

Curators: Jie Liang Lin, Exhibition; Jesse Hlebo, Print Series and Zine Library

For up-to-date information on this project, check out the tumblr page.

EFA Project Space announces Short-Term Deviation. Beginning mid-September, this collaboration with the print publication Showpaper, is a month-long exhibition, publication, video and music event. Bringing the spirit of Showpaper—which crossbreeds music, art and D.I.Y. culture—to full incarnation, the gallery space will be transformed into a combination artist-crafted performance space, zine library, and video screening room.