Regen Projects Features New Works by Lari Pittman

Lari Pittman, ‘A History of Human Nature, Vol. II,’ cel vinyl and spray paint on gessoed paper, 10 pages, 4 in. x 27 in. x 24 1/2 in. closed, 2017. | Image courtesy Regen Projects.

Subject, Predicate, Object, an exhibition of new works by CalArts alumnus Lari Pittman (Art MFA 76) and Silke Otto-Knapp, is on view now through May 27 at Regen Projects in Hollywood. The installation, which is titled after a text by modernist poet Marianne Moore, is conceived as a dialogue between Pittman and Otto-Knapp.

Pittman’s contribution to the exhibit is a colorful display of ten large-scale artist books titled A History of Human Nature (I-X). Placed on interconnecting pedestal tables designed by LA-based firm Michael Maltzan Architecture, the books contain the artist’s paintings paired side-by-side with titles. Throughout the duration of the exhibition, Pittman will be present in the gallery every Saturday from 2–3 pm to turn the pages of the books for visitors.

Lining the walls of the gallery space are large watercolor paintings in hues of blacks, grays and whites by artist Otto-Knapp. In one painting, an expansive landscape is constructed amid the contrast of sea and sky and bordered by a decorative column on which a geometric motif is repeated. Although Pittman’s colorful books and Otto-Knapp’s paintings seem like an unusual pairing, the artists encourage viewers to spend time finding connections and affinities between their works.

Pittman lives and works in Los Angeles and is a distinguished professor in the department of Art at UCLA. Selected solo exhibitions include Mood Books, Huntington Library, Art Collections, Special Collections, and Botanic Gardens, San Marino (2016); A Decorated Chronology, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, St. Louis (2013); Le Consortium, Dijon (2013); Villa Arson, Nice (2005); Institute of Contemporary Art London (1999); and Los Angeles County Museum of Art (1996). His work will be the subject of a major retrospective exhibition at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, opening in the fall of 2019.