“Looking: Patrick Angus and Stuart Sandford” | 20th June | LA

Looking is an an exhibition focusing on the artworks of Patrick Angus (1953-1992) and Stuart Sandford (b. 1978), shown together for the first time anywhere. It will feature drawings, photographs and sculptures by these two artists, who despite working some thirty-five years apart, share in creating artworks that represent gay culture in Los Angeles across four decades. The exhibition coincides with LGBT Heritage Month and provides perspective on the changing times and social landscape in Los Angeles.

PATRICK ANGUS (1953-1992), Dejeuner sur L’herbe, 1/22/79, 1979, Graphite on paper, 13 1/2″ x 17″

Patrick Angus’s Los Angeles Drawings capture the artist’s experience discovering the city and its inhabitants at the beginning of his career as an openly gay artist. Angus created the drawings in 1979, inspired by David Hockney’s book “72 Drawings” which also features portraits of men together in everyday life. The figurative drawings evoke narratives and humor while illustrating an emerging modern gay culture that did not exist in the eyes of the general population at that time.

Patrick Angus was born in North Hollywood, CA and later moved to New York City where he was deemed “The Toulouse-Lautrec of Times Square” for his works depicting young male erotic dancers at the Gaiety Theatre. His paintings and drawings have come to represent urban gay life in the United States in the 1970s and 1980s.

STUART SANDFORD, Tom’s pissoir (day) [From the 1421 Laveta Terrace Series, a residency at the Tom of Finland Foundation, 2014],
Polaroid print, 4 1/4″ x 3 1/2″ in.

Looking is Stuart Sandford’s debut exhibition at the gallery and will feature Polaroid’s that were created during his fellowship at the Tom of Finland Foundation in Los Angeles, and other selected recent works. Building on an ongoing practice investigating unbridled adolescent narcissism and the self-reflexive nature of photography in the era of selfies, Facebook and Instagram; Sandford redeploys analog photographic process to document his experiences, preserving them for posterity with an unlikely medium. Each unique print captures an instantaneous moment – some ordinary, others erotic. Ultimately, Sandford creates a sequential portrait of a highly particular community, blurring the lines between artist and participant.

Stuart Sandford was born in Sheffield, England and studied at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. His videos, photographs, appropriations, and sculptures subvert the heteronormative art world from within. His recent exhibitions include Invisible Line Gallery, London, England; Gallery Daeppen, Basel, Switzerland; and at the Schwule Museum, Berlin, Germany with recent works going to Art Basel, Miami Beach, FL; and the Art on Paper Fair, New York, NY. Sandford is currently working on a book titled after the address of Tom of Finland’s famous residence, 1421 Laveta Terrace.

Angus’ and Sandford’s visual explorations into contemporary gay culture in Los Angeles were created during times of markedly different cultural and societal norms. Each of these two artists provide the viewer with unique historical, social, and cultural insights into one of LA’s thriving communities.

Reception: Saturday, 6-8p

Published: 23rd April 2015

Categorised in: Events