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Caio Twombly and Jack Siebert Curate an Ode to Painting

The group show comprised of work by 20 women painters is Spazio Amanita’s first Los Angeles exhibition

Words by ELIZABETH VARNELL

 

 

The tenacity required to make art is the subject of I Do My Own Stunts (through March 7), gallery Spazio Amanita’s first Los Angeles show curated by Caio Twombly and Jack Siebert. “The exhibition serves as a kind of ode to painting, which, as we all know, requires a certain amount of courage,” says Twombly, who is the son of sculptor Alessandro Twombly and grandson of the painter Cy Twombly. “For the most part, paintings are experienced in tranquil and socially contained environments. I always think of this as being an unfair circumstance or at least being unrepresentative of the process of painting,” he adds. The new show, held on a Hollywood soundstage transformed into a gallery as part of Amanita’s roving exhibition series (the gallery also has a permanent space in Florence), aims to lay bare the bravery and courage required to take a brush to canvas.

 

 

I Do My Own Stunts includes works by 20 women artists, many of whom are based in L.A. — Ruby Neri, Michelle Blade, Camilla Engström, Veronica Fernandez, Mickey Lee, Sarah Miska, Alake Shilling, Tahnee Lonsdale and Amanda Wall — while others have studios in New York (Andrea Marie Breiling, Elizabeth Glaessner, Jenna Gribbon, Angela Heisch, Karyn Lyons, Kylie Manning, Jo Messer, Cristina de Miguel), Miami (Alejandra Moros) and the U.K. (Louise Giovanelli). The mix typifies Amanita’s focus on emerging artists and many of them are generational peers of the 25-year-old curators. Some of the painters have rarely shown work in a gallery setting, or have had only one or two shows. Others, like Neri and Shilling, are known for sculpture rather than painting, and the range of works included in the exhibition makes for interesting juxtapositions. Neri’s figures, Schilling’s creatures and Gribbon’s voyeuristic views are all here.

 

“The exhibition serves as a kind of ode to painting, which, as we all know, requires a certain amount of courage”

Caio Twombly

 

 

To conceptualize the show that opened at the start of Frieze week in L.A., Twombly teamed up with Siebert, a Los Angeles native whose personal art collection, and his family’s, is focused around work by women artists — a nod to the way in which Siebert’s mother Leslie built up the talent agency Gersh around a coterie of actresses that includes Allison Janney and Angela Bassett. Siebert sees the show title as a play on how “men stole the show in Hollywood and in the art world.” He thinks it’s time for this group of women painters — both established and on the rise — to “show off their skills and abilities,” and recenter the conversation around talent and ability. Inside the cavernous space is an ongoing exploration of what Twombly calls “the tenacity involved in making art.”

 

 

According to Twombly, I Do My Own Stunts is also a “clear nod to the film industry” given that painting, like film, is “experienced in the second dimension.” Siebert agrees, “Everyone in Hollywood is used to seeing things on a screen, so I wanted to have an all-painting show. I like the idea of 2-D, that’s where you normally watch someone do a stunt.” Here, the fearlessness required to fill a canvas is front and center. Stage 4, 1015 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Hollywood

 

February 15, 2022

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