Aaron Young. The Right Way to Do Wrong

About

For his homecoming and first exhibition in Los Angeles in ten years, Young presents a broad array of video works, installations, and wall works he has created in the last twenty years, including new works and several archival pieces that have not been exhibited in Los Angeles before.

Widely known for his daring performance pieces that enlist motorcyclists to perform stunts in crowded exhibition spaces, Young’s fearless approach caught the attention of prolific institutions including MoMA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Saatchi Gallery early in his career. These performances explore how destructive actions generate new energy, using societal outcasts and rebels to perform a choreographed motorcycle ride on top of fluorescent and black acrylic paint. The resulting work, covered with tire tracks and remnants of the performance, reference the action paintings of Jackson Pollock.

Young’s iconic video works, in which the artist kicks cameras strategically positioned on the ground, will be displayed on the floor of UTA Artist Space for visitors to walk over, creating an immersive experience reflected in the exhibition’s goal of encouraging viewers to engage with their sense of subjectivity in daring ways. These immersions will take the form of optical art and skylight windows through which projections will create the effect of retinal burn.

Many of the works in the UTA Artist Space exhibition, which is produced in collaboration with Exhibit B, deal with the idea of rerouting systems and diverting preconceived notions into different meanings, inspired by the current sociopolitical temperature. Wide-ranging motifs like sacred geometries and metal cuffs point toward an aging system of confinement and restrainment, continuing the progressive line of work upon which the artist has embarked for the past two decades of his practice.

“I’ve always been fascinated by art that is meant to create total vulnerability in the viewer; works which put you in touch with your own constitution,” said Aaron Young. “In the past few years, it has become clear that people often see what they want to see, and I hope this exhibition challenges these notions of subjectivity.”

“Aaron is a California art legend, and I’m thrilled to have UTA Artist Space host his return to the west coast with this compellingly idiosyncratic exhibition, which brings together so many of his interests and methods,” said Arthur Lewis, UTA Fine Arts Creative Director.