LEZLEY SAAR
AUTIST'S FABLES
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 7-10PM
MERRY KARNOWSKY GALLERY
170 S. LA BREA AVENUE
(IN THE ART 170 BUILDING)
LOS ANGELES, CA 90036
323.933.4408
www.mkgallery.com
Exhibition Dates:
September 7 - October 2, 2010
Gallery Hours:
Tues - Sat 12-6pm
Merry Karnowsky Gallery is proud to present an exhibition of new work by artist Lezley Saar entitled Autist's Fables. The exhibition begins with a painting titled "They're Here, Get Used To It," which sets the tone for a modern allegory compromised of paintings, dioramas, photographs, and a short film. Saar uses multiple mediums to create an imaginative and enigmatic environment inspired by the sensibility, perception, and reality of her 17-year-old Autistic daughter, Geneva.
Influenced by 19th century illustrations of animals and nature, the work includes references to gothic literature, anatomy, biology, tattoos, cartoons, and Art Nouveau. Saar expertly blends symbol and allegory with imagination and wit. The artist's ethereal work questions notions of normalcy, perceptions of reality, modes of communication, and the veracity of emotions. The exhibition uses the body and soul approach of Aesop's Fables where the body is the story, and the soul is the moral.
In addition to paintings, Saar has created glass-encased dioramas resembling vintage dollhouses in which scenes from Saar's modern fables (based on things Geneva has said or done) unfold in miniature. With found landscape paintings serving as the backdrops for tales unfolding within, titles like "Sorcerer's Ritual" and "Bad Seed Boy" describe the scenes and characters inhabiting Geneva's imagination. In Saar's paintings, circular color photographs taken by the artist of vignettes within the dioramas are collaged into the paintings, as hand painted animal creatures (Geneva's numerous imaginary friends) are the ones telling the tales of humans, or the Autist's Fables.
Le Mystère de Geneviève, Saar's short film, or court métrage, is a fairy tale which is symbolically autobiographical as it relates to Geneva's journey. In the words of Saar, "So much attention is focused on the problems of autism; the tragedy of it all, how to 'cure' it, how to ramrod these children into being 'normal.' But, I find autistic people fascinating. With Autist's Fables there's the body; my work which tells this story, and the soul; the moral which is that perhaps Autistic people should finally be accepted as they are."
Saar's work has been exhibited around the U.S. as well as in Germany, Cuba, Bermuda, and Australia. Solo museum exhibits include The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO, The Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH, Forum for Contemporary Art, St. Louis, MO, Fresno Museum of Art, Pasadena Museum of California Art, Palmer Art Museum, PA, and San Jose Museum of Art. Her works are included in the collections of The Ackland Art Museum, MOCA, Kemper Museum of Art, California African American Museum, and Smith College Museum of Art. Saar has been featured in Artforum, Art in America, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Artnews, Time Out New York, and XXL. Originally from Los Angeles, Saar is the daughter of assemblage artist Betye Saar, and the sister of sculptor Alison Saar. She currently lives and works in Redondo Beach, California.
