CRISP: Group Show, curated by Richard Telles

CRISP is an exhibition of works in various media by eleven artists represented by the Los Angeles gallery Richard Telles Fine Art. Since founding the gallery in 1993, Richard Telles has been a fearless champion of adventurous West Coast art. His gallery is revered within the LA art community for its impeccable taste in the new and for its seemingly unerring good judgment. As a dealer, Telles possesses remarkable foresight that remains undistorted by the superficial attraction of market-driven trends. His concern for the longterm prospects of his artists is evidenced by the fact that while they invariably achieve international respect and success, their careers proceed all but unencumbered by the excessive hype that turns so many promising artists into passing fancies. His reputation as a contemporary art connoisseur and his track record as a discoverer of significant talents have made the gallery a beacon for critics and curators worldwide, as well as dream home of LA's best emerging artists.

 

Telles's success stories involve such well known and distinctive artists as Jennifer Pastor, Jim Isermann, Richard Hawkins, and Ginny Bishton. He was one of the first gallerists to recognize the potential of LA's new sculpture movement and represents Liz Craft and Torbjörn Vejvi, not only two of this movement's acclaimed figures but arguably among the most important young artists working in America. His more recent finds are no less impressive and include a diverse group of rising art stars-the wicked, sublime abstract collage paintings of Lecia Dole-Recio, the enigmatic and hallucinatory installation art of Lisa Lapinski, the post-Gothic, high romantic paintings of Tom Allen, the extravagant conceptual sculptures of E Chen, the canny post-impressionist paintings of Thomas Eggerer, and the classification defying theatrical works of Catherine Sullivan.

 

CRISP's eleven artists-many of whom have never previously had their work exhibited in New York-are sterling examples of why the recent critical buzz around contemporary art in Los Angeles is so richly deserved.

 

-Dennis Cooper