Communication between distant regions of the globe has become as
simple as one click of a mouse. Fittingly, the newest exhibition at
the UCLA Hammer Museum shows that in the world of contemporary art,
styles are transcending borders.
On display now through April 27, “International
Paper” focuses on artwork executed on paper by emerging
artists from across Europe, Asia and the Americas. The broad theme
serves to highlight the tremendous variety of techniques being
embraced by galleries today.
While the exhibition has drawn together a remarkably diverse
group of approaches to working with paper, pieces by many of the
international artists are not necessarily representative of the
kinds of regional styles a viewer might expect.
“I was surprised to see how contemporary it all
was,” said Kim McCarty, one of the L.A.-based artists
included in the show. “Katharina (Wulff’s) piece
didn’t feel that German in scope, it felt sort of American,
too. The artist from Mexico’s work looked very much like some
work I’d seen of an artist in Los Angeles.”
With the ability of nearly any artist to log online and check
out gallery offerings from all over the world, it is perhaps not
surprising that ideas and styles move across the globe so
quickly.
“Personally I do look at a lot of gallery Web sites and
online magazines,” said Tam Van Tran, another artist
represented in the exhibit. “I have some friends in Vietnam
and there’s not too much information as far as magazines and
works from Europe and America there. So (the Internet) is their
only way of finding visual information about what’s going on
in the States and abroad.”
One of the global trends most prominently on display in
“International Paper” is the playful utilization of
craft techniques often reminiscent of the kinds of projects you
might have done in the fifth grade.
Alice Könitz’s large series of owls surrounded by
cages of woven paper suggest both a mid-century modernist ideal and
a weekend spent making macramé towel racks with your Aunt
Estelle. Sandeep Mukherjee has traced simple ovals into Duralene to
create a kind of textured and elegant wallpaper. And Van
Tran’s “Beetle Manifesto” uses staples and hole
punches to transform a piece of paper into a three-dimensional leaf
that seems to breathe with life.
“If you look at what’s being shown, there are a lot
of people working with that craft technique,” Van Tran said.
“Maybe it has to do with the directness of when you’re
making work as a child. It’s essentially collage, it’s
a way of painting in a different way.”
McCarty’s work in the show also touches on elements of
childhood, though in a less indirect way. Her work is a series of
haunting images of the torsos of young children achieved with
watercolors. The children are not clothed, a choice she realizes
may lead to some controversy.
“I’m sure that some people will be disturbed by it
but I think that’s really what I’m trying to say,
because I’m trying to show the vulnerability of this age and
how everything is just thrown at them right now,” McCarty
said.
Given the range of styles included in the new show, spanning
from Honda Takeshi’s expansive charcoal drawing of a dark
forest to Iona Rozeal Brown’s Japanese-African gangsters, it
might seem to lack focus and overwhelm the senses. For Aaron Morse,
also included in the show, this type of exhibition represents a
direction in which galleries are and should be heading.
“A long time ago you maybe weren’t aware of all the
different visions because they were trapped, or they were more
specifically tied to their region,” Morse said.
“That’s not really the case anymore. It may seem like
there’s an overload of difference, but that’s because
we can see it all now where before we couldn’t.”
The UCLA Hammer Museum is located 10899 Wilshire Blvd. at the
corner of Westwood Boulevard. The museum is free for UCLA students,
faculty and staff.