Doug Aitken is proud to classify himself as a Los Angeles
native. Having grown up in Redondo Beach and Palos Verdes, he
didn’t journey too far from home in his decision to attend
Pasadena’s prestigious Art Center College of Design. And
after spending about a decade in New York, Aitken has finally
returned to sunnier California skies.
“I’ve always loved Los Angeles; I’ve always
felt really close to this place,” Aitken said.
“It’s a strange city. It’s something which I
think a European comes here and sees as relatively history-less,
but there’s actually so many textures to the city.
There’s often layers that you don’t quite understand
unless you spend some time here. They’re not the clichés
either, like Sunset Boulevard.”
Aitken may not be a household name, but among art circles, he
certainly boasts some impressive achievements, such as the
International Prize he received for his video work in the 48th
Venice Biennale (1999) or the Aldrich Award he collected in 2000,
which honors an American artist whose work has had a significant
impact on contemporary visual culture during the previous three
years.
He has shown his work in countries all over the world, from
France to Japan. Yet in spite of these accomplishments, Aitken has
never presented a solo gallery exhibition in his native Los Angeles
until now, with his 11-channel video work that just closed at Regen
Projects.
Not that it matters to Aitken.
“I don’t feel a special connection with the world of
galleries or museums,” Aitken said. “I think the
motivation that you have is internal.”
Aitken freely gives back to the local artist community and
believes fine art is essentially a laboratory for society. He has
agreed to give an art lecture at the UCLA Hammer Museum tonight at
7. Although Aitken is primarily known for his photographic and
video works, his personal artistic interests extend far beyond
that.
“It’s just a really organic process. In terms of the
mediums I use, it was just whatever I could get my hands on,”
he said. “It was very intuitive in a way. I started drawing
and painting. I never stopped doing one thing, I just kept doing
more things. I think I wound up working in a very nonlinear way,
where I was working on mediums simultaneously, and that’s
kind of what I’m still doing right now. It’s just
getting broader and broader.”
While critics applaud his ability to convey experiences of
traveling and living within various cultures as well as his
exploration of abandoned spaces, Aitken rarely tries to impart any
specific philosophy or method on his art.
“I find inspiration everywhere; I try not to limit myself
to really anything in terms of where I’m working from and the
kind of nutrients that come into my work,” he said.
“I’d like to kind of challenge that idea that artwork
has to have a style or aesthetic or even a single philosophical
message. I like to see it more as personalities, like people in
your life, and keeping it a little bit looser, where each piece can
have that flavor.”
And although Aitken just wrapped up an exhibition, his schedule
will not be slowing down anytime soon. He has completed a
pop-culture book, “The Broken Screen,” which compiles
conversations with 25 different artists, architects and filmmakers
and explores the idea of living in a fragmented world and making
art in the 21st century. It will be published in early November,
and Aitken hopes to make it as widely available as possible.
“With the book, it’s something like a manifesto; I
wanted it to be cheap and really distributed, and something about
ideas that anyone can sink their teeth into,” he said.
“The Broken Screen” will feature a few of
Aitken’s photographs, but it will mainly be devoted to
sharing the works of other influential and diverse artists. It
leaves little doubt that Aitken’s great talent lies in his
ability to connect to his subject.
“It spans generation and medium. I wanted it to be very
raw and direct,” Aitken said.
“Oftentimes there’s something so magical about when
you’re talking with an artist about what their motivation is.
I sometimes hear this really wonderful honesty come out and I
wanted to somehow capture that and to bring that into a larger
discussion.”