(Cherry and Martin archive - Cherry and Martin is now Philip Martin Gallery.)
Brian Bress's framed, wall-mounted HD monitors have no sound and depict a kind of tragicomic Brechtian action in which the narrative of the artwork tends to collapse upon itself. Each monitor shows a digital loop in which actors— often played by Bress—perform as isolated characters. The costumes these actors wear and the shallow sets in which they perform are all made by Bress, who came to time-based media from painting and sculpture. Like many modes of contemporary advertising, Bress's characters break the fourth wall, addressing the viewer directly, demanding insistent communication across the transmissive screen. Bress's HD monitors comment on the one-way flow of information in mass-culture; at the same time, their very handmadeness reminds viewers of how traditional collage is now being realized on the viewer's side of the equation through the multiple windows of the computer interface—programs such as PhotoShop, the screenshot, Instagram and other modes of device interactivity. Bress's work asks the viewer to think
about the structures and technologies that shape and propagate societal narratives and how they function.
Brian Bress's upcoming solo exhibitions include the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (Salt Lake City, UT, 2015) and the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver (Denver, CO, 2016). Bress has recently had solo exhibitions and projects at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA); Museo d'arte contemporanea (MACRO) (Rome, Italy); Santa Barbara Museum of Art (Santa Barbara, CA); and New Museum (New York, NY). Brian Bress lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.
Philip Martin Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10am-6pm and by appointment. For further information and images please contact the gallery at +310-559-0100 or info@philipmartingallery.com.
Philip Martin Gallery
2712 S. La Cienega Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90034
+310-559-0100
info@philipmartingallery.com
