March 18 – April 16, 2022
Opening Reception: Friday, March 18th, 6-8PM
UTA Artist Space, Beverly Hills
(Beverly Hills, CA – March 7, 2022) Aaron Young, a California native who has spent most of his career in New York, recently returned to the West Coast. For his homecoming and first exhibition in Los Angeles in ten years, Young presents a broad array of video works, installations, and wall works he has created in the last twenty years, including new works and several archival pieces that have not been exhibited in Los Angeles before.
Widely known for his daring performance pieces that enlist motorcyclists to perform stunts in crowded exhibition spaces, Young’s fearless approach caught the attention of prolific institutions including MoMA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Saatchi Gallery early in his career. These performances explore how destructive actions generate new energy, using societal outcasts and rebels to perform a choreographed motorcycle ride on top of fluorescent and black acrylic paint. The resulting work, covered with tire tracks and remnants of the performance, reference the action paintings of Jackson Pollock.
Young’s iconic video works, in which the artist kicks cameras strategically positioned on the ground, will be displayed on the floor of UTA Artist Space for visitors to walk over, creating an immersive experience reflected in the exhibition’s goal of encouraging viewers to engage with their sense of subjectivity in daring ways. These immersions will take the form of optical art and skylight windows through which projections will create the effect of retinal burn.
Many of the works in the UTA Artist Space exhibition, which is produced in collaboration with Exhibit B, deal with the idea of rerouting systems and diverting preconceived notions into different meanings, inspired by the current sociopolitical temperature. Wide-ranging motifs like sacred geometries and metal cuffs point toward an aging system of confinement and restrainment, continuing the progressive line of work upon which the artist has embarked for the past two decades of his practice.
“I’ve always been fascinated by art that is meant to create total vulnerability in the viewer; works which put you in touch with your own constitution,” said Aaron Young. “In the past few years, it has become clear that people often see what they want to see, and I hope this exhibition challenges these notions of subjectivity.”
“Aaron is a California art legend, and I’m thrilled to have UTA Artist Space host his return to the west coast with this compellingly idiosyncratic exhibition, which brings together so many of his interests and methods,” said Arthur Lewis, UTA Fine Arts Creative Director.
ABOUT AARON YOUNG
Aaron Young was born in 1972 in San Francisco. He attended San Francisco Art Institute in 2001 and then received an MFA from Yale University in 2004. The artist lives and works in New York City. His work has been exhibited internationally in many exhibitions including P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City (2005), the Whitney Biennial, New York (2006), the Serpentine Gallery, London (2006) and the 2nd Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, (2007). His work often relies on the aftereffects of dynamic, energetic, and sometimes even dangerous performances. He hires participants stereotyped as marginalized rebels, such as skateboarders and motorcycle riders, to perform various stunts in exhibition spaces on specially prepared platforms— such as the performance Arc Light for the exhibition, for what you are about to receive. His pieces are included in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Jumex in Mexico City, among others.
ABOUT UTA ARTIST SPACE
UTA Artist Space is an exhibition venue designed by Ai Weiwei in the heart of Beverly Hills that is committed to showcasing art by globally recognized talent. Since its establishment in 2016, UTA Artist Space has presented notable exhibitions with interdisciplinary artists and creatives, including Derrick Adams, Myrtis Bedolla of Galerie Myrtis, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Essence Harden, Larry Clark, Petra Cortright, Conrad Egyir, Amanda Hunt, Mariane Ibrahim, Arcmanoro Niles, The Carpenter’s Workshop Gallery, The Haas Brothers, and Ai Weiwei, among others. UTAArtistSpace.com.
COVID-19 SAFETY
All visitors will have to acknowledge both the health and safety guidelines and their health status before they visit. All visitors must wear a mask at all times. Masks and hand sanitizer will be available on site for guest usage. Guests must practice social distancing. There is ample signage throughout the space including arrows on the floor that tell guests which way foot traffic is flowing. Restrooms will be closed to guests and the Artist Space will be deep cleaned on a regular schedule following the close of business each day.
PRESS CONTACTS
Marcella Zimmermann
Vice President, Cultural Counsel
Jill Robinson
Associate Director, Cultural Counsel