Jim Isermann
JIM ISERMANN | PACIFIC DESIGN CENTER DESIGN GALLERY
WRAPTURE
2 MAY - 29 JUNE 2024
Untitled (orange 21, blue 2925), 2010, Acrylic latex on canvas over panel, 48 x 48 x 2 inches, 121.9 x 121.9 x 5.1 cm
About The Pacific Design Center Design Gallery:
The Pacific Design Center Gallery is a two-level museum-quality exhibition space with 2,780 square feet (258 square meters) located in the freestanding building in the Pacific Design Center Plaza, West Hollywood that was formerly occupied by MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art). The gallery re-opened in 2022 with its mission to explore design as an extension of artistic practice with three four-month exhibitions per year. Programming is directed by Milan-based Curator Helen Varola and is devoted specifically to design, engaging internationally renowned artists and designers to draw upon the collective intelligence and creativity of design culture. For more information about The PDC, visit www.pacificdesigncenter.com.
About Miles McEnery Gallery:
Miles McEnery Gallery is a leading contemporary art gallery with four locations occupying 25,000 square feet in the Chelsea district of New York City. Since its inception in 1999, the gallery has grown physically and conceptually, currently representing over 40 multigenerational contemporary artists of diverse backgrounds, media, and practices. Miles McEnery Gallery is committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity, scholarship, and connoisseurship. The gallery publishes significant catalogues to accompany its exhibitions and has been instrumental in the support of artist monographs. Additionally, it regularly assists in the organization of institutional exhibitions and facilitates museum acquisitions. For more information about Miles McEnery Gallery, visit www.milesmcenery.com.
For more information, please contact:
Maria Hughes, mhughes@pacificdesigncenter.com
Megan O’Hare, press@milesmcenery.com
LOS ANGELES – Opening on May 2, 2024, Miles McEnery Gallery, in collaboration with The Pacific Design Center Design Gallery (PDC), presents Wrapture, a survey of Jim Isermann’s vinyl decal and painting work from 1986 to present. The exhibition will be on view at The PDC through June 29, 2024, open to the public Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00am to 6:00pm. A reception celebrating the artist, coinciding with Pride Week will be held on Thursday May 30, 2024 from 3:00pm to 7:00pm.
Untitled (chartreuse 102, orange 1235, orange-red 0655, olive 399), 2009, Acrylic latex paint on canvas over panel, 48 x 48 x 2 inches, 121.9 x 121.9 x 5.1 cm
In Wrapture, vinyl decals cover the walls and stairs of the gallery, installed as immersive backgrounds for Isermann’s canvas and panel works. Creating a dialogue between the artwork and the building itself, the wallworks emphasize Isermann’s embrace of utopian idealism in its many aesthetic and functional forms, encompassing visitors as they explore the exhibition.
Focused on primary and secondary colors, the works reverberate off of each other with repeated mathematically-rendered pattern and line work—from Op art polygonal structures to flower motifs. Both the decal and painting works exemplify Isermann’s practice of bringing together “high” and “low” art styles, giving a fresh look at the decorative potential of geometric abstraction to reveal the symbiotic relationship between fine and functional art.
Wrapture will be on view during Los Angeles’ and West Hollywood’s Pride Week celebrations. Rooted in queerness and camp aesthetics, Isermann’s practice amalgamates his personal identity with structural logic and geometric algorithms. With a desire to upend the restrictions of domestic space, he challenges the historically-gendered lens of the Minimalism, Bauhaus, and Arts and Craft movements.
Jim Isermann in his studio, 2021, Palm Springs, CA by Jason Schmidt
About the artist:
Jim Isermann (b. 1955, Kenosha, WI) is known for his artistic practice that spans an array of media over nearly four decades. Situated at the intersection of fine art, mid-century design, and decorative craft, Isermann’s work is acutely attentive to pattern, color theory, and geometry.
Isermann has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Camden Arts Center, London; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; Le Magasin - Centre d’art Contemporain, Grenoble, France; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Palm Springs Art Museum, Architecture and Design Center, CA; and the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, among others. In addition, Isermann has completed over thirty site specific public art commissions internationally.
His work may be found in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Menil Collection, Houston, TX; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and elsewhere. In 2021, Radius Books published an extensive monograph of Isermann’s work, available for purchase on the occassion of the exhibition.
Isermann lives and works in Palm Springs, CA.