KNOWLEDGE OF THE FUTURE ESTATE
M+B is pleased to announce KNOWLEDGE OF THE FUTURE ESTATE, an exhibition of new paintings and drawings by Josh Mannis. This is the artist's first solo exhibition with the gallery. The show runs from November 19, 2016 through January 7, 2017.
A fixture in the Los Angeles art scene, Josh Mannis is best known for his singular ink-on-paper drawings that revel in the obsessive-compulsive experience of creating work and the viewer's absorption in looking. The show will present a new suite of these complex all-over compositions that feature the artist's trademark fetishistic attention to surface. In his non-hierarchical approach to image—making, each element—every object, twisting baroque-posing figure and background-is equally insistent. The resulting image creates a shimmering, vibrating graphic effect.
This exhibition will also debut a new painting series by Mannis. These paintings allow for a broadening of the gestural mark and an expansion into color. As with the works on paper, the emphasis is on the experiential project of visual pleasure-the overwhelming optical effect of detailed patterns, colors and flourishes on the canvas. Thematically, these works describe an attempt to imagine a life of equilibrium in various forms, from Southern California culture to new age Orientalism. Mannis' work is informed by a broad but interconnected range of art historical and contemporary cultural references. For this show the influences include Op Art, Patagonia fleeces, white guy Buddhism, art class field trips, sorority hazing, psychedelic rugs, Hubert Dreyfus, artificial intelligence, yoga pants, Xbox, The Orsini, William Blake, blue recycling bins, mystic revelation, Eagle Rock condos, Ronald Colman, lite beer, Marvel Comics' The Vision, leafy ferns, directors chairs, desert camo cargo shorts, Alan Watts and more.
Josh Mannis (b. 1976, Boston) received his MFA from the Art Institute of Chicago and BFA from the University of Michigan. Recent solo and two person exhibitions include Nothing but Trouble at Know More Games, New York, NY and Sexus at Thomas Solomon Gallery, Los Angeles, CA. His work has been featured in thematic exhibitions internationally, including at the Tate Modern, London, UK; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL and Musée d'art Contemporain de Montréal, Québec; among others. His work can currently be viewed in On the Verge of an Image: Considering Marjorie Keller, organized by Los Angeles Nomadic Division. Other group exhibition venues include Team Gallery, New York, NY; Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Gavin Brown's Enterprise, New York, NY; Kavi Gupta, Chicago, IL and Retrospective, Hudson, NY. Mannis' work has been reviewed in ARTFORUM, frieze, Los Angeles Times and The Boston Globe. Josh Mannis lives and works in Los Angeles.
