Larry Johnson: On Location

Raven Row hosts in London a selection of Larry Johnson’s works from the early 1990s to the present, all celebrating Los Angeles, in which Johnson has lived and worked all his life.

Larry Johnson, <i>Untitled (Ass)</i>, 2007. Colour photograph. Edition of 2. Courtesy the artist Collection of Alex Israel
Larry Johnson’s first institutional exhibition in Europe, “On Location” brings together a selection of works by the artist (born 1959 in Lakewood, California) from the early 1990s to the present.
The show’s uncontested star is Los Angeles, the city in which Johnson has lived and worked all his life. For over thirty years, L.A.’s physical and imaginary appearance has served as the set for the artist’s photo-based investigations of the glamour industry, replete with fading stars and premature deaths.
Larry Johnson, <i>Untitled (Meters)</i>, 2007. Colour photograph. Edition of 2 with 2 AP. Courtesy the artist. Collection of David Kordansky and Mindy Shapero, Los Angeles
Top: Larry Johnson, Untitled (Ass), 2007. Colour photograph. Edition of 2. Courtesy the artist Collection of Alex Israel. : Larry Johnson, Untitled (Meters), 2007. Colour photograph. Edition of 2 with 2 AP. Courtesy the artist. Collection of David Kordansky and Mindy Shapero, Los Angeles

Johnson’s work bears the marks of a generation of artists sampling readymade images and texts to create seductively laconic pictures. Yet the colourful sheen of Johnson’s photo-based works is also a foil for sexual, political and semantic tension. The artist’s pictures are encryptions of a Hollywood demi-monde, referring to the cultures from which his work emerges – queer, political, filmic and theoretical.

The exhibition is curated by Los Angeles-based writer Bruce Hainley, and by Antony Hudek, Curator and Deputy Director of Raven Row. Commie Pinko Guy, a publication edited by Hainley with new essays by Morgan Fisher, Lisa Lapinski, Hainley, Hudek and Wayne Koestenbaum, as well as reprints of classic underground queer writing, will accompany the exhibition.


11 June – 9 August 2015
Larry Johnson
On Location

curated by Bruce Hainley and Antony Hudek
Raven Row
56 Artillery Lane, London

Latest on News

Latest on Domus

Read more
China Germany India Mexico, Central America and Caribbean Sri Lanka Korea icon-camera close icon-comments icon-down-sm icon-download icon-facebook icon-heart icon-heart icon-next-sm icon-next icon-pinterest icon-play icon-plus icon-prev-sm icon-prev Search icon-twitter icon-views icon-instagram