Lothar Baumgarten, James Coleman, An-My Lê, Oscar Tuazon

Marian Goodman Gallery Los Angeles is pleased to present Interconnected Landscapes, a group show that features new and historical works by Lothar Baumgarten, James Coleman, An-My Lê, and Oscar Tuazon. In conversation with Yellow May by Jongsuk Yoon in our Main Gallery, this exhibition observes a broad and conceptual look at the notion of land and landscape.

Opening with James Coleman’s Fly (1970) in the Hudson Gallery, the viewer acts as the “camera-observer” of the erratic movements of a fly along the interior pane of a window. In the background, a tree blows in the wind, at times becoming the subject when the fly is out of frame. Throughout the continuous loop where the start and end of the film become difficult to discern, the fly superficially interacts with or climbs along the tree, and the frame of the window appears to be a built form in the outside world, blurring our perception of the boundary between interior and exterior. Coleman intimated the work as an “interconnected landscape” of ecology and the relationship of organisms to their environment.

The show continues in the Seward Gallery with a suite of photographs by An-My Lê from her Silent General series, an ongoing, nearly decade-long project where Lê travels throughout the United States to document what she has described as “a war on the homefront,” or the political and ideological battleground between conservatives and liberals. In 1975, Lê fled Vietnam with her family and resettled in the United States as a political refugee, informing her present work that reflects on how geopolitics can define our identities and communities. For this exhibition, works from 2018-2019 that were shot on the US-Mexico border, as well as the farmlands of central California, speak to the political conflict that foregrounds the humanitarian crisis of immigrants and migrant workers. Lê captures the politicized and militarized nature of land use, borders, and territories, while simultaneously if not subconsciously referring to the genre of traditional landscape painting in several works.

Nearby, Oscar Tuazon has constructed a nomadic architectural structure titled Words for Water (2024) especially for this exhibition that considers water use, land rights, ecology, and the politics of the built environment—topics the artist has focused on since establishing his own experimental Water School in 2016. Inside of Words for Water, viewers are invited to watch a video about Tuazon’s Cedar Spring Water School project, which observes the effects of a proposal to build a pipeline from the Spring Valley region of eastern Nevada to Las Vegas. An ambitious, utopian, land art-like project, the Water School is a long-term practice in activism and a generative source for a wide range of works surrounding this critical natural resource. Just beside the structure is a painting made from the transference of paint and pigments floating upon the surface of water, as well as works produced on found topographical maps of water features in Southern California.

On an adjacent wall of the Seward Gallery, two works by by Lothar Baumgarten survey the Western history of linguistic rule. The wall drawing Salto Pemon (Rios La Gran Sabana), Venezuela (1985) and silver gelatin print triptych Color Bar (1977-1985) explore how the simple act of renaming has served as a longstanding tool of colonization that both asserts dominance and mythologizes Indigenous populations. In 1977, Baumgarten took a now legendary first journey to Venezuela to live with the Yanomami people, which critically shaped his understanding of ethnography, authenticity, and the economy of representation. In Salto Pemon, the native names of rivers in Venezuela are listed, which are some of the last traces of Indigenous languages that are no longer spoken. The artist considers these partial sound works, hoping the viewer will try to recite the text and enliven this obsolete language for a brief moment. As shown in the works on view, Baumgarten visualizes an awareness of the other and continues to question our core ideas and systems of representation.

Lothar Baumgarten participated in Documenta V (1972), VII (1982), IX (1992), X (1997) and was the recipient of the MFI Prize, Essen, Germany (2003); the Lichtwark Prize, City of Hamburg, Germany (1997); The Golden Lion, First Prize of the 41st Venice Biennale, Italy (1984); the Prize of the State of Nordhein-Westfalen (1976); and the Prize of the City of Düsseldorf, Germany (1974). Important solo exhibitions have been mounted at Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina, Palacio de Cristal, Madrid, Spain (2016); Fundación Botín, Santander, Spain (2012); Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany (2011); Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2009); Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), Spain (2008); Museum Kurhaus, Kleve, Germany (2006); Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA (2003); Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg (2001); National Museum of Modern Art in Kyoto and Tokyo, Japan (1996); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA (1993); Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, USA (1987); Musée National d’Art Moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France (1987); and ARC/Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France (1986).

 James Coleman has participated in Documenta IX (1992), X (1997), XI (2002) and XII (2007). He received both the Kurt Schwitters Prize, Hannover and the Kunstpreis, Munich in 2002. Important solo exhibitions have been mounted at the Centre Pompidou, Paris (2021); MUMOK, Vienna (2019); the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofìa, Madrid (2012); the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2009); The Museu do Chiado – Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea, Lisbon (2004-05); Musée du Louvre, Paris (2003); the Lenbachhaus Kunstbau, Munich (2002); the Kunstmuseum, Luzern (2001); the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels and the Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona (1999); the Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris (1996); Dia Art Foundation, New York (1994-95); the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven (1989-90); the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (1989); and the Institute of Contemporary Art, London (1986).

An-My Lê was awarded the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (2012); the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award (2010); the National Science Foundation, Antarctic Artists and Writers Program Award (2007); the John Gutmann Photography Fellowship (2004); and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowship (1997). Important solo exhibitions have been mounted at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2023); Carnegie Museum of Art (2021); Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Vancouver (2015); MK Gallery, Milton Keynes, England, and Museum aan de Stoom, Belgium, (2014); Baltimore Museum of Art (2013); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art / SFMOMA (2008); Dia: Beacon (2006-07); and MoMA PS1 Contemporary Arts Center (2002).

Oscar Tuazon has held important solo exhibitions at the Aspen Museum of Art, Aspen (2019); Bellevue Art Museum, Seattle (2019); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2016); Le Consortium, Dijon (2015); deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln (2014); Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2014); Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (2013); Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin (2013); Kunsthalle Bern (2010) and the Centre international d’art et du paysage, Île de Vassivière (2009), among others. Tuazon has been selected for several outdoor commissions, including The City of Seattle, Washington, USA (forthcoming 2024); Central Wharf Park, Boston (2019-2020); Place Vendôme in Paris, France (2017); Nouveaux Commanditaires of the Fondation de France, Belfort, France (2016); and the Public Art Fund, Brooklyn Bridge Park, New York (2013).