James Georgopoulos “There Is No End” Opens tonight at MAMA Gallery in the Arts District.

 

MAMA Gallery will be presenting There Is No End, James Georgopoulos’s first solo exhibition with the gallery on view February 28 through April 4, 2015. The opening reception for the artist will be held tonight in the DTLA Arts District, Saturday, February 28, 2015 from 6:00PM – 9:00PM.

This exhibition of new work by American artist James Georgopoulos explores familiar themes and tropes of sexuality, consumerism, and money worship – thoughtfully disguised in popular culture as the American dream. Following in the same lineage of artists such as John Chamberlain or even Marcel Duchamp, by using objects – old car parts, disused slot machines and other jettisoned materials – Georgopoulos investigates the self-cannibalizing culture of consumerism.

There Is No End surmises a continuing need for material sustenance, but at the same time an unending universal expansion with the comical notion that one day time and space will cease to exist, resulting in a beautiful nothingness – a stark contrast to the vertigo of contemporary reality.

Georgopoulos is an artist who understands this contemporary reality well. A product of the Baby Boomer generation, Georgopoulos drew inspiration from the windows of his family’s retail business in New Hampshire. In these windows, Georgopoulos played with notions of commerce and the power of aesthetic symbolism. The artist remembers being fascinated by the large, highly produced window displays on New York’s Fifth Avenue and realizing that he could bring that same degree of high-quality construction to his small New England town. Georgopoulos’s desire for scale and meaning through his art continued to take shape when he moved to Hollywood to create large, active sets for film, music videos and commercials. The temporary nature of his work in the entertainment industry left him yearning for a sense of permanence for his artistic practice.

Today his work has a permanent place in his studio. Moving on from his celebrated Guns of Cinema series, Georgopoulos is exploring three-dimensional, site-specific, sculptural works that deal with erotically charged, frenetic notions of needs versus wants and the confusion of material desire – the idea that life would be better with a new television, a new car, a million bucks, a gorgeous wife, seat warmers and the winning lottery number. In There Is No End, Georgopoulos is not making a political statement – nor is he taking sides – he is simply exploring ideas about infinity and the meaningfulness of being present.

Excerpt from an article by Oliver Maxwell Kupper featured in issue 3 of AUTRE Magazine.

For a great interview, check out article here with Issue Magazine.

ABOUT MAMA GALLERY
MAMA promotes progressive vision and ideas through multidisciplinary exhibitions and installations, both within the walls of the gallery and in alternative spaces. MAMA presents and facilitates the production of both motion and motionless content to further the careers of visual, performance and installation artists. MAMA was founded by Adarsha Benjamin and Eli Consilvio and occupies a 4,000 square foot gallery space in the Arts District in Downtown Los Angeles.

James Georgopoulos, You Are a Winner, 2015, Wild Cherry slot machine with 1:31 single channel video

MAMA
1242 Palmetto Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013