Billy Al Bengston

American contemporary artist Billy Al Bengston (1934-2022) worked in painting and sculpture. In the 1960s, Bengston started to show at the Ferus Gallery, which was founded by Walter Hopps and Edward Kienholz. Bengston was inspired by the innovation of Jasper Johns, who included American flags and US maps in his works. He began to experiment with popular iconographies, such as abstracted commercial logos, motorcycles, hearts and eventually, his iconic chevrons. His practice was loosely informed by the Pop art movement as he created work in response to consumer products. In the mid-60s, Bengston started incorporating lacquer into his works, applying spray paint and lacquer to aluminium sheets, which made the surfaces shiny like a genuine motorcycle. He was known for involving California's "Kustom'' car, Motorcycle culture and Finish Fetish movement in his pieces and gained fame for his chevrons series, which showed at Martha Jackson Gallery in New York. ...

Various Small Fires (Los Angeles /Dallas /Seoul) began as a series of conversations with artists and curators in Esther Kim Varet’s Venice Beach kitchen while working on her doctoral dissertation. VSF debuted in Hollywood as an official gallery in 2015 with a roster of artists and its current Johnston MarkLee Architects-designed building. The Hollywood gallery contains three exhibition spaces, a unique sound corridor, and an outdoor gallery. VSF’s exhibition program explores several curatorial lines: climate, equality, and an international conversation. The gallery is known for offering artists debut shows, creating intergenerational conversations among the artists on its roster, and solidifying artists’ legacies within art history. In 2019, VSF opened a second location in the Hannam neighbourhood of Seoul, South Korea, followed recently this Spring by VSFs third outpost in Dallas, Texas. While Varet has very personal connections to both locations, they are also superlative art communities. These expansions emphasise the gallery’s commitment to innovation and global dialogue in the twenty-first century. In 2021, VSF became a member of the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA). ...