Math Bass

Operating in a dreamy space between surrealism and figuration, Math Bass has developed a distinct visual lexicon in their paintings. Graphic symbols or seemingly random objects such as fried eggs, bones, flowers, letters, and clouds are brought together in supremely flat registers that resurface and reshape in different paintings. The elongated legs, illustrative architectural fragments and bold calligraphy all could have been plucked from an Art Deco poster of the 1920s. The overlaps and unsettling juxtapositions that Bass develops creates narratives for audiences to unravel. The bewildering, somewhat uneasy tone of these oil paintings leaves space for Bass to meditate on their queerness through the language of the everyday, riffing off of personal experiences of navigating everyday environments in heteronormative society. Negative space is a particularly important ingredient within Bass’s compositions. Building on lessons learnt from their tutor Barbara Kruger, Bass values the anchoring presence of negative space, using it as a tool to aid coherence and clarity within each painting’s composition. ...

Commonwealth and Council is a gallery in Koreatown, Los Angeles founded in 2010. Our program is rooted in our commitment to explore how a community of artists can sustain our co-existence through generosity and hospitality. Commonwealth and Council celebrates our manifold identities and experiences through the shared dialogue of art—championing practices by women, queer, POC, and our ally artists to build counter-histories that reflect our individual and collective realities.