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. ...

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). ...