Morán Morán, Los Angeles
September 17 – October 22, 2022
September 17 – October 22, 2022
Morán Morán is pleased to present the artist’s first solo exhibition in Los Angeles, titled Cherry Blossoms are Razor Blades. The exhibition features selections of the artist’s verses from two prominent series of paintings, Black & White and Perfect Flowers, illuminating the dichotomies and modes of display within the artist’s body of work.
In the west gallery, six black-and-white paintings in positive and negative are installed on opposing walls. The suite of works is anchored by two site-specific wall murals, conceived during the artist’s lifetime and shown for the first time in the United States. Rendered as declarative statements, this body of work highlights Giorno’s uncanny wit and stark visual poetry. LIFE IS A KILLER (2012) and BIG EGO (2017-22) effectively punctuate moments of dark humor and frankness.
Uplifting linguistic phrases are presented in the east gallery in the Perfect Flowers series of wall paintings and a suite of works on canvas from 2017. Giorno’s writing in the early 2000s, during a very productive chapter, manifested the late flower paintings. Presented together, they provide a counterpoint to the first gallery, with vibrant color and seductive language employing the flower as a sly metaphor. The two-color palette dominates throughout, such as in works like LAVENDER LAUGHING LUSTFUL (2017) and HONEYSUCKLE EATING THE SMELL (2017). A wall mural, LILACS LUXURIOUSLY LICKING THE AIR (2007-22), oozes physicality while bathing the gallery in its pink hue.
In the west gallery, six black-and-white paintings in positive and negative are installed on opposing walls. The suite of works is anchored by two site-specific wall murals, conceived during the artist’s lifetime and shown for the first time in the United States. Rendered as declarative statements, this body of work highlights Giorno’s uncanny wit and stark visual poetry. LIFE IS A KILLER (2012) and BIG EGO (2017-22) effectively punctuate moments of dark humor and frankness.
Uplifting linguistic phrases are presented in the east gallery in the Perfect Flowers series of wall paintings and a suite of works on canvas from 2017. Giorno’s writing in the early 2000s, during a very productive chapter, manifested the late flower paintings. Presented together, they provide a counterpoint to the first gallery, with vibrant color and seductive language employing the flower as a sly metaphor. The two-color palette dominates throughout, such as in works like LAVENDER LAUGHING LUSTFUL (2017) and HONEYSUCKLE EATING THE SMELL (2017). A wall mural, LILACS LUXURIOUSLY LICKING THE AIR (2007-22), oozes physicality while bathing the gallery in its pink hue.
The exhibition’s title, Cherry Blossoms are Razor Blades, perfectly articulates the duality inherent within Giorno’s work. The title’s sentiment also defines a polarity between the beauty and absurdity of everyday human existence. Connections within his unique personal practice embody all aspects of the artist’s biography equally, from artmaking, Tibetan Buddhism, poetry, performance, and activism.
A fully illustrated exhibition catalog, featuring an essay by Brontez Purnell alongside texts by a dozen contemporary poets including Monika Kariuki, Savannah Knoop, Mason J., Moses Leonardo Jeune, Slava Mogutin, Mel Ottenberg, Juan A. Ramirez, Cassie Sneider, Max Steele, Michael Todd, Alejandro Varela, and Sophia Wang, accompanies this exhibition. In the title essay of the exhibition catalog, Purnell writes: “The most exciting thing about Giorno was witnessing him as a muscular thinker – very rarely do we get to see an artist have a 60-year love affair with their work. His generosity, his insistence on an artist community, and his zealousness to grow, build, and experiment yielded so much radical fruit that has now become immortal. From writing, to performance, to soundscape, and eventually to painting, we witness from logical beginning to many different ends a true master (trickster?) at work. His tenacity and refusal to never cease the wheels of his own imagination is the very thing the craft of words demands.”
Click here for more information.
A fully illustrated exhibition catalog, featuring an essay by Brontez Purnell alongside texts by a dozen contemporary poets including Monika Kariuki, Savannah Knoop, Mason J., Moses Leonardo Jeune, Slava Mogutin, Mel Ottenberg, Juan A. Ramirez, Cassie Sneider, Max Steele, Michael Todd, Alejandro Varela, and Sophia Wang, accompanies this exhibition. In the title essay of the exhibition catalog, Purnell writes: “The most exciting thing about Giorno was witnessing him as a muscular thinker – very rarely do we get to see an artist have a 60-year love affair with their work. His generosity, his insistence on an artist community, and his zealousness to grow, build, and experiment yielded so much radical fruit that has now become immortal. From writing, to performance, to soundscape, and eventually to painting, we witness from logical beginning to many different ends a true master (trickster?) at work. His tenacity and refusal to never cease the wheels of his own imagination is the very thing the craft of words demands.”
Click here for more information.
