Event 2 - Jason Rhoades Installations

Last weekend, my friend and I decided to visit Jason Rhoades Installations which is located in the Art District in downtown LA. This exhibition was actually recommended by one of my other friends commenting that “it was a cool place to take some pictures”. After visiting the installations myself, I found it way more than just a cool place to take photos. Jason Rhoades really had the ability to impress people by his extraordinary ideas and works.

An overview of the exhibition!

Rhoades was an alumnus graduating from UCLA in 1993. The exhibition this time at Hauser & Wirth was composed of six parts. Each part is an independent installation with a certain theme expanding from 1994 to 2006, but as he believed that his separate works can be considered components of one single boundless piece realized over time.

Since the whole installations are huge and consist different parts, I would focus one of them which I found the most appealing to me.

Some neon lights in English words

The first one is the most recent one which was created in 2006 with the name Tijuanatanjierchandelier. This work explores the different cultures of two different towns which are Tijuana, Mexico and Tangier, Morocco. What we can see in the exhibition are a great number of neon lights in both English and Spanish terms as well as many traditional items sold in the market, such as mugs, handbags, and other souvenirs, etc. 

An example of neon lights in a non-English word, which might be Spanish but I am not sure

Neon lights are usually seen in urban cities at night and represents a commercial and modern environment. Neon and different chemicals are the main reason why those lights show different colors, so neon light can be said as modern products relying on technologies. In contrast, the goods sold in the market represent a more original and handcrafted culture. I believe that the artist chose those two elements and mixed them together in the same piece of artwork shows how human commercial culture develops overtime, and while we are adopting new technologies and coming up with new things, it is still crucial to preserve our old culture and roots. Rhoades used his piece of artwork to show us that it is always possible to observe the harmony between past, present and even future.

It is decorated like a traditional market with goods on sale

In addition to Tijuanatanjierchandelier, other parts of the exhibitions especially The Creation Myth which was made in 1998 and The Black Pussy… and the Pagan Idol Workshop which was created in 2005 were very interesting as well. 

The Creation Myth. It can be seen as a human body as a whole which is very interesting. The artist even used a machine that releases gas to represent human's "breaking wind".

I would strongly recommend my fellow classmates go visiting this installations and i believe that everyone can experience and learn some from it.