Continuing through April 7, 2018
In his exhibition "slipping in and out of phenomenon," new paintings by Kevin Larmon are at once seductive and playful. Known for conceptual abstractions that draw inspiration from gay culture and the New York punk music scene, Larmon is exhibiting a dozen paintings that merge his earlier interests with references to Southern California's Finish Fetish tradition. Part homage to the late East Village artist Steven Parrino and part tribute to the late Los Angeles artist John McCracken, Larmon's 18 by 18 inch square paintings contain elements of both artists' style and process. As in Parrino's work, monochromatic surfaces are interrupted by holes cut into them. Like McCracken's planks, the surfaces are highly polished and pristine.
Larmon calls the circular, elliptical, and irregularly shaped cut-outs in the paintings "glory holes,” which is slang for holes in the partitions between the stalls of men's rooms and the booths of adult video arcades (hence the subtle humor in the exhibition's title). The appeal of these paintings nevertheless extends beyond the artist's reading of the imagery. In "ferrari red," three equally spaced circles could just as easily be interpreted as three dots at the end of a sentence or a visual pun on the extensive art historical tradition of the triptych. In "tesla blue," an undulating shape that approximates a figure eight suggests an amoeba, a bowling pin, or a key hole. No matter how you read them, these paintings provide fun and stimulation for both the brain and the eyes
