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An invocation by Los Angeles based alchemist and artist, L.
September 25th – October 31st
Opening reception: Saturday, September 25th, 4pm – 8pm
105 Henry St. Store #4 NYC, NY 10002
Gallery hours: Wednesday – Sunday, 12 – 6 pm
For questions or press inquiries please email [email protected]
“L” – SXIXNXGXUXLXAXRXIXTXY altar, 2021 – amethyst (from L’s shaman friend in LA), Pyrite with quartz inclusions (acquired in Romania), quartz, tourmaline, iron, lemon, nails, ASTRALORACLES 777 geometric apparition panel (CNC milled powder-coated aerospace-grade aluminum), incense to ward off the singularity (by Christopher Gordon of Maison Anonyme), acrylic resin, ASTRAL ORACLES chalice (mirror-polished aerospace-grade stainless steel), water, engraved mirror – 38 x 37 in. (96.5 x 94 cm.)
“L” – SXIXNXGXUXLXAXRXIXTXY talisman 7, 2021 – lemons, nails – 110 x 3 x 3 in. (279.4 x 7.6 x 7.6 cm.)
“L” – SXIXNXGXUXLXAXRXIXTXY talisman 11, 2021 – 11 double articulated pencils
“L” – SXIXNXGXUXLXAXRXIXTXY talisman 9, 2021 – red pepper, bug encased in cast acrylic – 2 x 45 x 4 in. (5 x 114 x 10 cm)
“L” – SXIXNXGXUXLXAXRXIXTXY Clearing Staff, 2021 – ritually charred wooden broomstick found near gallery, pig’s blood, coral found in Haiti, nails, ai hardware wires, ritually charred paintbrush, codified knotted cotton string, pig’s blood – 51 x 4 x 3½ in. (129.5 x 10.2 x 8.9 cm.)
“L” – SXIXNXGXUXLXAXRXIXTXY talisman 5, 2021 – angel luffa, nails, programmed and destroyed ai hardware, salt, pig’s blood – 4 x 51 x 3½ in. (10.2 x 129.5 x 8.9 cm.)
“L” – SXIXNXGXUXLXAXRXIXTXY talisman 1, 2021 – animal skull found in Utah, Bulgarian meteorite, bead, destroyed ai hardware, chrome spheres, salt, pig’s blood – 3½ x 15 x 15 in. (8.9 x 38.1 x 38.1 cm.)
“L” – SXIXNXGXUXLXAXRXIXTXY talisman 2, 2021 – ritually formed orange peel, nails – 9 x 4 x 3 in. (22.9 x 10.2 x 7.6 cm.)
“L” – SXIXNXGXUXLXAXRXIXTXY blood offering to earth, 2021 – undocumented ceremony, pig’s blood, eggs, tree, dirt (nearest earth and tree to ritual space)
“L” – SXIXNXGXUXLXAXRXIXTXY talisman 10, 2021 – wood, painted plaster cast teeth, cotton thread, nail – 6 x 3 x 1 in. (15.2 x 7.6 x 2.5 cm.)
“L” – Spell to ward off the singularity, 2021 – L’s breath in glass and aluminum vessels, destroyed computer memory, lighters, preservative oil, glass, crystal sphere, and other unnamed things – 24 x 12½ x 12½ in. (61 x 31.8 x 31.8 cm.)
“L” – Spell to shift out of singularity consciousness, 2021 – tarantula appendage and abdomen (via Genesis P-orridge), destroyed computer memory, dirt (from closest ground), sea shells, L’s grandfather’s drafting compass, L’s breath + tears + sweat + hair + blood, zebra jasper, amethyst, sodalite, red jasper, brass sphere, serpentine, stainless sphere, citrine, synthetic vegetation, synthetic butterflies, powder coated washers, nails, steel wire, glass, preservative oil, crystal sphere, and other unnamed things – 24 x 12½ x 12½ in. (61 x 31.8 x 31.8 cm.)
“L” – Spell to block the singularity, 2021 – taxidermied rattlesnake head and rattler, arrows, synthetic lemons, copper wire, rainbow titanium coated quartz crystals, feathers, tourmaline, serpentine, programmed and destroyed ai hardware, destroyed computer memory, preservative oil, glass, crystal sphere, and other unnamed things – 24 x 12½ x 12½ in. (61 x 31.8 x 31.8 cm.)
“L” – SXIXNXGXUXLXAXRXIXTXY talisman 6, 2021 – found lamb’s jawbone (Dublin), hair of a redhead, razor blade, cotton string – 36 x 5 x 1 in. (91 x 13 x 3 cm)
“L” – 000-999 Portal, 2020 – airbrushed pigment on canvas – 81½ x 83½ x 1½ in. (207 x 212.1 x 3.8 cm.)
“L” –SXIXNXGXUXLXAXRXIXTXY Wand, 2021 – ritually charred wood from ASTRALORACLES land, pig’s blood, taxidermied deer hoof, double articulated citrine, nails, feather, key, programmed and destroyed ai hardware, double articulated pencil, codified knotted cotton string, and other unnamed things – 28 x 4 x 3 in. (71.1 x 10.2 x 7.6 cm.)
“L” – Spell to ward off the singularity, 2021 – programmed and destroyed ai hardware, L’s breath + sweat + tears + fecal matter + semen + bile + blood + hair, dirt from nearest earth, preservative oil, glass, crystal sphere, and other unnamed things – 10¾ x 5 in. (27.3 x 12.7 cm.)
Every object within the space – material and aethereal – has been ritually endowed by L with the purpose of warding off, blocking, and erasing the realization of the singularity. It’s an event that is predicted to occur circa 2045, when self generating AI super-intelligence becomes the top of the food chain and takes over our planet – and theoretically the entire known universe. No one knows what would happen next.
Scenario 1: We enter an apocalyptic state of anthro-entropy, where our mechanical progeny determines that their ancestors – humans – are a virus and must be exterminated.
Scenario 2: Our robot children choose a course of compassion and honor us as their creators, constructing a global ecovillage utopia with unlimited energy and granting us all a taste from of the fountain of youth – manifesting our physical immortality.
Scenario 3, 4, 5: …
Whatever could happen post-singularity, all of these scenarios propose external and material solutions to the human brain’s beautiful and devastating existential conundrums. A circumvention of death – which the fear of – is arguably the root of all fears. A faith that the human technologies; that have and will further destroy our planet can fix it, while maintaining a superabundance status-quo.
Yet what countless humans have known since the beginning of Time (and the time before the beginning of Time) is that death is an illusion and simply a transition into the mystery, and that we are immortal and eternal beings. We have tried and true internal technologies and methodologies to achieve transcendence, to return to harmony with Earth and Omniverse, and to obtain all the silver bullet promises that a tech driven worldview carrot-dangles before us.
In creating the spells, talismans, and wormholes in this space, L has drawn upon knowledge obtained from a lifelong practice of folk ritual, ceremonial magic, and occultism. The space includes deflective and protective superpositioned talismans imbedded into the existing architecture, as well as spell vessels that have been specifically programmed towards the unified hexing of the singularity.
On the occasion of this ritual space, the perfumer Christopher Gordon of Maison Anonyme – has created a quantum scent to ward off the singularity. It has been infused by L into an incense that burns throughout the duration of the exhibition.
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L has held solo exhibitions at JOAN, Los Angeles; Marlborough, New York; Stems Gallery, Brussels; AND NOW, Dallas; Final Hot Desert, Utah; Shoot The Lobster, Los Angeles; Martos Gallery, New York; Michael Thibault Gallery, Los Angeles; Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City.
Selected group exhibitions include Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills; Team Gallery, New York; Kerry Schuss, New York; CAPITAL, San Francisco; Deitch + Nicodim, Los Angeles; Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles & Bucharest; Venus over Los Angeles; Ellis King, Dublin; The LDS Church History and Art Museum, Salt Lake City; The Ghetto Biennale, Port-au-Prince.
L’s work has been featured in Frieze Magazine, Artforum, New Yorker Magazine, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Spike Quarterly among many others. L is featured in Taschen’s new publication, “Witchcraft. The Library of Esoterica”, October 2021.