BioPerversity

Los Angeles

Brody Albert / Roger Ballen / Matthew Barney / Keith Boadwee / Genesis Breyer P-Orridge / Lou Cantor / Cristopher Cichocki / Jamie Felton / Elizabeth Ferry / Silas Inoue / Kyla Hansen / Elisabeth Higgins O’Connor / Richard Jackson / Mi Kafchin / John Knuth / James Krone / Jessie Makinson / Paul McCarthy / Jeffry Mitchell / Cassi Namoda / Katherina Olschbaur / Joel Otterson / Șerban Savu / Allison Schulnik / Margie Schnibbe / Andres Serrano / Cristian Răduță / Ecaterina Vrana / Ambera Wellmann / Hugo Wilson / Curated by John Knuth and Ben Lee Ritchie Handler

March 24 – April 28, 2018

Brody Albert
Introverts, 2018
plaster, drywall compound
dimensions variable

Matthew Barney
Cremaster 4: Field of the Loughton Candidate, 1994
C-print in self-lubricating plastic frame, in 2 parts
Framed: 169.60h x 69.50w x 2.50d cm
66.77h x 27.36w in
Ed. 3 of 3

James Krone
Portrait as a Young Puppet (Pierotts) 1, 2017
oil on canvas
110h x 95w cm
43.31h x 37.40w in

Ecaterina Vrana
Princess with Black Sheep, 2017
oil on canvas
160h x 200w cm
62.99h x 78.74w in

Elizabeth Ferry
Sir Thomas and Helen Keller on The Lawn, 2017
hydrocal, resin, and pigment
33.02h x 27.94w cm
13h x 11w in

Elizabeth Ferry
Jimmy and Martin, 2017
hydrocal, pigment, and resin
26.67h x 30.48w x 4.76d cm
10.50h x 12w x 1.88d in

Ambera Wellmann
There There, 2018
oil on linen
88.90h x 93.98w cm
35h x 37w in

Mi Kafchin
Necrophilias Near the Runway, 2018
oil on canvas
200h x 250w cm
78.74h x 98.43w in

Mi Kafchin
Instinct Climbing the Stairs, 2018
oil on cardboard
100h x 70w cm
39.37h x 27.56w in

John Knuth
Gold Ascension, 2017
acrylic/flyspeck on canvas
121.92h x 91.44w cm
48h x 36w in

Cassi Namoda
Strife Misery Mourning, 2018
oil on canvas
76.20h x 76.20w cm
30h x 30w in
 

Cassi Namoda
2am and the absence of pain, 2018
oil on canvas
60.96h x 50.80w cm
24h x 20w in

Hugo Wilson
Bulls, 2018
bronze
90h x 67w x 67d cm
35.43h x 26.38w x 26.38d in
Ed. 3 of 3

Lou Cantor
Ferdydurke, 2018
acrylic resin on fiberglass, chalk paint
58h x 39w x 42d cm
22.83h x 15.35w x 16.54d in

Jamie Felton
Aging Witch Watching Over You, 2017
ink on dyed linen
101.60h x 76.20w cm
40h x 30w in

Elisabeth Higgins O'Connor
sheela na gig, 2017
lumber, styrofoam, bedsheets, paper, paint, matte medium, string, quilting pins
96.52h x 76.20w x 66.04d cm
38h x 30w x 26d in

Jessie Makinson
Swamp Fox, 2016
oil and pigment on canvas
200h x 165w cm
78.74h x 64.96w in

Kyla Hansen
Mona, 2018
found object, papier mache, Bondo, epoxy resin, pigment, polyurethane foam, hydrocal, glitter
50.80h x 22.86w x 24.77d cm
20h x 9w x 9.75d in

Katherina Olschbaur
A Sad New Species, 2018
oil and oil stick on canvas
200.03h x 200.03w cm
78.75h x 78.75w in

Keith Boadwee & Club Paint
Active Amphibian I, 2017
oil on canvas
76.20h x 60.96w x 1.91d cm
30h x 24w in

Keith Boadwee & Club Paint
Active Amphibian II, 2017
oil on canvas
76.20h x 60.96w x 1.91d cm
30h x 24w in

Keith Boadwee & Club Paint
Active Amphibian III, 2017
oil on canvas
76.20h x 60.96w x 1.91d cm
30h x 24w in

Keith Boadwee
Active Amphibian IV, 2017
oil on canvas
76.20h x 60.96w cm
30h x 24w in

Cristopher Cichocki
Shoreline, 2018
Salton Sea barnacles and fish bones, desert sand, salt, flagging tape, metallic enamel with acidic conversion on wood composite
147.32h x 249w cm
58h x 98.03w in

Silas Inoue
Wolf Pack, 2018
pencil on paper
121.92h x 110.49w x 5.08d cm
48h x 43.50w x 2d in

Silas Inoue
Wolf Pack, 2018
pencil on paper
121.92h x 110.49w x 5.08d cm
48h x 43.50w x 2d in

Genesis Breyer P-Orridge
Blood Bunny - Ketameaner Kat, 1998-2011
Talismanic Pandrogeny Object: wood, blood (Lady Jaye), blood (Genesis), hair (Lady Jaye), cloth, adhesive, bell jar
33.02h x 16.51w x 16.51d cm
13h x 6.50w x 6.50d in

Șerban Savu
Untitled, 2018
oil on board
25.40h x 30.48w cm
10h x 12w in

Press Release

Curated by John Knuth and Ben Lee Ritchie Handler

Brody Albert • Roger Ballen • Matthew Barney • Keith Boadwee • Genesis Breyer P-Orridge • Lou Cantor • Cristopher Cichocki • Jamie Felton • Elizabeth Ferry • Silas Inoue • Kyla Hansen • Elisabeth Higgins O’Connor • Richard Jackson • Mi Kafchin • John Knuth • James Krone • Jessie Makinson • Paul McCarthy • Jeffry Mitchell • Cassi Namoda • Katherina Olschbaur • Joel Otterson • Șerban Savu • Allison Schulnik • Margie Schnibbe • Andres Serrano • Cristian Răduță • Ecaterina Vrana • Ambera Wellmann • Hugo Wilson • and more…

 

Girl, it's a hard, hard world
If it gets you down
Dreams often fade and die
In a bad, bad world
 
I'll take you where real animals are playing
And people are real people not just playing
It's a quiet, quiet life
By a dirty old shack
That we called our home
I want to be back there
Among the cats and dogs
And the pigs and the goats

 — “Animal Farm,” The Kinks

 

Nicodim Gallery is pleased to present BioPerversity, an exploration of humanity’s darker and lighter perversions as told through the personification of the rest of the animal kingdom, creatures who exist a few rungs beneath us on the evolutionary ladder.
 
Conscious humans have a tendency to attribute animal characteristics to one another in terms of cliché: work like a dog; like a fish out of water; a wolf in sheep’s clothing; happy as a clam; etc.  What happens when we push beyond these trite truisms? By starting with our base animal instincts, we are able to descend deeper down the rabbit hole of our social complexities and psychological neuroses, and we can properly celebrate our feral desires.

The moralistic condition of the United States is biologically perverse. We claim divine inspiration and manifest destiny as we bulldoze forests in the name of fossil fuels and the commodification of natural resources. We stripfarm the oceans and swallow their bounty raw, and yet we’re terrified of its mysteries. The president of the United States said, “I hope all sharks die.”  We hope the sharks live. We honor their frenzies and rejoice in their raw energy.
 
Our addiction to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, et al is biologically perverse. We scroll, click “like,” and share photos of each other eating, sleeping, fucking, and shitting, divorcing the imagery from the acts themselves, so that these basic life functions become algorithmic content for ad sales. Eating, sleeping, fucking, and shitting is what animals do best. We want to eat, sleep, fuck, and shit like the animals do.
 
Our obsession with gel hand sanitizer, spotless bathrooms, and antiseptic kitchens is biologically perverse. We’ve become germaphobes, terrified of microorganisms, afraid to touch a shopping cart that another animal has touched. Domestic house cats and cats in the wild lick their bodies clean just the same. Los Angeles mountain lion P-22 was a prisoner trapped on an urban island, surrounded by freeways, scouring for a mate. We’re right there with P-22.  Whatever this impulse is, we want to get out of our cage and back into the wild where real animals are playing, where the people can stand at the precipice and envy our freedom.  
 
Werner Herzog said, “nature is vile and base. I wouldn't see anything erotical here. I see fornication and asphyxiation and choking and fighting for survival, and growing, and just rotting away.”  It is in this spirit that we present BioPerversity.