This book accompanies the latest bi-annual invitational exhibition organized by the Hammer Museum, which showcases the work of several Los Angeles-based artists, both established and emerging, as well as a number of artists from around the world. This catalogue to the 2011 exhibition highlights the work of fourteen contemporary artists across a wide range of media, including painting, sculpture, drawing, installation, performance art, moving image, and sound. Chosen for their interest in examining the nature of being and our experiential relationship to the world as well as their desire to make the process of artistic production visible to the viewer, this group of artists includes Karla Black, Charles Gaines, Evan Holloway, Sergej Jensen, Ian Kiaer, Jorge Macchi, Dianna Molzan, Fernando Ortega, Eileen Quinlan, Gedi Sibony, Paul Sietsema, Frances Stark, Mateo Tannatt, and Kerry Tribe. Their work explores the transient nature of materials, the limitations of structures and systems, and connections to music, sound, literature, mathematics, and time. This volume includes essays by the artist Charles Long and by Anne Ellegood and Douglas Fogle, the exhibition's curators, as well as a section of color plates and a brief text and biographical information for each artist, making this an exciting reflection on the nature of art-making today.
