Lari Pittman

This is the first comprehensive survey of paintings by Lari Pittman (b. 1952), a Los Angeles artist believed by many to be one of the most significant American painters today. Since his first solo exhibition, in Los Angeles in 1982, his art has been widely exhibited in the U.S. and Europe. However, the public has seen his work for the most part only in periodic exhibitions, and the critical response while almost universally favorable, has been largely limited to reviews. In this mid-career retrospective exhibition the Los Angeles County Museum of Art brought together Pittman's most ambitious and seminal works to offer an overview of his stylistic and thematic development. Pittman received his MFA from the Cal Arts in 1976. In David Pagel's interview with Pittman, he concludes that Pittman's paintings include "imaginary organic forms, runaway arrows, and arabesques, transform ornamentation into a contemporary narrative of life and death, love and sex." He also believes "Pittman's operatic pictures propose that the world's complexity does not override passion, sincerity, and individuality." When talking about his own work, Pittman states: "at times, I purposefully orchestrate the work so that you do have that comfortable laughter when looking at it-it's full-hearted and enjoyable internally-but it's also a laughter linked to nervousness. And that's the laughter I particularly like cultivating, parlor laughter, where there's always the subtext of conversation going on, but everyone is very agreeable."