ONE NIGHT ONLY ART HAPPENING "GORDY GRUNDY: BURN, A RETROSPECTIVE" AT COAGULA CURATORIAL IN CHINATOWN



Friday, 13 July 2012; 8pm - 11pm; One Night Only

Los Angeles, CA (June 20, 2012)--- Coagula Curatorial is excited to present "the whole damn oeuvre" "Gordy Grundy BURN: A Retrospective." The Los Angeles based visual artist and popular art writer will exhibit the sum of all his visual efforts in a one night happening on Friday, 13 July 2012 from 8 to 11pm. Over two hundred paintings, works on paper, monoprints and etchings will survey an active and busy life in the arts. DJ Crown of Destroyer Radio will spin original beats.

The title BURN refers to artist John Baldessari who incinerated his early works to create entirely new art in 1970. Like a phoenix, Grundy seeks to destroy or disavow the sum of his creation in hopes of launching or reinventing a new aesthetic and ethos. "The world, economically and socially, is changing and so must we," Grundy says, "To survive, I am repacking my bags to make ready for the End of Some Times." The artist fears the Apocalypse yet boldly advocates for what he calls the "New Age of Aquarius, the Modern Era of Marvel and the Revolution of Reason."

Born and raised in Newport Beach, Gordy Grundy is a creation of Southern California, a place and idea caught between the natural world of beach and mountain and the hyper-reality of Disneyland and Hollywood. His works offer a prayer and a laugh. One series of work features profane images of cute cartoon devils fornicating on the sacred landscape of heavenly gold leaf. "F***ing Devils" are included in several very prominent collections. His popular, fifteen-year column Genuflect in the Coagula Art Journal would celebrate a drunken fistfight, as well as create psalms of praise to the beauty of the artist. His minimalist masterpiece "No Further West" at TRAXX Restaurant in Union Station reminds us with a laugh that the train stops here, on the edge of civilization.

BURN celebrates a life of service in the arts. Grundy has served a five-year term as President of the Barnsdall Art Center Student Advisory Committee, as well as a founding member of the Barnsdall Art Park Foundation and the Downtown LA Neighborhood Arts Committee. Always active in the arts community, he has produced panel discussions, literary readings and happenings. Grundy is known to never refuse a request for help or advice.

In this retrospective, over two hundred pieces will chronicle Grundy’s large body of artwork. His most recent effort, "Fortuna", sought to create a religion out of Chance and Luck with five shows, eighteen videos, five websites and three thousand images. "Space’d" is a minimal abstract series of paintings, seeking a meditation of philosophy and purpose. Long before Americans immortalized their good taste with blogs and social media, Grundy added utility to his paintings by covering artwork with cocktail recipes in "Gordy Recommends." Never exhibited until now, the painting series "Blackouts" promises "The Most Fun You’ll Never Remember Having." Over thirteen bodies of work will be represented in the retrospective.

Grundy writes for Artillery magazine, the Huffington Post and ARTnews. He has recently completed a comic novella "Emperor Muk," a weekly Internet serial. With a history in LA theater, he is currently working to launch a theatrical nightclub experience "Mocambo ’42."

BURN is a celebration of art. The one-night retrospective will hop to the beat of Crown, a DJ of the Destroyer Radio and the Digital Vomit collectives who will make a return engagement after a five-year sojourn. GORDY GRUNDY: BURN: THE RETROSPECTIVE will be presented from 8 to 11pm, one night only, on Friday, 13 July, 2012.

Coagula Curatorial
977 Chung King Road, Los Angeles CA 90012
In the heart of the Los Angeles Chinatown Arts District
Gallery E-mail: 88gallery@gmail.com

For Media Inquiries,
Contact: Mat Gleason
Gallery E-mail: 88gallery@gmail.com

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