Artist Grant Shumate is taking over Dries Van Noten’s The Little House.
Beginning Thursday, the Los Angeles retail space will host Shumate’s Various Positions exhibit—an installation featuring 25 paintings stacked on various slabs of marble. The collection of works will line the gallery’s interior to create a sculptural environment with rich colors, patterns, and textures.
The origins of Various Pieces date back to 2018, when Shumate was collecting digital imagery as part of his technology-driven projects. Shumate said he had 40 to 50 of those images opened in Photoshop, when a glitch in the program caused them to collapse into a single abstraction. Though the incident would’ve left some artists annoyed or frustrated, Shumate was immediately intrigued by the result.
“With these works all the painterly moves happen digitally but it all feels very organic and earthy when the images are translated onto these very toothy canvases,” Shumate explained. “I’m adjusting colors, cropping elements to find this balance that informs a narrative or creates an energy you’d find in mid-century abstraction.”
In addition to the exhibition, Shumate and his Various Positions collective will present an audio-visual performance piece featuring music producer Trent Mazur. The artist will also mint his Various Positions paintings as NFTs, each of which will consist of custom soundscapes and animations.
“Since Dries Van Noten, the brand, is so textile oriented, it felt natural to have this particular show in this particular space,” Shumate added “My work has always played with the intersection of the physical and digital worlds. But this body of work is the most integrated.”
You can check out photos from the Various Positions exhibit below. The installation is on display at The Little House, 451 N. La Cienega Blvd. in Los Angeles, through June 19.
