November 21, 2024
Evan Whale
The End of Sunset
Tyler Park Presents
November 2 - December 14, 2024
Evan Whale
Cities change. The old is replaced by the new, for better or for worse. Gentrification is rampant in Los Angeles today. Developers are turning vacant lots into luxury high rises citywide — tearing down what was quaint, unique and historic — and forever changing the aura of neighborhoods and the fabric of the city.
Evan Whale is an artist who resides just west of downtown Los Angeles in a neighborhood that has been referred to as "The Forgotten Edge." The location is where Echo Park, Angelino Heights, Chinatown and Downtown collide. He has been documenting, as well as lamenting the ways this neighborhood has changed for several years. Through a series of mixed-media and photographic works, he attempts to make sense of and in some ways preserve what is being lost. In his exhibition The End of Sunset, he combines photographs and artifacts juxtaposing these fragments to form mementos that address collective memory.
Dramatically illustrating the absurdity of the changes to the area, Whale presents two customized viewmasters. One reproduces black and white images taken by Ed Ruscha at the address 1185 W. Sunset Boulevard from 1973-2007; the other illuminates an Aragon Properties LTD rendering for a proposed mixed use high rise that would include 327 apartments in addition to commercial spaces. Past and future collide in this intimate display.
While at first glance, Whale's photographs appear to be of banal subjects — tires, signs, abandoned chairs — the way they are altered is what makes his work unique. For example, The End of Sunset (Tired, B & F Auto Repair) (all works 2024) is a manipulated photograph of a pile of discarded tires. Whale applies chemicals (the work is called a Chemigram), as well as oil pastel to the image, in addition to carving into its surface. This imbues the image with a glittery blue and pink aura. The End of Sunset (Reliable Rearrangement) is a photograph of a sign for a building supply store. Whale documented the sign just before it was demolished and collected the shattered fragments which he later collaged to some of the works in the exhibition. In the image, the still vital sign (now sparkling with its chemical appliqué) is borded by a cloudless blue sky and a palm tee — both quintessential in Los Angeles. On top of the print Whale has carefully collaged shards of irregularly shaped black plastic that could be fragments from the lettering of the sign. These puzzle pieces move the image from documentation towards abstraction.
In The End of Sunset (B&F Auto Repair, Friends Car Wash, Campos Auto Sales, O&J Auto Repair, Best Way Car Wash, Sempe Auto Repair, Reliable Sash & Door, Atlantic Richfield), Whale places two bright yellow rectangular pieces of acrylic where garage doors might have been located. The title traces the different venues that once were situated at the address 1185 Sunset (the same address that Ruscha documented). The photograph features the now vacant dilapidated building augmented with yellow rectangles that overlay the image. Whale's use of color is reminiscent of an Ellsworth Kelly painting as he pays particular attention to the relationship between his added yellow parts against the cyan graffiti on the buildings facade as well as the blue sky, green trees and red trim.
The standout in the exhibition is The End of Sunset (Mixed-Use). In this imposing vertical composition, Whale brings together a color photograph and a piece of acrylic laser cut in the form of a chain-link fence. The photograph depicts a dysfunctional shopping cart with broken wheels sitting next to a chain-link fence. The distorted color in the image comes from Whale's choice to use outdated film. Here, a faded acidic green ground transitions into burnt orange before fading into a light magenta sky. On top of this image sits a large piece of acrylic UV printed with three palm trees against a bright blue sky. The trunks of the palms extend from the metal supports of the abandoned shopping cart. In this piece, Whale combines the utopic ideal of a sunny paradise with the dystopic reality of homelessness in Los Angeles.
In prior bodies of work, Whale also juxtaposed architectural and natural elements, more obviously manipulating the photographic surface with hand-painted additions. For the works in The End of Sunset, the handwork pretty much disappears in favor of chemical highlights that transform the original images into something otherworldly and surreal. Through the blurring of fact and fiction, the project aims to call attention to that which would be forgotten in the ever changing landscape of Los Angeles.
The End of Sunset
Tyler Park Presents
November 2 - December 14, 2024
Evan Whale
Cities change. The old is replaced by the new, for better or for worse. Gentrification is rampant in Los Angeles today. Developers are turning vacant lots into luxury high rises citywide — tearing down what was quaint, unique and historic — and forever changing the aura of neighborhoods and the fabric of the city.
Evan Whale is an artist who resides just west of downtown Los Angeles in a neighborhood that has been referred to as "The Forgotten Edge." The location is where Echo Park, Angelino Heights, Chinatown and Downtown collide. He has been documenting, as well as lamenting the ways this neighborhood has changed for several years. Through a series of mixed-media and photographic works, he attempts to make sense of and in some ways preserve what is being lost. In his exhibition The End of Sunset, he combines photographs and artifacts juxtaposing these fragments to form mementos that address collective memory.
Dramatically illustrating the absurdity of the changes to the area, Whale presents two customized viewmasters. One reproduces black and white images taken by Ed Ruscha at the address 1185 W. Sunset Boulevard from 1973-2007; the other illuminates an Aragon Properties LTD rendering for a proposed mixed use high rise that would include 327 apartments in addition to commercial spaces. Past and future collide in this intimate display.
While at first glance, Whale's photographs appear to be of banal subjects — tires, signs, abandoned chairs — the way they are altered is what makes his work unique. For example, The End of Sunset (Tired, B & F Auto Repair) (all works 2024) is a manipulated photograph of a pile of discarded tires. Whale applies chemicals (the work is called a Chemigram), as well as oil pastel to the image, in addition to carving into its surface. This imbues the image with a glittery blue and pink aura. The End of Sunset (Reliable Rearrangement) is a photograph of a sign for a building supply store. Whale documented the sign just before it was demolished and collected the shattered fragments which he later collaged to some of the works in the exhibition. In the image, the still vital sign (now sparkling with its chemical appliqué) is borded by a cloudless blue sky and a palm tee — both quintessential in Los Angeles. On top of the print Whale has carefully collaged shards of irregularly shaped black plastic that could be fragments from the lettering of the sign. These puzzle pieces move the image from documentation towards abstraction.
In The End of Sunset (B&F Auto Repair, Friends Car Wash, Campos Auto Sales, O&J Auto Repair, Best Way Car Wash, Sempe Auto Repair, Reliable Sash & Door, Atlantic Richfield), Whale places two bright yellow rectangular pieces of acrylic where garage doors might have been located. The title traces the different venues that once were situated at the address 1185 Sunset (the same address that Ruscha documented). The photograph features the now vacant dilapidated building augmented with yellow rectangles that overlay the image. Whale's use of color is reminiscent of an Ellsworth Kelly painting as he pays particular attention to the relationship between his added yellow parts against the cyan graffiti on the buildings facade as well as the blue sky, green trees and red trim.
The standout in the exhibition is The End of Sunset (Mixed-Use). In this imposing vertical composition, Whale brings together a color photograph and a piece of acrylic laser cut in the form of a chain-link fence. The photograph depicts a dysfunctional shopping cart with broken wheels sitting next to a chain-link fence. The distorted color in the image comes from Whale's choice to use outdated film. Here, a faded acidic green ground transitions into burnt orange before fading into a light magenta sky. On top of this image sits a large piece of acrylic UV printed with three palm trees against a bright blue sky. The trunks of the palms extend from the metal supports of the abandoned shopping cart. In this piece, Whale combines the utopic ideal of a sunny paradise with the dystopic reality of homelessness in Los Angeles.
In prior bodies of work, Whale also juxtaposed architectural and natural elements, more obviously manipulating the photographic surface with hand-painted additions. For the works in The End of Sunset, the handwork pretty much disappears in favor of chemical highlights that transform the original images into something otherworldly and surreal. Through the blurring of fact and fiction, the project aims to call attention to that which would be forgotten in the ever changing landscape of Los Angeles.