Criqui’s new mixed-media paintings of the Los Angeles environment fuse the parameters of painting and photography into hybrid images that materialize an amplified reality. Transforming photographic under-paintings with digital low-level effects and with the application of oil paint, Criqui extends the painting process both into the digital realm, before the work is printed on canvas, and into the real, after the printing process. While most of the paintings reflect a focus on the buildings and signage of LA street life, there is a new interest in the figure and readymade paintings as they appear in the landscape. As we pass through this environment at high speed, powerful symbols of what our society values and what forces are at play emerge. Criqui’s strategy effectively undermines photography’s claim to the real – oscillating between reality and fiction his paintings become powerful statements for the deceptive nature of perception.

Steven Criqui received his BA at the University of California, San Diego. His work has been shown at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, at the Harris Art Gallery, University of La Verne, La Verne, the Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, at Otis Gallery, Otis College of Art and Design, at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido, at the Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, at the UC Santa Barbara Museum, Santa Barbara, at the Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach. This is his first solo exhibition at the gallery.

Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects is located at 5795 West Washington Blvd in Culver City, between Fairfax and La Cienega, within walking distance of the Blum & Poe Gallery. Gallery Hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 12 – 6 pm and by appointment. Directions: Coming from downtown, take the 10 frwy west, exit at the Washington / Fairfax exit, turn left, it’s the second building on your right. 10 frwy coming from the westside, take the La Cienega exit, go south to Washington Blvd, turn left, the building is in the 3rd block on your left, next to the Dunn Edwards store.