Under
Construction: Photos will be up soon!
Meg
Cranston: Recent Works
November 23, 2002 until January 11, 2003
Opening reception, Saturday, November 23rd, 6-9 pm
The
Happy Lion
963 Chung King Road Los Angeles, CA, 90012
Tel.: 213/625-1360
The Happy Lion is pleased to present recent sculptures by
Meg Cranston, including a group of life-size piñatas
depicting Cranston herself. Molded and finished in brightly
colored paper, each of the piñatas strikes a pose
characteristic of the artist.
The effigies are based on the visual and iconographic traditions
associated with piñatas, which have a fascinating
yet little-known history. Literally translated from Latin
“piñata” means “Pine of Attis”—a
conflation of the words for pine (pino) and ‘ata or
Attis, a god of vegetation once worshiped in Western Asia.
In ancient times, members of Attis’ cult hung offerings
from pine-trees and then beat them as offerings to the god.
With their migration from East to West, the function and
form of piñatas changed evolving from paper vessels
symbolizing Spring-time fertility in ancient China to Catholic
metaphors for the seven deadly sins, and, most recently,
as secular party favors.
Playing upon the role of the piñata as a sacrificial
object, she depicts herself as a martyr/totem, but she does
not see her sculptures in a wholly negative light. “I
suppose there is an aspect of masochism in the work,”
Cranston states, “though in my view the masochist
is a sort of grandiose daredevil who endures humiliation
to prove they are invincible.”
Cranston calls her sculptures “Magical Death”
after a 1973 ethnographic film by Napoleon Chagnon and Timothy
Asch, which vividly depicted the shamanic ceremonies of
the Yanomamo Indians. In the film the Yanomano symbolically
murder or “inflict” a “magical death”
upon the children of enemy tribes to insure their own survival.
Cranston’s longstanding interests in anthropology
(a field in which she received her Bachelor’s Degree)
and cultural history have always shaped her approach to
making art in both material and conceptual ways. Since 1986,
she has participated in group and major solo exhibitions
in America, Europe, and Australia, including the Venice
Biennale (1993). In 1994, she received a fellowship in sculpture
and installation from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial
Foundation. Cranston presently lives and works in Venice,
California, and is a Professor at Otis College of Art and
Design in Los Angeles.
“Meg Cranston: Recent Works” is the third consecutive
exhibition at The Happy Lion presented jointly by Galerie
Michael Janssen, Cologne, and Leo Koenig Inc., New York,
both of whom represent an important group of internationally
known artists. Both Janssen and Koenig view their presence
on Chinatown’s Chungking Road as an exceptional opportunity
to feature dynamic solo exhibitions in a burgeoning and
particularly rich district of Los Angeles. For more information
please contact John Chvostal, the gallery’s director.
