Organized for the Armory by Los Angeles-based independent curator Kris Kuramitsu, this exhibition highlights and contextualizes a group of artists that work in Los Angeles as well as other locations in Asia and Latin America, among them Ho Chi Minh City, Tokyo, Mumbai, Tijuana, Guadalajara, and Mexico City.
Los Angeles is perpetually framed as a prototypical global city, an outer-edge American capital that serves as a key Pacific Rim nexus of exchange for people, goods, and ideas. Home Away explores the contours of a transnational artistic practice that is rooted in this context – the dynamism of Los Angeles in the second decade of the new millennium.
The nine artists in this exhibition have deep ties to Los Angeles, yet maintain studios and live part of their lives in cities across Asia and Latin America. While artists have always had a history of living such peripatetic lives – making homes where their inspiration leads them – the artists in this exhibition have found meaning in the relationship between multiple bases of creative operation. These artists have made a home in Los Angeles as professionals nurtured by the community of creative people in this city, yet actively maintain connections to their former homes, exploring the impact of immigration, surveillance, or trade policies on people, goods, and ideas as they move from place to place.
