06.08 — 07.29.2023
Red Night
Beck+Col
908 South Olive Street, DTLA | Monday - Saturday, 9am - 8pm
Lauren Powell Projects and the art room are thrilled to present Red Night, a group exhibition and first look inside of Beck+Col’s new film - Red Night, on view from June 8th - July 28th, 2023 at 908 South Olive Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90015. Red Night highlights the helplessness of individualism through the narrative of a slasher film. For this occasion, the gallery is transformed into the monster's home: yellow, orange, and blue monochromatic spaces filled with set pieces, costumes and artworks from the film.
Enter the colorful world of a queer chosen family of five monsters. These siblings are inseparable, always supporting each other and just trying to make it through each day. What was supposed to be a joyous reunion turns red when an evil being that was unleashed on Ash’s journey tags along. This being is fixated on isolating and killing each of the monsters one by one. Ash is determined to protect their family, fighting back against the relentless foe.
Red Night is a slasher film set in a suburban home, where a human killer stalks five colorful monsters. Each room of the house is a different monochromatic color,
and as the monsters move through the space, they change color with each room. The film draws on the cinematic traditions of Dario Argento’s Giallo films, specifically Deep Red and Suspiria. The tone is classic 70s/80s horror through and through.
Red Night highlights the helplessness of individualism through the narrative of a slasher film. In typical slasher fashion, victims are pursued and killed when they are on their own, but when the characters are together they are able to counter the seemingly indestructible killer. It is the power of community and coming together that is manifested in an exhibition within the film. Beck+Col invited ten artists to make works that adorn the walls of the monsters’ home. The invited artists all foster a sense of community within their own practices through education, collaboration and supporting other artists.
The Red Night exhibition recreates the monster home at the art room featuring work by Alicia Piller, Amia Yokoyama, Ching Ching Cheng, Hea-mi Kim, Jenny Eom, Minga Opazo, Ofelia Marquez, Sapira Cheuk, Tanya Brodsky and Vanessa Holyoak. The gallery is
transformed into yellow, orange, and blue monochromatic spaces filled with set pieces, costumes and artworks from the film along with additional works by the guest artists. The selection of work ranges from resined balloons and vinyl to voluptuous ceramic monsters to blood soaked weavings.
Los Angeles based artist duo Beck+Col use costume-based performance and video to build alternate universes that are populated by monsters, spawning a counter mythology and queering of existing norms. Their work manifests the ambient violence of capitalism to give abstract concepts of oppression form that can be physically engaged with. The representation of violence provokes an embodied response in the viewer, prompting a shared experience of becoming monster themselves. B+C challenge individualism, both in practice and in content. Inherently collaborative, their practice also features other artists and performers, working together to create large works. They highlight the effects of atomization, and in contrast, the power of community.
Many thanks to the art room for hosting this very special show.
