July 13th - August 13th, 2018. Opening reception: July 13th, 7 - 10pm.

AM Gallery is pleased to present Ian Patrick: Open Studio an unconventional snapshot of the artist’s archive and working material. The exhibition illustrates the evolution of his practice over the past three decades, from drawings and paintings that evoke the swirling compositions of Japanese shunga prints to a body of work meditating on the nature of love, empathy, and suffering. 

While much of Patrick’s work has a beatific storybook quality, recurring themes of power, dominance, and “bad desire” cast a darker and more truthful shadow on his otherwise serene images of personified animals and fictive characters. For example, Egg Trap (2008), a kitsch oil painting of a raccoon, initially appears somewhat naïve, until the viewer notices that its paw is stuck in a trap. A series of more recent watercolors explore themes of intimacy and personal pathos through clusters of colorful ceramic hens amongst cacti, succulents, and Californian flora. Alternating between tender, truculent, and comic dispositions, the subtly side-eyed birds interact in jumbled configurations that evoke familial relationships.

The majority of Patrick’s work, including the aforementioned projects, take the form of illustrative watercolors and oil paintings, which often stem from photocopied and collaged source material. Much of his working material can be seen in the flat file, which has been directly transported from the artist’s studio and is available for viewers to peruse. Here viewers will find preliminary drawings, studies in watercolor, small portraits, and other tangential investigations that the artist has pursued over the course of his career. 

Patrick received his MFA from UC San Diego and his BFA from RISD. He has exhibited previously at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; Karen Lovegrove Gallery, Los Angeles; the Mori Museum, Tokyo, Japan; Kristi Engle Gallery, Los Angeles; and Gallery Nucleaus, Pasadena.

Ian Patrick lives and works in Los Angeles, California.