Elad Lassry
at David Kordansky Gallery

Elad Lassry (installation view) (2015). Image courtesy of the artist and David Kordansky Gallery.

By now it shouldn’t be a surprise to find a piece of finely carved wood as part of an Elad Lassry exhibition. The artist, who, despite his best efforts is most often called a photographer, has included sculpture, film, and performance into his previous installations of photo works. In this current exhibition at David Kordansky Gallery in Los Angeles, the artist continues his marriage of sculpture to imagery.

Here there are floor works: solid baskets made of claro walnut with cartoon-like fruit shapes cut into them, heavy and blunt—a silent dumb battalion of abstracted homey goodness to be reckoned with before approaching the smaller photo works on the walls. These wall works, black-and-white silver gelatin prints framed in walnut or embedded in thick acrylic glass, incorporate objects: silver-reflective balls, purple ceramic beads, pale yellow carpeting, spills of colored pigment, and squiggles of tubing. When Lassry obscures a picture, the viewer is forced to pay attention to unusual areas (dangling legs, shadows on the ground), and this both foregrounds the abstracting tendencies of the camera and turns the two-dimensional image into three. Simple things—a chocolate peanut pie or a woman reading comics—are cut through with decoration. The effect is like a confetti celebration for the quotidian, breathing new life into images once drenched in cliché.

Lassry has said that pictures get stuck in his head for their opacity—not for what they are images of, but for why they were made in the first place. A constant in Lassry’s work is the quality of his production. These works look like objects of desire, consumption, and fetish—but with a good dose of absurdity and lack of context, they maintain a sense of humor that draws one in for contemplation.

Elad Lassry’s exhibition runs from September 24–November 5, 2015 at David Kordansky Gallery (5130 W Edgewood Place, Los Angeles, CA 90019)

Elad Lassry (installation view) (2015). Image courtesy of the artist and David Kordansky Gallery.

Elad Lassry, Untitled (Carrier, Eggplants) (2015), claro walnut, paint, varnish, 25 x 18 x 18 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and David Kordansky Gallery.

Elad Lassry, Untitled (Rattlesnake B) (2015), silver gelatin print, walnut frame, 14 1/2 x 11 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and David Kordansky Gallery.

Elad Lassry, Untitled (Girl, Comic) (2015), silver gelatin print, walnut frame, steel balls, 11 1/2 x 14 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and David Kordansky Gallery.

Elad Lassry, Untitled (Folk Dance) (2015), silver gelatin print, carpet, walnut frame, 11 1/2 x 14 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and David Kordansky Gallery.

Elad Lassry, Untitled (Man and Dog) (2015), acrylic glass, silver gelatin print, wire, ceramic bead, pigment, 23 1/16 x 17 1/4 x 1 5/8 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and David Kordansky Gallery.

Elad Lassry, Untitled (Woman) (2015), acrylic glass, silver gelatin print, wire, steel ball, pigment, 23 1/8 x 17 1/4 x 1 5/8 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and David Kordansky Gallery.