Joel Mesler, Untitled (In n Out) (2020). Pigment on linen. 213 x 165 cm. Courtesy David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, Photo: Jeff McLane.
Art dealer turned artist Joel Mesler is exhibiting his new paintings and works on paper in a solo show titled Surrender at David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, until 6 March.
Mesler's playful vocabulary brilliantly merges language and consumer culture imagery to explore themes of childhood, specifically the loss of innocence, while hinting to the continuous journey of self discovery in adulthood.
Untitled (In n Out) is a continuation of this autobiographical approach. Inside a Beverly Hills Hotel plastered in banana leaf wallpaper, Mesler recalls the memory of an event that marked the deterioration of his parents' marriage.
His transition to becoming a painter and his amusing relationship with David Kordansky when the two began their careers in the L.A gallery scene is documented in Boris Kachka's brilliantly written 2018 New York Times article 'How an Art Dealer Became an Up-and-Coming Painter'.
