Ponyshow
Group Exhibition
Kai Althoff, Sam Anderson, Uri Aran, Jan Gatewood, Sang Woo Kim, Eric N. Mack, Ed Ruscha,
Carol Rama, Emma Sims, Harley Weir
18-25 February, 2025
The Wohlstetter House, Los Angeles, CA
Ponyshow | Exhibition text by Ruby McCollister
A birth chart isn’t foreign to most Angelenos, but for those of you who don’t know-- it’s the snap shot of the galaxy the moment the event of birth occurs. This often describes the energy someone contains, the will and the life force of how a person, place or thing moves in the world. At first glance Los Angeles automatically contains within it hellfire- the tension between new and old, between action and twilight, between ancient and future. Aries, the first fire sign and Pisces the last water sign. I mean doesn’t it make perfect sense this HOT WATER of a town?
LOS ANGELES IS (after all): HOT WATER. HELL FIRE. ANCIENT HEATED GROTTOS. STUCCO SWIMMING POOLS WITH CURSES ON THEM. NAKED HOT GIRLS WORSHIPING THE BEACH. TECHNO BILLIONAIRES WATCHING THE SHORE BURN. CAMERAS CAPTURING THE LIBIDO OF THE UNIVERSE. It is quite literally as if- at its inception Los Angeles lived all of its lives at once- trying to warn the world of what it might be.
A birth chart isn’t foreign to most Angelenos, but for those of you who don’t know-- it’s the snap shot of the galaxy the moment the event of birth occurs. This often describes the energy someone contains, the will and the life force of how a person, place or thing moves in the world. At first glance Los Angeles automatically contains within it hellfire- the tension between new and old, between action and twilight, between ancient and future. Aries, the first fire sign and Pisces the last water sign. I mean doesn’t it make perfect sense this HOT WATER of a town?
LOS ANGELES IS (after all): HOT WATER. HELL FIRE. ANCIENT HEATED GROTTOS. STUCCO SWIMMING POOLS WITH CURSES ON THEM. NAKED HOT GIRLS WORSHIPING THE BEACH. TECHNO BILLIONAIRES WATCHING THE SHORE BURN. CAMERAS CAPTURING THE LIBIDO OF THE UNIVERSE. It is quite literally as if- at its inception Los Angeles lived all of its lives at once- trying to warn the world of what it might be.
Los Angeles remained the most dangerous city in America until the 1910’s- a town largely for criminal bandits and citrus farmers (Aries) suddenly began attracting a new type of entrepreneur- the movie man (pisces). The movie men who had begun studios in New York, but decided to move their business to Los Angeles, due to space, nature and its light. If you film anything outside in LA it has no shadow. The sunlight manages to hit you evenly at all angles. Miraculous some would say, as if God himself put his finger down on this exact piece of land 100 miles each way and said here: here’s where you can take the perfect picture, this will be the space where movies are made.
Hollywood and arguably greater Los Angeles’ bright light often casts no shadows- its spectacle often over looks the true citizen of LA- the artists that discreetly move veiled from the industry that dominates this city. Between the sea and jewel of Hollywood midland marked in the center of the city is Laurel Canyon Boulevard. A trail splitting the west of the city and east of the city. Until 1909 it was a single trail carved by mules. Eucalyptus trees and dry brush growing in the shadow of the canyon- Laurel Canyon sprung from the necessity of oasis. Bandits hid in the canyon in the 1920s, as the city began to industrialize itself into a movie town. Before Los Angeles was largely for rancheros, oil barons and men trying to lose their name. As the industry changed, the people from the before city used the canyon to live away from the eye of the ever municipalizing tinsel town. Then came the artists, who eventually lived beside the bandits and forever more established this neighborhood as an artistic community. Celebrities then began using the neighborhood as a summer house of sorts- a place separate from their office or their…”city house”- where they too could be hideaways- bandits- artists using the shadow of the canyons to shade themselves from molten gaze of the industry. Laurel Canyon has always been the necessary “piscean” dream, a neptunian bolt in the brazen electric compulsion of Los Angeles’ “aries” audacity.
Hollywood and arguably greater Los Angeles’ bright light often casts no shadows- its spectacle often over looks the true citizen of LA- the artists that discreetly move veiled from the industry that dominates this city. Between the sea and jewel of Hollywood midland marked in the center of the city is Laurel Canyon Boulevard. A trail splitting the west of the city and east of the city. Until 1909 it was a single trail carved by mules. Eucalyptus trees and dry brush growing in the shadow of the canyon- Laurel Canyon sprung from the necessity of oasis. Bandits hid in the canyon in the 1920s, as the city began to industrialize itself into a movie town. Before Los Angeles was largely for rancheros, oil barons and men trying to lose their name. As the industry changed, the people from the before city used the canyon to live away from the eye of the ever municipalizing tinsel town. Then came the artists, who eventually lived beside the bandits and forever more established this neighborhood as an artistic community. Celebrities then began using the neighborhood as a summer house of sorts- a place separate from their office or their…”city house”- where they too could be hideaways- bandits- artists using the shadow of the canyons to shade themselves from molten gaze of the industry. Laurel Canyon has always been the necessary “piscean” dream, a neptunian bolt in the brazen electric compulsion of Los Angeles’ “aries” audacity.
In a world and a city where sanctuary and respite and privacy become an ever increasing luxury Laurel Canyon reminds us of its powerful cool shade it has provided this over lit place.
ENTER PONYSHOW housed in one of Laurel Canyons’ most eccentric jewels, the Wohlstetter House, muses on everything SHOW, while lulling us in sweet respite in this sacred artistic oasis.
Here we can take off our hats and finally get to turn away from the camera’s lens.
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Exhibition text by 4th generation Angeleno, Ruby McCollister. ‘Ponyshow’ features work by Kai Althoff, Sam Anderson, Uri Aran, Jan Gatewood, Sang Woo Kim, Eric N. Mack, Ed Ruscha, Carol Rama, Emma Sims and Harley Weir. Each has contributed a work that presents tension formally through layering or stacking. The work can read as frenetic, or as if the subjects or materials are in cconflict, when in reality this brings them closer to our lived experience. Portions of proceeds from ‘Ponyshow’ (on a sliding scale at artists’ discretion) will go to LAFD and to ‘Grief & Hope’, a fund created to help LA's artists and art workers start over.
The exhibition is on view by appointment at the Wohlstetter house through 25 February, 2025.
ENTER PONYSHOW housed in one of Laurel Canyons’ most eccentric jewels, the Wohlstetter House, muses on everything SHOW, while lulling us in sweet respite in this sacred artistic oasis.
Here we can take off our hats and finally get to turn away from the camera’s lens.
---------
Exhibition text by 4th generation Angeleno, Ruby McCollister. ‘Ponyshow’ features work by Kai Althoff, Sam Anderson, Uri Aran, Jan Gatewood, Sang Woo Kim, Eric N. Mack, Ed Ruscha, Carol Rama, Emma Sims and Harley Weir. Each has contributed a work that presents tension formally through layering or stacking. The work can read as frenetic, or as if the subjects or materials are in cconflict, when in reality this brings them closer to our lived experience. Portions of proceeds from ‘Ponyshow’ (on a sliding scale at artists’ discretion) will go to LAFD and to ‘Grief & Hope’, a fund created to help LA's artists and art workers start over.
The exhibition is on view by appointment at the Wohlstetter house through 25 February, 2025.