Marta is delighted to host a presentation of new and existing works by Katie Payne and Doug McCollough of Los Angeles-based furniture practice L.A. Door, on view at the gallery’s Echo Park space from February 04 to March 04, 2023. Knowingly engaging with decorative arts histories spanning Federal, Shaker, Neo-Classical, Studio Craft, and Postmodern movements, Payne and McCollough delight in examining vernacular Americana through a contemporary lens.
For the pair’s inaugural hosted solo presentation, celebrations of traditional and in some cases near-obsolete typologies present a joyous resistance to the generalized furniture of the now: Anchoring the exhibition, a blanket chest in quilted maple wood (2020)—its drawers adorned with lacrimal pulls made with the Bay Area artist Garry Knox Bennett (1934–2022)—tenaciously presents and suggests a hyper-specific use. On the facing wall, a mirror realized in knotty pine (2023) engages with the mythos of trompe-l’œil: superfluous, counterfeit knots are rendered, faux-bois, in concert with the painter Daniel Payavis, creating something of a game for the viewer/beholder.
| Venue | Marta |
| City | Los Angeles |
About
Marta
Marta is a gallery that hosts works at the meeting points of art and design. Founded in Los Angeles in 2019, the gallery makes space for artists to experiment with the utility of design, and for designers to explore the occasional abandonment of function. Marta’s curatorial and publication programs take interest in both the process of an object’s creation as well the narrative of its creator(s). Marta embraces the intersection of disciplines, advocates for diversity in design, and promotes access to the arts.
