A Stranger In My Grave

Liz Craft Mathis Gasser Fabian Marti Jim Shaw Jeffrey Vallance

Co-curated by Evergreene Studio and Véronique Bacchetta

"This exhibition unites five artists to investigate the theme of the dead artist, of his self-representation—or substitute—of the disquieting strangeness of a living artist forecasting himself into death: the artist and his effigy flirting with the idea of his own mythology, from his self-destruction to his resurrection. Here the decorum, the ceremonial, from the funeral bed to the reliquary, could echo the two sides of the City of Angels, glamorous and obscure at the same time. LA, this gigantic factory of hysterical and cinematographic illusions that unveil a morbid temptation and recurrent attraction for apocalyptical and end of the world prophecies that reside under the Hollywood star glitter and the smooth kitsch of an invasive hyper pop imagery. The LA of James Ellroy and of Bret Easton Ellis, cynical and paranoiac, doomed to depression and annihilation. The LA open to all sorts of occult, satanic and conspiracy downfalls that echo the totally devastating experiences of the seventies when Bowie saw LA as the hell where “you drive like a demon from station to station”. Even though the Christian New Age ego trip seems today to be more watered down and insignificant in this falsely true world of stars of Kardashian-like realty shows. The famous La La Land, LAas an immense fabric of illusions where the A-list and the most grotesque gurus exacerbate all sorts of downfalls and fantasies, from the purest esotericism to religious syncretism. The land that is closest to the angels is also that of sacrificial temptations (American Psycho, Ken Park, Bling Ring), of the ultra kitsch Catholic baroque of Chicano culture (Echo Park LA), up to the joyful and liberating Bacchanalias of Paul McCarthy, the darker and more critical visions of Mike Kelley, the more Christ-like and enchanted ones of Jeffrey Vallance or the more pop and dreamlike visions of Jim Shaw."

—Excerpt of curatorial statement by Véronique Bacchetta

Evergreene Studio is a roving art platform based in Los Angeles that specializes in organizing exhibitions and projects in support of contemporary artists internationally.

Evergreene began as a brick-and-mortar gallery in Geneva, Switzerland in 2002. Evergreene Gallery fostered the growth of an emerging community of francophone Swiss artists including Denis Savary, Pierre Vadi, and Andreas Dobler among others. During its active years from 2002 to 2011, the gallery expanded its reach by participating in numerous art fairs, including Liste, Nada, The Armory Show, Paris Photo and Artissima.

After a two-year hiatus, operations moved to Los Angeles where Evergreene Studio was founded to continue supporting contemporary artists but with an international agenda. With the inaugural exhibition in the summer of 2014 in Malibu, California, a re-imagined program was introduced with a nomadic structure.