Ian James & Katie Shapiro

Ltd Los Angeles is pleased to present Infinite Regress, a two person exhibition by Ian James and Katie Shapiro.

An Infinite Regress is a sequence of infinitely cascading propositions whose truth depends on the preceding proposition. A common example in optics might be two mirrors facing one another, or in the case of consciousness, the formation of a series of connected “inner observers.” In the cosmological sense, an Infinite Regress traces time backwards to the Big Bang, whose origin is currently undeterminable. This exhibition features a video work from each artist and a new site-specific collaborative sculpture.

Ian James’ The Square of Two is Irrational (HD video 11min, 2014) spins around itself at the Tehachapi Loop. Known as one of the “Seven Wonders of Railroad Engineering,” the loop design allows trains to extend the distance of an otherwise rapid elevation gain, allowing heavy rail travel through the rolling mountains. Rail lines and roadways meander around and tunnel through the surrounding grasslands. Overlooking the hill, the artist James Benning performs a mathematical proof of the square of the irrational number two, which results in an endless, non-repeating chain of numbers. In addition, the Tehachapi Loop provides a well-known sequence in Benning’s structuralist film RR.

Katie Shapiro’s Sedona Vortex Roundabout (HD video 1:49min, 2014) is a looped sequence that presents the artist walking a traffic roundabout in Sedona, Arizona. Located outside of the known vortex sites yet within the constructed landscape of the town itself, Shapiro appears caught in an inner vortex. This site can be seen as an extension of the vortex narrative as it is a site of touristic pilgrimage for those in search of the redemption the surrounding desert is said to offer. “The only journey is the one within,” writes Rainer Maria Rilke. The journey is looped; in the same way the video endlessly repeats. The central location of the traffic circle implies misdirection, a commercial version of the spiritual site sought and therefore a nod to the difficulty in attaining personal transformation within ineffable locations.