Klowden Mann is pleased to present “The Passenger," a group exhibition featuring the work of Steven Criqui, Marcus Herse, Greg Ito, Morgan Mandalay, and Hiejin Yoo. Inspired by Iggy Pop’s 1977 song “The Passenger," this exhibition brings together works by artists with varying practices that create a narrative of traversing a city or landscape, places one might find familiar - some not so much. The works selected form different vantage or view points and put the viewer “behind the glass” to explore these places, people, and things, as well the hope, longing, frustration, and contemplation one might feel on a journey through contemporary urban landscapes or contemporary urban experiences.
Steven Criqui (b. 1964 in Olean, NY and d. 2007 in Los Angeles, CA) studied Art History/Criticism and Studio Art at the University of California at San Diego (Cum Laude) graduating in 1988. Criqui has had solo exhibitions at Susanne Veilmetter Los Angeles Projects, Cirrus Gallery (Los Angeles), and Galleria in Arco (Turin, Italy) among others. His work has been included in group exhibitions at the Pasadena Museum of California Art (Pasadena, CA), San Jose Museum of Art (San Jose, CA), Peter Miller Gallery (Chicago, IL), Numark Gallery (Washington, DC), Orange County Museum of Art (Newport Beach, CA), Deitch Projects (New York, NY), Richard Telles Fine Art (Los Angeles, CA), LA Louvre (Venice, CA), and Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (Los Angeles, CA) among many others. He was a teacher at many of Southern California’s best Universities, notably teaching painting at the University of California, Irvine for over 13 years. Notable permanent collections include the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles), Orange County Museum of Art (Newport Beach, CA, Henry Art Gallery (Seattle, WA), Creative Artists Agency (Los Angeles, CA), and the Microsoft Corporation (Seatlle, WA). His work and exhibitions were review by the Los Angeles Times, Artforum, New American Paintings, the Village Voice, and Flash Art to name a few.
Marcus Herse makes art, curates and teaches and currently lives in Pasadena, California. Born in 1975 in Dinslaken, Germany, he studied painting at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf, where he received the Meisterschüler Title in 2001 and the Akademiebrief in 2004. He was awarded a DAAD postgraduate grant and studied at the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2002 and 2003. He is a recipient of the dHCS Studio Stipend hosted by the Kunstverein Düsseldorf (2007 - 2009), and a fellowship artist of the Contemporary Collectors Orange County (2014). In his video works, photos and objects Herse investigates the experience of space as continuum and the creation of images through movement. Similarly in his curation and thinking about art he explores ways of seeing, image-making and their reception. Solo shows include Was man nicht im Kopf hat… - Use your head to save your heels (2017) and Agent at Ginerva Gambino, Cologne (2014), Germany, Cruise.Control. (2015) and Galleria (2013) at Greene Exhibitions, Los Angeles, Almost ther at Commonwealth & Council, Los Angeles (2014). His work has been included i.a. in the exhibitions Talking to Rocks, Villa Romana, Florence, Italy (2010); Love Letter to a Surrogate, MUHKA, Antwerp, Belgium (2011); Jendreiko fragt WAS NUN?, Schmela Haus, Kunstsammlung NRW, Germany (2010); Another Cats Show, 356 Mission Los Angeles CA (2014); Von Wanderern, Wilderern & Dilettanten, Kunstverein Düsseldorf, Germany (2013); dHCS Grant Exhibition, Kunstverein Düsseldorf, Germany (2009); Städtische Bühne, Kunstverein Düsseldorf, Germany (2007); Without Kubrick..., Lothringer 13- Städtische Kunsthalle München, Germany (2009). Herse is represented by Ginerva Gambino in Cologne. He has organized exhibitions in Germany and Southern California since 2007 and was co-founder and co-director of the artist-run space JB JURVE in Los Angeles from 2010-2012. He has been teaching in museums since 2000 and in the academic context since 2012. He currently lectures at Chapman University in Orange CA where he also curates the campus gallery.
Greg Ito (b.1987) born Los Angeles, California, received his BFA from San Francisco Art Institute in 2008. Ito is a 4th generation Japanese American artist currently living and working in Los Angeles, CA. Current Exhibitions include Enchantment at Galerie Division (Montreal, QC), The Garden at Penske Projects (Los Angeles, CA), A Swamp Tale at No Place Gallery (Columbus, OH), The Drake Hotel (Toronto, ON), and Absolute Space at OCHI Gallery (Ketchum, ID). Upcoming exhibitions include Anat Ebgi (Los Angeles, CA), Weiden+Kennedy (Portland, OR), and Smart Objects (Los Angeles, CA). Ito was awarded a residency at The Macedonia Institute (Hudson Valley, NY) for 2020 with Mario Ayala. Recent solo-exhibitions include: Hallowed Ground at ArtCubed (Los Angeles, CA), Lullaby at Andrew Rafacz Gallery (Chicago, IL), Soothsayer at Steve Turner (Los Angeles, CA). Group exhibitions include: Five Car Garage (Los Angeles, CA), Jeffrey Deitch (New York, NY), Shulamit Nazarian (Los Angeles, CA.), Romer Young (San Francisco, CA), 315 Gallery (Brooklyn, CA), and MON CHÉRI (Brussels).
Morgan Mandalay (b. 1985), along with being an artist, is the founder and director of the itinerant exhibition project SPF15 and co-organizer of Fresh Bread Gallery in Chicago, IL. Morgan has had solo exhibitions at Klowden Mann (Culver City, CA), Cat Box Contemporary (Queens, NY), BWSMX (Mexico City, MEX), Et Al Gallery (San Francisco, CA), and Helmuth Projects (San Diego, CA) among others. His work has been included recently in group exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Flag Foundation (New York, NY), Bahamas Biennale (Detroit, MI), DAMA (Turin, ITA), Kimberly Klark (Queens, NY), 0-0 (Los Angeles, CA), David B. Smith Gallery (Denver, CO), Galleria Acapella (Naples, ITA), Left Field (San Luis Obispo, CA), LVL3 (Chicago, IL), and Yautepec (Mexico City, MEX). He was a 2018 Fellow of Shandaken Project's Paint School in New York, NY. In 2017 he completed his MFA at University of California San Diego, and holds a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His works has been written about in Artforum, Hyperallergic, Autre Magazine, Artillery Magazine, Contemporary Art Review Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles-based Hiejin Yoo’s (b. 1987) work has exhibited at Half Gallery, NY; Paul Kasmin Gallery, NY; Almine Rech, London, UK; Fredric Snitzer Gallery, FL; ltd Los Angeles, CA; and Smart Objects, CA. Her work is recently included in Hort Family Collection in New York. Yoo earned an M.F.A. at University of California Los Angeles (2018) and a B.A from Seoul Women’s University, and a Post Baccalaureate/B.F.A from School of the Art Institute of Chicago.