The march of time is not a march of progress, and the work of Cole Case illuminates this heartbreaking reality in his works. Case's paintings thread his own autobiographical experience to artists within the canon of art history, showing that the geographical and temporal differences between those who have come before the artist and our current political reality melt into a universal lived experience. At the same time, these new works are highly of the moment, stripping back layers and laying bare the current repressive use of governmental machinery happening in the United States and the resulting protests erupting from that force. Laden with symbolism and littered with the oppressive force of ICE agents, the paintings speak to Los Angeles.
Featured in the exhibition are new paintings of oil on linen and canvas. The melding of art history and current political events is featured in the paintings, such as
Abduction, which features a true event–the chaos surrounding the kidnapping of Rosalin Vargas by ICE agents in Pasadena, just blocks from the artist's home. Set against a background of sunny California grass, ICE agents struggle to capture the children of Vargas. Working through art history, Case references the work of Degas–after Poussin's Rape of the Sabine Women–with the figures upturned, facial agony and outstretched arms trying to escape their captors, universalizing the brutality of unjust power. Other subjects include the artist's own experience visiting the Manzanar concentration camp in Owens Valley, protesting in downtown Los Angeles as police shoot rubber bullets against unarmed protesters, and watching as police atop horses press down upon protesters. Case's works draw on the oppression that just keeps coming through the penetrating gaze of the artist, both past and present.
Cole Case is a Los Angeles-based artist. Recent solo and group exhibitions include Look Around You, You're Surrounded, It Won't Get Any Better, Another Year in LA, Online (2024);
Adjacencies, Durden and Ray, Los Angeles (2024);
Still, Launch LA, Los Angeles (2022);
Funhouse, Rory Devine Fine Art, Los Angeles (2021);
Like a Tuning Fork Struck Upon a Star, E.C. Linà, Los Angeles (2019). His work has been reviewed by
Art and Cake,
Gallery Magazine, the
New York Times, and the
Los Angeles Times. Case teaches at Cal State Long Beach, Cal State LA, and the ArtCenter College of Design.
A percentage of sales will be donated to
CHIRLA.org, the Coalition of Humane Immigrant Rights.
