TIF SIGFRIDS is pleased to announce A Painted Horse by Joe Sola (with Matthew Chambers, Sayre Gomez, Rudy K. Slobeck, and others). This is Joe Sola’s second solo exhibition with the gallery.

For this show, Sola explores the use of everyday materials and techniques common to contemporary animal grooming practices and presents us with a painted miniature horse. Originally bred as pets for nobility in the 17th century and known to be amongst the rare species of animals in King Louis XIV’s menagerie at Versailles, Sola embraces the animal’s potential for visual pleasure and transposes an abstract language onto this rather unconventional painting surface.

With palatial images in mind, the artist will transform the gallery to resemble the dining room of a prosperous collector of contemporary art. Surrounded by walls adorned with new works by Matthew Chambers. Sayre Gomez, and Rudy K. Slobeck, Riba, the painted horse, will roam freely as if at home.

In a departure from a recent body of work that explores the way in which art can frame the space that surrounds it (Portraits: An Exhibition in Tif Sigfrids’ Ear, TIF SIGFRIDS 2013, Brownsound, Art Expo Chicago 2014, Car salespeople selling my paintings at Art Los Angeles Contemporary, Art Los Angeles Contemporary, 2015), Sola explores the inverse in a setting in which it is possible for the context of domesticity to open up new and appealing possibilities for understanding his artwork.

Joe Sola’s work has been included in numerous museum exhibitions, including Damage Control: Art and Destruction Since 1950, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C. 2013, Nudes Descending a Staircase, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA 2009, and Hard Targets: Masculinity and Sport, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA 2008.

His work is held in several museum collections including, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, The Portland Museum of Art, and the Art Museum at the University of Kentucky.

Riba, the horse that will be used as part of this exhibition, will only be in the installation for opening hours.For the duration of the exhibition she will be shuttled to and from her loving home in the San Fernando Valley by a professional horse wrangler who will look after her general health and provide her with fresh water and choice hay throughout the day. During the exhibition she will receive daily Reike treatments to both measure and support her well being. The artist, working with a leading professional animal groomer, used creative grooming hair dye specifically designed for use on animals. Only four visitors at a time will be permitted into the gallery to view the exhibition.

Only four visitors at a time will be permitted into the gallery to view the exhibition. Appointments are strongly recommended. Gallery hours are Wednesday – Saturday, 11-3 PM. Between the hours of 1 and 2, Riba will be on break and will not be viewable in the gallery. For appointments email info@tifsigfrids.com