Gus Van Sant: 15 Positives
451 N La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048
Friday, April 8 at 2:00 PM 6:00 PM
Ends May 7, 2022
Dries Van Noten and Die Plek are honored to present the first U.S. exhibition of Gus Van Sant’s photographic works in over a decade at The Little House, 451 N. La Cienega Blvd., in Los Angeles.  Opening Saturday, April 9, the exhibition will be on view through Saturday, May 7. The exhibition, entitled 15 Positives, features a selection of portraits, some taken in the 1980s and 1990s while casting his provocative and pioneering films Mala Noche, Drugstore Cowboy, My Own Private Idaho, and To Die For. Even as Van Sant successfully works within Hollywood, he is an artist who subverts protocol and pushes standard definitions of character and storytelling, including casting amateur actors alongside Hollywood’s biggest names, as reflected here. 15 Positives is his vision from that periphery. In these oversized portraits one senses the ease and distinct personality of the individual before the camera. At the same time, the viewer forgets what makes each person different from the other. The takeaway is a sense of connection between each portrait and the viewer, and between the seemingly disparate subjects themselves. Instead of pulling away from each other they become part of a greater single unit. At the forefront of Dries Van Noten’s work is likewise the cultivation of connection between different people of all backgrounds and experiences. Inclusivity and openness are the heart of the eponymous brand. With the new Los Angeles store, the brand evolves its definition of the experience of art, bridging fashion with the fields of gastronomy, music, and fine art, and exhibiting works across genres to create a community of people with different interests and personal stories. Here, too, is another connection: the honesty and directness of Gus Van Sant’s and Dries Van Noten’s art, which welcomes the different interpretations of those drawn to it. For both artists, the works speak volumes but are also quiet enough to listen. This selection of positive prints from black & white Polaroids is guided by a feeling of immediate interconnectedness with the subject portrayed. A Polaroid photograph comes out as the union of a positive and negative. The raw, analog quality present in these Portraits is a rendition of what a negative Polaroid allows its positive counterpart to filter through. What remains is The Positive. Exhibition text by Katya Tylevich, Los Angeles, October 2021 Image credit: Paige Powell (Gus Van Sant, Portland, Oregon, 1991)
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