Lari Pittman's Queer Maximalism Defies Categorization in Hammer Museum Retrospective
Lari Pittman’s art is rich with detailed symbols and showcases a vibrant queer maximalist approach. He began his artistic path at the California Institute of the Arts in the mid-1970s, inspired by the Feminist Art Program that Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro started in 1971. A traumatic shooting in 1985 deeply impacted his work during the AIDS crisis, particularly evident in his Beloved and Despised series from 1989 to 1990. The Hammer Museum is currently hosting a retrospective called Declaration of Independence, highlighting his interest in semiotics. His Needy series, created between 1990 and 1992, questions phallocentric ideas through images of multigendered owls. Notably, his 1988 artwork How Sweet the Day After This and That and his 2013 pieces addressing gun violence and proposing a new alphabet are particularly striking.
Key facts
- Lari Pittman studied at the California Institute of the Arts in the mid-1970s, rejecting the Pictures Generation for the Feminist Art Program.
- He was shot twice in the stomach in 1985, nearly dying, influencing his art's engagement with trauma.
- His Beloved and Despised series (1989–90) includes coffins, guns, and nooses, reflecting the AIDS epidemic and Culture Wars.
- The Hammer Museum in Los Angeles hosted his retrospective Declaration of Independence, featuring a public conversation with chief curator Connie Butler.
- Pittman's Needy series (1990–92) counters phallocentric AIDS-era art with multigendered owl imagery and vaginal symbolism.
- He blends Latin American heritage with American kitsch, using colors like lime green and pink in works like This Wholesomeness, Beloved and Despised, Continues Regardless (1990).
- His 1988 painting How Sweet the Day After This and That, Deep Sleep Is Truly Welcomed incorporates text in a raunchy italic script.
- Flying Carpet with a Waning Moon Over a Violent Nation (2013) critiques U.S. gun violence with blurred landscapes in gun sights.
Entities
Artists
- Lari Pittman
- Judy Chicago
- Miriam Schapiro
- Keith Haring
- Dennis Cooper
- Donatien Grau
- Connie Butler
Institutions
- California Institute of the Arts
- Hammer Museum
- Regen Projects
- Los Angeles Public Library
- ArtReview
Locations
- Los Angeles
- United States
- Colombia