FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Kristi Engle Gallery
5002 York Ave.
Highland Park, CA 90042
323.472.6237
kristi@kristienglegallery.com

Kristi Engle Gallery is proud to present the first solo exhibition of Karl Erickson in Los Angeles. Erickson transforms the gallery from a white cube to a haven of light and transcendence through screen-printed posters, videos and light environments which echo the aesthetics of the counterculture of the 1960s. His work is an exploration of the search for transcendent experience that was an essential part of the 60’s counterculture.

Erickson uses his video work and posters to present examples of that experience; an attempt to lose one’s self and one’s hang-ups and be absorbed into the greater cultural milieu.

Erickson’s psychedelic posters depict short biographical statements that are trivial (“It’s Okay That I Like Basketball”), self-effacing (“I Don’t Even Know How Socialism Works”), and meditative (“Would the World Be Better Without Me?”). The posters add up to a specific viewpoint that is Erickson’s, but that are generic enough to be able to apply to anyone. In this way, the sense of personal identity, as experienced in psychedelic states, is both omnipresent and dispersed.

Erickson’s videos seek to capture the exuberance and highs of this sense of lose of self. Featuring attempts at defying gravity, hypnotic patterns and staccato edits, the videos are a celebration and a reminder of the need to strive for psychic freedom.

The work is both energetic and hopeful, yet shot through with the wistfulness of the shortfalls of 1960’s counterculture and the decline of its utopian thinking. This exhibition is a reflection of the mythology of that time period. Karl Erickson lives in Los Angeles after moving here from the Mid-West to attend the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts).