Opening Reception. Courtesy of the gallery.

Land Management is a multi-purpose arts space in Seattle’s North Capitol Hill Neighborhood. This side of Capitol Hill is like a mixture of subcultural vomit, with leftovers from every cool scene that has happened since the 1990s. This applies to the bar culture, the people in particular, the facades of each store front, and undeniably the work of Brian Standeford in his show at the gallery, “Amature Hour”. The work is all untitled, and undeniably fashionable, in a deadbeat smoking a joint at a playground kind of way.

Installation view. Courtesy of the gallery.

Land Management recently suffered a broken front window through an act of vandalism. It is the perfect ironic punchline and contradiction to accompany Standeford’s sense of snarky minimal pop art. He points a finger at the advertising world that is on the verge of collapse due to the rise of maximalism, and instead he thrives in a sense of 60’s minimalism. In one piece an ironically blank representation of a woman; a raceless, featureless, enigma of the role of the artist’s model. The portraits of women reference everything from Andy Warhol’s factory, to a Crest Toothpaste commercial. All of Standeford’s pieces are silkscreened on large mounted paper, while a few incorporate collage elements. Though, the blocky colors reference collage even in the solely silkscreened works.

Installation view. Courtesy of the gallery.

Another work, a diptych, shows two legs wearing boots about to step on a completely idealized piece of shit. These works sort of put a cap on the show. We are all here for the beauty, but are brought back to the real world remembering the sidewalks of America are lined with shit rather than gold. Standeford captures this irony perfectly, though some of the patterned pieces seem to act more as supplements to the more content heavy works.

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-Contributed by Emily Gorman