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"The word \u201Ckaleidoscopic\u201D tends to get trotted out frequently in the shelter press (as in \u201Ca kaleidoscopic array of objets de vertu,\u201D rather than \u201Ca boatload of tchotchkes\u201D), but Los Angeles\u2013based artist Lari Pittman has given us a master class in the true meaning of the term. His latest exhibition at Regen Projects\u2014called \u201CFrom a Late Western Impaerium\u201D\u2014is a dizzying, psychedelic meditation on power, violence, imperialism, and social ferment. It\u2019s something to see.\n\nPinterestFacebookTwelve Fayum From a Late Western Impaerium (After Hermenegildo Bustos), 2013.\n\nDensely layered with imagery of weapons, architectural schematics, historical portraiture, birds, and molecular biology, Pittman\u2019s new paintings merrily skip across the centuries, connecting the realities of contemporary culture and global upheaval with those of the distant past. The artist\u2019s enduring fascination with surface and ornamentation again comes to life with piercing eloquence in paintings that blend deeply personal iconography with shamanistic insight.\n\nPinterestFacebookFlying Carpet with Petri Dishes for a Disturbed Nation, 2013.\n\nThe centerpiece of the show is a suite of three mesmerizing, mural-size paintings: Flying Carpet of a Waning Moon Over a Violent Nation, Flying Carpet of Magic Mirrors for a Distorted Nation, and Flying Carpet of Petri Dishes for a Disturbed Nation. Regen Projects\u2019 year-old Santa Monica Boulevard gallery, designed by L.A. architect Michael Maltzan, seems to have been tailor-made for this exhibition, providing sufficient space for Pittman\u2019s monumental paintings to breathe and pulse.\n\nPinterestFacebookEight Encampments as Civic Centers (From a Late Western Impaerium), 2013.\n\nThe murals are accompanied by multiple series of works on paper that ruminate on themes of fate, loss, betrayal, and injustice. Indeed, the general thrust of Pittman\u2019s obsessions\u2014political and personal trauma, with an incisive eye on the lamentable state of current world affairs\u2014is a welcome tonic to the glittery, Koons-and-Hirst-variety theatrics that often dominate contemporary art discourse.\n\nThrough December 21 at Regen Projects, Los Angeles; regenprojects.com\n\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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