Implicated in a series of abstract wrongdoings, the five Los Angeles artists in “Fleeing the Scene” find themselves in a pseudo police lineup, each fronting a different posture, attitude, and affiliation. The challenge here is not to merely point out their differences, group them by order or influence, or attempt to categorize them, but instead to consider the relationship of these artists and, in this case, their paintings, within a contentious contemporary art context that often denies their validity, authenticity, and essentiality.  Abandoning easily recognizable narrative structures, this optimistic group of provocateurs dangerously engages the larger art and cultural context and takes on the challenge of painting through the use of ambiguous marks, sculptural anomalies, and ludicrous gestures while maintaining serious formal rigor with every move.  “Fleeing the Scene” asks the audience to re-cognize, to think outside of what is familiar, and to simultaneously expand and cross boundaries of knowledge so that new conclusions can be drawn and, more importantly, new questions can be generated.    

Robert Levine received his BFA from Carnegie-Mellon University and his MFA from California Institute of the Arts.  He has shown with significant Los Angeles galleries such as Roberts & Tilton and Tom Solomon’s Garage.   His work was recently featured by Angela Hanley gallery at the MACO art fair in Mexico City.

Pentti Monkkonen studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine and has a degree in Fine Art from UCLA.  He has shown in numerous galleries in New York, Mexico, and Europe, and recently had a solo show at Black Dragon Society in Los Angeles and participated in the Prague Bienniel in the Czech Republic.

Monique van Genderen is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego and received her MFA from California Institute of the Arts.  Aside from having a recent solo show at The Happy Lion, she has exhibited extensively in numerous significant art galleries and institutions, such as Galerie Catherine Bastide, in Brussels, the Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio, and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. 

Tyler Vlahovich studied painting at California Institute of the Arts.  He has been included in shows at Mary Goldman, Los Angeles, the London Institute of Contemporary Art, England,  Atelier Cardenas Bellanger, Paris, Stalke Galleri, in Denmark, and last year he had a solo show with Feature Inc., in New York. 

Brian Wills is a graduate of Denison and Harvard Universities. His work has been shown in numerous group exhibitions including Sightlines: Recent Work from Los Angeles at Galerie Michael Janssen in Cologne, LA Art Scene: Selected Works from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, in Beverly Hills and last year had a solo exhibition at The Happy Lion. 

Gustavo Godoy is an artist who lives and works in Los Angeles.  He received his BA from the University of California, Santa Barbara and his MFA from Vermont College. In 2007 he had a solo exhibition at The Happy Lion and has been included in numerous exhibitions, such as One of these things is not like the Other, at Angela Hanley Gallery, Los Angeles, Sculpture, at Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, Carmada, at Mak Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House in Los Angeles, and Five Sculptors, at Workspace at 91 Meserole in Brooklyn.