Designed by the show’s curator Christopher Russell, Against the Grain is a catalog for the 2008 exhibition at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE). In 1988, LACE was the site of a groundbreaking exhibition entitled “Against Nature,” which celebrated the nihilistic decadence of a gay subculture that refused to bow to the repressive mandates of a “just say no” era. Twenty years later, Russell looks to the influence of this lineage, curating a show that includes 14 Los Angeles-based artists undertaking themes of decadence and gothic morbidity within a present day context.
Three essays accompany full-color images of work by the exhibition’s artists: Tom Allen, Brian Bress, Robert Fontenot, Wendell Gladstone, Matt Greene, Julian Hoeber, Brian Kennon, John Knuth, Amy Sarkisian, Ryan Taber, Ami Tallman, Kelly Sears, Anna Sew Hoy and Cheyenne Weaver.
