PRESS RELEASE
Gallery 169 is pleased to announce Unsolved: 1992 LA Uprising @ 25Years, the gallery’s first solo exhibition with Los Angeles based artist Jeff Beall.
The gallery will be presenting a series of drawings made at each location of the 23 unsolved riot-related homicides that occurred during the 1992 uprising in Los Angeles.
On April 29,1992, Beall experienced the beginning moments of the uprising as his car was attacked at the corner of Manchester & Figueroa, just a few minutes and a few blocks away from where Reginald Denny and Fidel Lopez were ruthlessly beaten.
More than 60 people lost their lives amid the looting and fires that ravaged the city over six days starting April 29, 1992. Ten were shot to death by law enforcement officials. An additional 44 people died in other homicides or incidents tied to the rioting. By year’s end, Los Angeles had 1,096 homicides, a record. 1992 remains L.A.'s deadliest year.
Of the 36 riot-related homicides, 23 remain unsolved.
This exhibition honors the memories of the 23 unsolved homicide victims who lost their lives during the uprising, 25 years ago.
While making a pilgrimage to each location of the 23 unsolved homicides, Beall created oilstick rubbings on vellum, to create an impression of each place. Like gravestone rubbings, or memento mori, specific moments have been created to bring forward memories of those lost and all but forgotten.
Jeff Beall earned an MFA at CalArts in 1987, and a BA in Architecture from UC Berkeley in 1983.
Beall has exhibited work in an irregularly regular fashion since 1987. This is his first solo show since 2009.
Beall is also co-publisher of X-TRA Contemporary Art Quarterly and serves on the board of Project X Foundation for Art and Criticism.