Opening reception: Thursday, January 26th at 7:30 PM

Gallery talk with the artist (in English) will be held on Friday, January 27th at 12 PM

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Amir H. Fallah, 37, an Iranian-American artist based in LA, deals with deconstruction of the tradition and history of portraiture. He does not reveal the faces of his portrait's subjects, so at first glance the person's gender, age or ethnicity are not portrayed and the viewer is left to interpret the person's story by the objects that surround them, objects carefully selectedby Fallah from the homes of his portraits subjects. Fallah likens his artistic process to one of an archeological dig – he visits homes and collects items that tell a story of the person who chooses to surround themselves with these items – from mundane everyday objects to family heirlooms loaded with sentimental value.

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All the portraits in Wild Frontiers are of LA based creatives. The title refers to Fallah's home town, as a place where artists can still experiment and explore (as opposed to other American cities with historical and artistic traditions like NY). The title also references the natural element in these new paintings, still lives of domesticated nature, also born from observing the house that plants the subjects of his portraits chose to bring in to their homes. The plants in the paintings are unruly and take over the entire surfaces of the paintings.

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The exhibition closes Saturday, February 25th.