JIM ISERMANN: WRAPTURE

In Wrapture, vinyl decals cover the walls and stairs of the gallery, installed as immersive backgrounds for Isermann’s canvas and panel works. Creating a dialogue between the artwork and the building itself, the wallworks emphasize Isermann’s embrace of utopian idealism in its many aesthetic and functional forms, encompassing visitors as they explore the exhibition.

Focused on primary and secondary colors, the works reverberate off of each other with repeated mathematically-rendered pattern and line work—from Op art polygonal structures to flower motifs. Both the decal and painting works exemplify Isermann’s practice of bringing together "high" and "low" art styles, giving a fresh look at the decorative potential of geometric abstraction to reveal the symbiotic relationship between fine and functional art.

Wrapture will be on view during Los Angeles’ and West Hollywood’s Pride Week celebrations. Rooted in queerness and camp aesthetics, Isermann’s practice amalgamates his personal identity with structural logic and geometric algorithms. With a desire to upend the restrictions of domestic space, he challenges the historically-gendered lens of the Minimalism, Bauhaus, and Arts and Craft movements.

Jim Isermann (b. 1955, Kenosha, WI) is known for his artistic practice that spans an array of media over nearly four decades. Situated at the intersection of fine art, mid-century design, and decorative craft, Isermann's work is acutely attentive to pattern, color theory, and geometry.

Isermann has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Camden Arts Center, London; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; Le Magasin - Centre d'art Contemporain, Grenoble, France; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Palm Springs Art Museum, Architecture and Design Center, CA; and the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, among others. In addition, Isermann has completed over thirty site specific public art commissions internationally.

His work may be found in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Menil Collection, Houston, TX; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and elsewhere. In 2021, Radius Books published an extensive monograph of Isermann's work, available for purchase on the occassion of the exhibition.

Isermann lives and works in Palm Springs, CA.