Eight years ago, working in his studio in Barcelona, Bosco Sodi accidentally dropped a bucket of his sawdust, pigment and binder mixture on the floor. ‘I didn’t have time to clean it because I had to leave for vacation,’ he recalls. ‘When I came back it was all cracked, but I liked it.’
That accident became the artist's Pollock moment. He’s spent the ensuing years exploring a material obsession with craggy, volcanic paintings – some made with 30 kgs of saturated pigments sourced on travels to India, China and Morocco – that reference everything from Donald Judd’s minimalism, Jay DeFeo’s abstractions and land art pioneers like Robert Smithson.
‘I think the most important part of my work is the process,’ says Sodi. ‘The outcome is secondary for me.’
Judging from Sodi’s omnipresence on the international gallery and museum scene, those outcomes have been resoundingly successful. 'Malpais' – his first solo show in Los Angeles, curated by Matthew Schum and co-produced by his New York gallerist Paul Kasmin, Brandon Davis Projects and Jose Mestre – touched down last week in a lofty, rough-hewn West Hollywood space that formerly housed a Ralph Lauren boutique.
‘"Malpais" is this desert place where there’s nothing, but that was Matthew’s idea. I like to be very respectful of the curator,’ says Sodi of the installation. Paintings and volcanic rock sculptures fired with red glaze and real gold are mixed with stack bricks made from local mud and sand sourced by brick-makers near Casa Wabi, Sodi’s Tadao Ando-designed studio in Puerto Escondido, Mexico. These have been set inside the nooks, courtyard and galleries of the storefront.
‘I’ve never seen all of these works together because I’ve had them in storage in New York,’ Sodi admits. ‘It was much more of an experiment for me. I’m surprised how there are so many correlations.’
As an example, he points to a 2010 silver pigment painting divided into quadrants set in dialogue with a stack of the Casa Wabi cubes. They are fired at different temperatures with different materials and take on the patina of Corten steel when dry. Some are also fired in gold, like the volcanic rocks, which he sources from Guadalajara and uses just as they were found.
The stars of the show, however, are round, trapezoidal and square iterations of Sodi’s iconic pigment paintings, many of which are finished in his radioactive hues of blue, red, pink and yellow. Nearly all of them were sourced from his personal collection and mark the last time he worked with colour. A massive black and white DeFeo-esque landscape nearly swallows a gold mud cube stack standing before it. The other standouts are lustrous silver works that sparkle with a glittery green glaze – the result of a white Japanese pigment combining with a potentially toxic aluminium pigment.
‘I look for a lot of randomness in my work,’ says Sodi. ‘This only works with silver pigment, but when it does it’s amazing.’
The installation features paintings, volcanic rock sculptures fired with red glaze and real gold, and stack bricks made from local mud and sand
The works are set inside the nooks, courtyard and galleries of the storefront. Pictured: Untitled, 2013 (centre) stands among a group of ceramic glaze volcanic rock sculptures from 2012–2015
The stars of the show are a series of round, trapezoidal and square iterations (pictured) of Sodi’s iconic pigment paintings, many of which are finished in his radioactive hues of blue, red, pink and yellow
Nearly all of them were sourced from the artist’s personal collection, and mark the last time he worked with colour
‘I’ve never seen all of these works together because I’ve had them in storage in New York,’ Sodi admits. ‘It was much more of an experiment for me. I’m surprised how there are so many correlations’
INFORMATION
'Malpais' is on view until 8 October. For more information, visit the Brandon Davis Projects website
Photography: Ruben Diaz
ADDRESS
Brandon Davis Projects
143 N. Robertson Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90048
-
Out of office: what the Wallpaper* editors have been doing this weekA taste of the dolce vita in London, some permanent artwork and a new eyeshadow palette – it's our editors' picks of the week
-
Daniel Arsham’s new monograph collates the works of the auto-obsessed American artist‘Arsham Motorsport’ is two volumes of inspiration, process and work, charting artist Daniel Arsham’s oeuvre inspired by the icons and forms of the automotive industry
-
Hollywood Forever's new ‘vertical mausoleum’ is the tallest in the USThe Gower Mausoleum is not only an innovative solution for housing the deceased in a crowded urban centre; it is also reframing the way that we view cemeteries
-
In ‘The Last Showgirl’, nostalgia is a drug like any otherGia Coppola takes us to Las Vegas after the party has ended in new film starring Pamela Anderson, The Last Showgirl
-
‘American Photography’: centuries-spanning show reveals timely truthsAt the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Europe’s first major survey of American photography reveals the contradictions and complexities that have long defined this world superpower
-
Don't miss these seven artists at Frieze Los AngelesFrieze LA returns for its sixth edition, running 20-23 February, showcasing over 100 galleries from more than 20 countries, as well as local staples featuring the city’s leading creatives
-
Pop culture, nostalgia and familiarity: Sam McKinniss in LAArtist Sam McKinniss’ solo exhibition of paintings at David Kordansky Gallery in Los Angeles taps into familiarity, loss, and nostalgia
-
Sundance Film Festival 2025: The films we can't wait to watchSundance Film Festival, which runs 23 January - 2 February, has long been considered a hub of cinematic innovation. These are the ones to watch from this year’s premieres
-
What is RedNote? Inside the social media app drawing American users ahead of the US TikTok banDownloads of the Chinese-owned platform have spiked as US users look for an alternative to TikTok, which faces a ban on national security grounds. What is Rednote, and what are the implications of its ascent?
-
Architecture and the new world: The Brutalist reframes the American dreamBrady Corbet’s third feature film, The Brutalist, demonstrates how violence is a building block for ideology
-
Inside the distorted world of artist George RouyFrequently drawing comparisons with Francis Bacon, painter George Rouy is gaining peer points for his use of classic techniques to distort the human form
