Los Angeles Times - 13.11.2019

LATIMES.COM/CALENDAR WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2019E3

latimes.com/arts

CULTURE MONSTER

Ardeshir Tabrizi’s mixed-media paintings re-
semble ruins: beautifully crafted artifacts rav-
aged by time, their condition speaking of past
grandeur that can only be imagined.
His six paintings in “Masjid” (Arabic for
“mosque”) at Roberts Projects in Culver City
also look unfinished, their sections of bare can-
vas and the gaps in their patterns suggesting he
abandoned them before he completed them.
That ambiguity packs a punch. It makes
Tabrizi’s paintings feel as if they do not inhabit
the present so much as they are haunted by a
past that has all but vanished and a future that
will never be more than a fantasy.
It is as if his fragmented works, combining
acrylic ink, embroidered silk imagery and stitch-
ed cotton line work, are refugees. That term usu-
ally refers to people subjected to geographic dis-
placement.
In contrast, Tabrizi’s paintings embody a

sense of temporal dislocation. They give form to

the fractured reality people inhabit when the

present is out of sync with everything that came

before it.

Tabrizi’s multilayered works look like three

or four images superimposed. The loosely

brushed grounds of pearlescent ink — in soft

shades of sky blue, sand and pale green — have

the presence of well-worn, sun-faded garments.

The single images in their centers are borrowed

from Persian myths and take the form of icons.

The elaborate, all-over patterning recalls

Persian rugs, but the pictures and symbols

Tabrizi has inserted are anathema to the image-

free abstraction of traditional geometric pat-

terning.

The parts of his paintings do not add up to

wholes. Instead, they suggest conflicting per-

spectives, divergent expectations and different

histories.

The same is true of his 12 framed drawings,

which cover a wall in the gallery office. Each col-

laged, stitched, painted and drawn work embod-

ies the internal conflict we feel when we are of

two minds about something.

That complexity mirrors Tabrizi’s life. Born

in Tehran in 1981, his family left in 1986 during the

Iran-Iraq War. After moving around Europe,

they settled in Los Angeles, where Tabrizi has

experimented with photography, video and

painting.

His new works are an object lesson in the

power of seeing reality from different points of

view, none complete or capable of capturing the

whole truth. Each is richer for being part of the

ongoing, polyglot conversation.

MIXED-MEDIApaintings by Ardeshir Tabrizi, such as “Shaitan,” echo Persian myth and visual patterns, part of a polyglot dialogue.

Roberts Projects

For the Gay Men’s Cho-

rus of Los Angeles, a

Wednesday announcement

represents a hopeful new

chapter after a year of

drama: Ernest H. Harrison

has been appointed music

director and conductor

of GMCLA, one of L.A.

County’s longest-running

LGBTQ arts organizations.

Harrison, a doctoral can-

didate in choral conducting

at USC, was selected in a

nationwide search, GMCLA

Executive Director Lou

Spisto said. Harrison is an

associate conductor for the

National Children’s Chorus,

conductor for the Pasadena

Conservatory of Music’s

Cantare Chamber Choir and

assistant conductor at Bev-

erly Hills Presbyterian

Church. He will be the first

permanent music director

since Joe Nadeau left in De-

cember. Gavin Thrasher,

who served as interim music

director, departed in August

to lead the New York City

Gay Men’s Chorus.

The appointment comes

at the end of a difficult year

for GMCLA. In February,

news of a budget shortfall

and accusations of sexual

harassment against the

then-board chairman led to

discussions about the pos-

sible dissolution of the 40-

year-old organization. The

chorus carried on, but only

after a shakeup in non-musi-

cal management and efforts

by its volunteer membership

of nearly 250 men.

Harrison will begin work-

ing with the chorus in De-

cember. His first main-sea-

son concert will be “The Cal-

ifornia Sound” at the Alex

Theatre in Glendale in April.

Gay

chorus

names

leader

Ernest H. Harrison

is appointed music

director. He arrives

amid rebuilding.

By Jessica Gelt

ERNESTH. Harrison

will conduct the chorus

as it enters the new year.

GMCLA

An announcement from
Big Brother:
“My fellow citizens! Lis-
ten to me! We are under
siege! We’re surrounded by
forces of evil, evil that would
tear down all we’ve built and
cover the world with dark-
ness!”
This is the world of
George Orwell’s “1984” as
brought to life by the Actors’
Gang in Culver City.
It’s a land where the only
truths allowed are those es-
poused by the governing
party, where absolute devo-
tion to the party is de-
manded, and where every
public and private space is
monitored for signs of way-
wardness. The public enthu-
siastically embraces these
conditions because the
party raises continual
alarms about enemies — a

way to keep everyone fright-

ened, angry and obedient.

Orwell’s 1949 novel in-

stills a crushing sense of

claustrophobia by packag-

ing all of that into the con-

cept of Big Brother. The Ac-

tors’ Gang production, di-

rected by Tim Robbins,

maintains that constriction.

(The company’s celebrity

founding artistic director

also performs, although you

shouldn’t expect to glimpse

him until quite some time

into the action.)

In a change from the nov-

el, Michael Gene Sullivan’s

adaptation incarcerates the

story’s protagonist, the

would-be citizen-hero Win-

ston Smith, from the start.

The audience sits on all sides

of the playing area, hem-

ming him in. Four sneering

interrogators also surround

him.

The main questioner,

however, is heard only

through speakers, which

creates a sense of omni-

science. This intensifies as

the voice shifts around the

room, compelling Winston

and the black-suited interro-

gators to jerk around to face

it.

Video screens occa-

sionally blaze to life with hy-

perbolic bulletins, but aside

from a few stools no other set

is used. Or needed.

Reading from Winston’s

incriminating diary — and

enacting bits of it — the as-

sistant interrogators speak

in a drone, punctuated by

bursts of inflamed emotion.

Often used by the Gang, this

sort of stylization can be mo-

notonous, but it works in the

context of a society where

everyone is expected to con-

form.

Robbins, white-haired

and bearded, becomes the

essence of all that is Big

Brotherly, his patient, min-

isterial demeanor making

him all the more menacing.

Winston, portrayed by

Will Thomas McFadden, is

allowed the most realistic

expression, which makes

him seem at once vulnerable

and defiant. He’s not trying

to be like the others any-

more; he lets his feelings

show. He’s insolent. Exas-

perated. Resigned.

Winston dared to think

for himself, a “thought-

crime” in the parlance of Or-

well’s book. Still more dan-

gerously, he fell in love, an ex-

citable emotion outside the

party’s control.

The Gang has returned

to this story time and again

since an initial production in

2006 and has toured the

world with it. One sad truth

of Orwell’s novel is that,

somewhere in the world,

some part of it will always

feel uncomfortably real.

THEATER REVIEW

Back to the future in Actors’ Gang’s ‘1984’

TIM ROBBINSinterrogates Will Thomas McFadden as Winston in “1984.”

Ashley Randall Photography

Tim Robbins’

company returns to

adaptation of Orwell’s

novel that continues

to feel all too real.

By Daryl H. Miller

‘1984’

Where:Actors’ Gang

Theatre, 9070 Venice

Blvd., Culver City

When:8 p.m. Thursdays to

Saturdays, some 2 p.m.

Sundays; ends Dec. 7

Tickets:$25-$50;

Thursdays pay what you

can

Info:(310) 838-4264,

theactorsgang.com

Running time:2 hours,

5 minutes (with

intermission)

Ardeshir Tabrizi

Where:Roberts Projects, 5801 Washington

Blvd., L.A.

When:Through Saturday

Info:(323) 549-0223, robertsprojectsla.com

ART REVIEW

Changing form

Ardeshir Tabrizi’s work is new yet ancient, whole yet fragmentary

By David Pagel