Whitehot Magazine
"The Best Art In The World"
Analia Saban: Synthetic Self
Sprüth Magers, Los Angeles
Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, Los Angeles
By ERIC MINH SWENSON September 10, 2023
Talk about a force-multiplier! Has there ever been a moment in the history of arts where an artist had simultaneous openings in one city at two institutional galleries? If there has, let me know. Analia Saban has the great fortune to have a two-front citywide showcase at powerhouse mega-institutions, Spruth Magers and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in Los Angeles. The bilateral cooperation between SM/TB will make history on September 15–October 28, 2023 entitled - Analia Saban “Synthetic Self.”
This is my second opportunity to film Saban for the EMSARTS YouTube Channel, the first is when I interviewed her at Spruth Magers LA during her 2017 “Folds and Faults” solo offering. Throughout the years I would encounter more film opportunities at Gemini GEL until finally I breached her studio at her request. Lucky me.
What I filmed recently was Saban quietly painting with black oil stick on large canvases laid flat like a black sea slick over an ocean of white under painting. Myriads of monochromatic wall art were arrayed for documentation before they were signed off and whisked away by teams of Elite Art Services operators prepping for transport. It was a hot and humid August day as Saban was nearing the 11th hour of her art deployment to the intra-city white cubes at alliance SM/TB. I look forward to the bilateral cooperation of Saban’s work between the 8-minute drive down Highland over to Wilshire across LACMA, or if you choose to do the reverse.
“The work of Analia Saban, which spans a plethora of media and approaches, has consistently explored the meanings we give to the objects and technologies that inform our everyday lives. Sprüth Magers and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery are pleased to present Synthetic Self, an exhibition of new work by Saban on view concurrently at both Los Angeles galleries. Comprising sculpture, painting, tapestries and other newly reimagined artistic media, the exhibition investigates subjects of paramount importance today at the intersection of environmental concerns, artificial intelligence and human creativity.” WM