LOS ANGELES, CA.- Diane Rosenstein Fine Art will present The Black Mirror, a group show curated by James Welling and Diane Rosenstein. This will be primarily an all-black show, engaging the literal and associative properties of reflective black surface materials. The power and provocation of each work is in the proposal it makes for presence in the absence of a diversified palette. The Black Mirror will inaugurate Diane Rosenstein's new gallery on Highland Avenue in Hollywood.

The title of the show is inspired by Henri Matisse's painting Anemones au Miroir Noir (1918-19) and also the history of artistic engagement with Claude glass, convex mirrors used especially in the 18th and 19th century by painters. A layer of black tint was placed over the mirror's surface producing impure images. The convexity of the mirror and its shape were variable, but in general were designed to enhance perception at differing distances.

The relations of this exhibition's individual works to the conceit of The Black Mirror are as complex as are their relations to one another. Each work alters the viewer's perception, as might a Claude glass, using, by turns, literal or figurative transformation of objects, space, and material to suggest differing relations between an artwork and a self.

The show spans in chronology from Louise Nevelson's Untitled "Door" (1976) to recent photographic work by Liz Deschenes, Farrah Karapetian, and Matthew Brandt. Its material scope ranges from the sculptural draping of Nancy Rubins' monumental Drawing (1997) to a black fiberglass "Plank" (1988) by John McCracken to the burned linen and acrylic Dead Day IV (2008) painting by Barnaby Furnas. Each artist addresses formal, social, and conceptual goals from within the means enabled by its medium and maker; the dialogue between them is surprising and unexpected.

Some of the works mirror one another, but their differences are revealing. James Welling's dark polaroid Lock (1976) echoes John McCracken's polished resin plank. Here the differences between these works enhance specific relationships to objecthood as much as medium.

Tom Burr's assemblage of domestic objects, Rectangled Restraint (2012), exists within the tradition established by Louise Nevelson seventy years prior, but engages with social associations in a different way. Burr's floor work suggests the social space activated by Jose Alvaro Perdices' Cruising Bar, Madrid (1997/2010) series, which captures a dark interior lit solely by the embers of a moving cigarette. Dispersal is a formal link between Allan McCollum's Surrogates (1982-88) and Teresita Fernández' onyx and marble Double Cameo (2007); these pieces are comprised of many individual elements which use the wall as the site of their organization, or, in essence, as their frame. John Sisley's photographic grids are likewise an echo of this practice of conceptual accumulation.

Work by Liz Deschenes uses the photograph as a sculptural and performative material. Matthew Brandt's images at the grave of Edwin H. Land, inventor of Polaroid film, and Marco Breuer's physical engagement with the cameraless photograph pose alternative arguments for the relationship between the photograph, the sculpture, and the subject.

Representation flickers into the monochromatic field in Hiroshi Sugimoto's South Pacific Ocean, Tearai (1992), Rodney McMillian’s Unknown portraits (2006) and Phil Chang's unfixed portraits, Cache, Active (2011). The material realism of Eben Goff's black wax and polished aluminum sculpture resonates with the oil, asphaltum and alkyds in Charles Fine's painting as well as the rich charcoals of Matthew Brandt's prints of George Bush Park (2012).

The exhibition will present photography, painting, sculpture, and works on paper from twenty-one artists, as follows: Matthew Brandt, Marco Breuer, Tom Burr, Phil Chang, Mary Corse, Liz Deschenes, Teresita Fernandez, Charles Fine, Barnaby Furnas, Eben Goff, Whitney Hubbs, Farrah Karapetian, John McCracken, Allan McCollum, Rodney McMillian, Louise Nevelson, Jose Alvaro Perdices, Nancy Rubins, John Sisley, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and James Welling.

The show will inaugurate Diane Rosenstein's new gallery, a 4,300 square foot exhibition space in Hollywood, just two blocks south of Santa Monica Boulevard. Diane Rosenstein Fine Art is moving to this permanent home in Hollywood, after having presented a series of exhibitions during 2012 in Beverly Hills, at 9399 Wilshire Boulevard, a new Richard Meier building (designed by Michael Palladino, AIA).

The exhibition will be on view at Diane Rosenstein Fine Art starting January 19, 2013 at 831 North Highland Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90038.