Kiel Johnson in L.A.

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This month, the L.A.–based artist presents “Publish or Perish,” his second solo show at Santa Monica’s Mark Moore Gallery, on view through Nov. 14; in New York he is represented by Davidson Contemporary, where he will have his solo debut next fall. (His work will also be on view at Pulse Miami in December.)

So far, the Missouri-born 30-something has mostly presented work in two veins: ink drawings of exaggerated, slightly dystopian structures, objects, and machines; and that same sort of object and Rube Goldbergian creation brought to life in cardboard and other commonplace materials. (See a video of how he put together his Twin Lens Reflex Camera here.)

At Mark Moore, Johnson debuts Publish or Perish, a complicated-looking printing press-like contraption measuring 96 x 42 x 92 inches and made of plywood, steel, chipwood, and aluminum, which appears to be spewing out endless copies of Johnson’s drawing Everything I Own.

Taken together with other sculptural objects in the show, all rendered slightly larger than life in chipboard, tape, and glue — such as Your View, Their Side, His Version, Her Story (2009), which presents two old fashioned standing microphones; Two Sides to Every Story: AKA Boom Boom (2009), a standard ’80s-style boombox; and the very outsized Twin Lens Reflex Camera (2009), measuring 60 x 20 x 17 inches — the work suggests a preoccupation with media and communication, dispersal of information and the technological developments that facilitate it.

But considered in the context of Everything I Own, an ink drawing measuring 44 x 53 inches that obsessively chronicles a litany of tools and tables and other items useful in producing things, it seems more personal: a statement about the never-ending need to churn out work indicative of who one is as a person: to define one's essence, taxonomize it, and transmute it into a product that can be sold and bought.

Either way, the work, like most of Johnson's output, is impressive for its imagination and execution, a goofy, fantastical creation that, installed among a selection of Johnson’s recent drawings, comes across as one of Johnson’s two-dimensional explorations exploded into a third.

Below, Johnson takes us on a modest tour of “all of L.A.’s art shows.” Click on the photo gallery at left for a slideshow of images from his show and studio.

Johnson writes:

"The challenge we set ourselves? Take in all of L.A.’s art shows in one day. If you had a room with white walls and bright lights, we would do our very best to poke our heads into your space. The route was meticulously plotted. We would leave nothing to chance. With snacks, drinks, music, and other essentials secured, we would start early in the East and follow the sun. Walk in, look around, and walk out. No messing around, no chitchat, no garage sales or sidetracking of any kind. Art Show Day, all day. Only spend time with the work that caught our eye. That was the plan…

"But instead, I forgot the snacks and the music. My girlfriend/navigator accepted a substitute teaching job, and I could never get the iPhone map application to do what I wanted. My truck, however, held up, and while I skipped a few key spots, I did manage to catch a glimpse of some really cool shows.

"If you don’t have all day to log the 100-or-so miles I drove, you could just go see these five exhibitions. They all had something to say.

"If you’re into the successful integration of drawing and sculpture, enjoy handmade objects, and love watching a good fight, check out Claire Oswalt’s “Peril in Perfection” at Taylor de Cordoba through Oct. 31. Geppetto might be the only one doing it better. No lie.

"Feel like checking out work that exemplifies dedication and follow-through? Investigate the cultural bridge that is “American Qur’an” by Sandow Birk at Koplin Del Rio in Culver City through Oct. 30. He gets an idea and he finishes the hell out of it.