Jake Kean Mayman

CANDICE MADEY is pleased to present Technium Territories, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Los Angeles-based artist Jake Kean Mayman. In this recent body of work, Mayman explores the coevolution of technology and humankind through still life paintings. The exhibition title references the concept of “the technium”—“the ecosystem of all invented things,” according to technologist Kevin Kelly—which includes the machines, processes, society, culture, and philosophy that define techno-social relations.

Mayman’s meticulously rendered oil paintings perform the genre’s requisite function of depicting both the achievements and the transience of daily life through an assortment of electronics, gear, fruit, and goods engineered for consumption and entertainment. That his chosen objects possess short shelf lives challenges the timeless quality of the genre, and he monochromatically renders the objects’ original palettes and backdrops to suggest the homogenous or flat quality of the digital sphere. Objects intended to augment human capabilities appear stylized and outmoded, and even organic matter appears unnatural, manipulated by agricultural optimization, biological mimicry, or other economic or political incentives.

Mayman—both a skeptic and an optimist—conveys a fascination with the design, utility, and innovation of everyday objects, albeit one measured by the often opaque and unequal dissemination of such progress. Technium Territories prompts a conversation about the public’s access and understanding of advanced technologies, and the need for a closer examination of our rapidly evolving tools.

Jake Kean Mayman was born in 1980 in Los Angeles, where he lives and works. He received his BFA in painting from New York University. Solo exhibitions include “Existing Structures,” Stellar Projects, New York (2018); and “The Earth Dies Screaming,” Night Gallery, Los Angeles (2017). His work has been included in group exhibitions at Matthew Brown Los Angeles; SJ Weiler Fund, New York; Ochi Projects, Los Angeles; The Underground Museum, Los Angeles; Wilding Cran Gallery, Los Angeles; and The Pit, Los Angeles, among others. His work has been covered in the Los Angeles Times, Artforum, Artnet, New York, and Vulture.

The gallery is open to the public Wednesday to Saturday, 11am to 6pm.

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