ALISON MOSSHART CHATS “LOS TRACHAS” HER LATEST EXHIBITION WITH DANNY ZOVATTO

“Los Trachas“
Nov 16th – Dec 15th
FF-1051 Gallery, Los Angeles, Ca

Taking place at FF-1051 Gallery, “Los Trachas” is a collaborative exhibit featuring all new pieces completed in LA from artists Alison Mosshart and Danny Zovatto. “Los Trachas” is a vibrant and powerful intersection between both artists. From works across canvas to paper, lines jagged and crisp, to colors soft and arresting, Mosshart and Zovatto’s paintings draw the viewer in and don’t let go.

Alison Mosshart’s work is a catalog of observations, obsessions and interrogations of self and everyone else and every place she’s been. Lead vocalist for famous rock bands the Kills and The Dead Weather, she has spent the last 26 years on the road performing and living a predominately transitory life. She has a particular penchant for fast cars and complex characters — the car a symbol of power, protection, function, simplicity, easy beauty. Her people — ever in flux — are the opposite, often painted with dubious double, triple, quadruple features, emphasizing conflicting feelings, desires and agendas.

Danny Zovatto describes his art as his story, his search. His paintings are rich with color and feeling, happiness and despair. There is a color or a line for every thought and emotion he is driven by, a texture for every high and low, every curiosity, calamity and daydream. His works are large and enveloping, lawless and true. Danny Zovatto is a Costa Rican actor known for high profile roles such as his work in television in Here and Now and critically acclaimed horror movies It Follows and Don’t Breathe amongst much more. He currently resides in Los Angeles.

In Mosshart’s words, “A handful of months ago Danny Zovatto and I met in New York City. We wandered the streets talking art and creativity, two strangers living on the same fumes, obsessing on the same things. We laughed a lot, we were drunk a lot, never slept, and never shut the fuck up. My pal at the time was up painting on the Bowery, and as fate would have it, invited us over and let us loose. For the next few nights Danny and I went wild, painting, pacing, buzzing, all manner of colors flying around. It was a total dream. Once back in LA, we wanted to keep the crazy train rolling and took up residence in FF-1051 Gallery, picking up where we left off—Hollywood style. This is our show. I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve made!”

Closing on December 15th, the show has been open for a month and it is on its last week, although it may be extended, and works are available to view by appointment after the 15th through the gallery. The Untitled Magazine’s Indira Cesarine talked to Alison Mosshart to learn more about the process and inspiration behind the “Los Trachas” exhibit.

Indira Cesarine: What inspired the exhibit and the title “Los Trachas?”
Alison Mosshart: The title came from a different painting that I did in Mexico. I started corresponding with Danny about 5 months ago after I saw his paintings online and they looked like something I would paint. They have a very similar spirit [to my work]  and I thought “I need to reach out!” I was in Mexico City at that time, painting for my show that I mentioned, and I made a painting of the back of two people: a guy and a girl, both wearing leather jackets with biker patches. I needed a gang name for the subjects, so I asked Danny to help me and he came back with ” Los Trachas.” There’s no definition for it; it’s not a real word. But we named one of my paintings that, and that’s how the exhibit title came about!

You both have a synergy in style. How did you two meet?
We met in NYC a month after my Mexico show. I was playing gigs there and we ended up going to a studio on Bowery where my other friend was painting, and that’s where we painted for the first time. It went on for hours and the next day we did it again. Sometimes things just work. Being in the same room and painting together was a really nice thing as I’m used to painting by myself; most painters are. Then I didn’t see him for ages, he went back to LA and I was touring, and when I was back in LA we started the show.

How do you balance art with your music and touring?
There’s zero balance in my life. Everything’s at once all the time. Maybe that’s balance? I don’t know. One makes you wanna do the other and back and forth so I do them both at the same time.

Tell us about your artistic style and what inspires your work?
My style is generally very fast. That’s not really a style but it’s my method. I’m not a careful painter and I don’t like to wait for things to dry. I have no patience at all. That comes from years of my lifetime of being on the move and wanting things to happen fast or not happen at all. Inspiration comes from conversations I hear, or music I’m playing, and what’s on the radio, and what I see on the street and the studio, and who I like, and who I talk to. Literally everything.

It’s an extension of a diary entry; it’s an extension of a song or the beginning of it. I never really sat down and said, “this painting is this or means this.” It’s usually about a lot of different things. It’s usually more about feelings.

Your artwork often features vehicles and cars… what draws you to that?
I love them! I’m a huge car person. I grew up around cars. My father was a used car salesman and it’s always been a part of my life, my childhood and my obsessions. I would adore it if I was just be surrounded by muscle cars. I would live in that room forever. There’s something protective and very simple about them. These cars, are to me, very straightforward.

You have a very innovative way of painting and you seem to have incorporated a lot of notebook papers into your latest artwork. What was the inspiration behind that? 
I think being in that studio space! There was a month where [Danny and I] were at our studio and there was shit just everywhere. It looked like a tornado had come through. There were tons of pieces of papers and scraps and inspirations and car magazines and junk. And in the middle of that, you start picking things up and they start to become your world. I wanted that to be an LA show inspired by that moment we were in, under those unusual circumstances. We completely bonded on this other level of art. It was an interesting process to be in the room with someone, and be surrounded by both of our things everywhere and sharing colors with them. It all kind of just very naturally evolved to the way that that show looked. By letting it happen.

ABOUT FF-1051 GALLERY
FF-1051 is a contemporary art gallery in Los Angeles, CA. With local shows in Los Angeles to exhibitions at SCOPE Miami 2017, Art Wynwood 2018, and SCOPE New York 2018, FF-1051 Gallery brings its artists and curation forward on a diverse and nationwide scale. Focusing across mediums, FF-1051 works with artists living in Los Angeles and NYC but belonging to
the global community. With an eye for emerging greats in the art world, FF-1051 Gallery curates high-intensity talent from the contemporary art scene.

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