StandardVision and FEMMEBIT Feature Casey Kauffmann’s Unique Homage to LA at the Los Angeles Public Library
In collaboration with FEMMEBIT, StandardVision has curated an excerpt of interdisciplinary artist Casey Kauffmann’s Drive Time to be featured as part of StandardVision’s ongoing art program for the lobby video wall inside the Los Angeles Central Library.
A clever ode to the city of Los Angeles through the eyes of an Angeleno, Kauffmann’s collage of freeways showcases her humorously guttural sleuthing of reality television and consumer culture. Drive Time is a video collage artwork combining found and original material to capture the true essence of what it means to be from Los Angeles. In Kauffmann’s words, “spending time in our cars is the quintessential LA experience, and this artwork revolves around that idea.” Kauffmann compiled a vast collection of footage primarily from driving on the freeways of LA, which forms the foundation of the 33 captivating video collage works.
Drive Time explores the diverse terrain of the Los Angeles neighborhoods that Kauffmann has called home. In addition to showcasing the urban landscapes, the works address a less recognized aspect of Los Angeles—the city’s natural beauty. It holds personal significance as the artist incorporates deeply intimate details of the city and her childhood which shaped her unique artistic perspective and understanding of femme-coded culture. Kauffmann’s ultimate goal is to create a thought-provoking work that juxtaposes the commonly perceived glitz and glamour of LA with the authentic, unpolished beauty that is inherently known and appreciated by its residents. By blending personal and universal elements, Drive Time offers a glimpse into the raw and captivating reality of Los Angeles.
Casey Kauffmann is an interdisciplinary artist working in drawing, installation, video and a variety of digital mediums. She is a lecturer at the University of California San Diego, and she lives and works in Los Angeles, California. Kauffmann has exhibited her work nationally and internationally with organizations and galleries such as Times Square Arts and Synthesis Gallery. Kauffmann’s collage Instagram project @uncannysfvalley, which she started in 2014, features digital collage works and GIFs created using only her iPhone. The pieces Kauffmann posts to this account are an ever-accumulating collection of material from all corners of the internet, sourced from Tumblr, Instagram, and Google. This Instagram account and body of work have been exhibited in many galleries, written about in several esteemed publications, and led to her admission to the MFA program at the University of Southern California. Kauffmann’s drawing practice functions as an inquiry into the representation of femme emotion and hysteria in both art history and popular culture. This fall, Kauffmann’s work will be included in the upcoming Pacific Standard Time LACMA exhibition, Digital Witness: revolutions in design, photography, and film in November 2024.
FEMMEBIT is a grassroots platform and triennial festival of Los Angeles-based artists working in video and new media. As a celebration that includes curated programs, symposiums, screenings and exhibitions, FEMMEBIT examines today’s society at large as an ever-changing medium. This platform investigates how artists working with and between technologies enables progressive ideas to be born through active creation, and how we, as proponents of these fields, must work together to shape, share, and grow a future receptive to progress. Curators Kate Parsons and Janna Avner integrate their own artistic expertise into these projects, with a passion for uncovering innovation and revolution through mediums such as video, animation and XR. Janna’s art practice as a California-based Alaska Native explores multiheritage concepts for indigenous futures in video, digital sculpture, and paintings. Kate’s work focuses on community, connection and our relationships to the biological and environmental systems we inhabit.
Catch excerpts from Casey Kauffmann’s Drive Time series on view on the lobby video wall inside the LA Central Library, and learn more about the both Case Kauffmann and FEMMEBIT on their Instagrams.
