{"id":272721,"date":"2026-04-17T15:24:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T15:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/272721\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T15:24:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T15:24:16","slug":"artist-sayre-gomez-talks-about-his-painting-vertigo-at-david-kordansky-gallery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/272721\/","title":{"rendered":"Artist Sayre Gomez talks about his painting “Vertigo” at David Kordansky Gallery"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This story is part of Image\u2019s April\u2019s Thresholds<\/a> issue, a tour of L.A. architecture as it\u2019s actually experienced. <\/p>\n

\"img_dropcap_Bibliophile_a.png\" <\/p>\n

A landmark is a landmark because it tells you that you\u2019re home now \u2014 the piece of earth you\u2019ve chosen to inhabit saying, \u201cYou\u2019ve made it back, congratulations.\u201d We identify our cities with their landmarks, and because we identify with our cities, we identify with the landmarks too. They are us and we are them, mirroring each other through eternity. A city like New York or Chicago, with the Chrysler Building, the Bean, etc., has landmarks that exist in the world\u2019s popular consciousness. But L.A.\u2019s most cherished landmarks belong to us and us alone, a secret you\u2019re let in on if you live here long enough and pay attention.<\/p>\n

The Fashion Nova baddie in horizontal sprawl off the Vertigo, for example, is an emblem for those in the know. Our twisted version of a capitalist guardian angel, patron saint of spandex in a cropped matching set. Welcome to El Pueblo de Nuestra Se\u00f1ora la Reina de los \u00c1ngeles de Fashion Nova. Merging on the 110 South from the 10 East while the sunset burns and traffic thickens is a miracle in more ways than one, and in the spirit of compulsively performing the sign of the cross when you pass a church on the freeway, this billboard is deserving of its own acknowledgment.<\/p>\n

It may not be the landmark L.A. asked for, but in Sayre Gomez\u2019s<\/a> painting \u201cVertigo,\u201d you begin to understand why it\u2019s the one we deserve. At the opening for \u201cPrecious Moments,\u201d Gomez\u2019s solo show at David Kordansky<\/a>, the room was vibrating. A game of energetic ping-pong unfolded underneath the gallery\u2019s fluorescent light, beams of identification, recollections or stabs of grief bouncing off each piece in the exhibition. People were seeing hyperspecific parts of a city they love reflected in a hyperspecific way \u2014 for better and for worse. Recognition has two edges and they both happen to be sharp. Gomez twists the knife deeper for a good cause: He wants you not just to look but to really see.<\/p>\n

In his work exist iconic signs of beloved local establishments \u2014 like the Playpen \u2014 the blinding glint reflecting off downtown\u2019s skyline, telephone poles regarded as totems. The line to see Gomez\u2019s replica of L.A.\u2019s graffiti towers, \u201cOceanwide Plaza,\u201d snaked through the gallery\u2019s courtyard. Once inside, at least three graffiti writers whose names were blasted on the replica pointed it out proudly, even gave out stickers to take home. The truth can be beautiful and it can be ugly \u2014 in this case it\u2019s both \u2014 on the flip side showing up in the form of smog, tattered flags and an abandoned graffiti tower that starkly represents the pitfalls of capitalism and greed, a neon arrow pointing to the homelessness crisis.<\/p>\n

Because the Vertigo is something everybody who lives here recognizes as central to a sort of framework of Los Angeles. And I think the encampment has become that as well. It\u2019s connecting these integral components \u2014 something that\u2019s more revelatory and more fun with something that\u2019s more grave.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Sayre Gomez<\/p>\n

In the main gallery, I was stuck on \u201cVertigo.\u201d On the 12-foot canvas, my eye went to the place out of focus: the thin strip of billboard in the background featuring a young woman with sand-dune hips, patent knee-high boots and long black hair laid up on her side, wearing cat ears and a tiger bodysuit as flush as second skin. The model made the kind of eye contact that felt dangerous \u2014 might cause an accident if you\u2019re not careful. \u201c#1 Halloween Destination \u2026 FASHION NOVA,\u201d it read. I knew her, anyone who has driven through the two main arteries of Los Angeles knows her. The black-and-white smiley motif of the Vertigo, an events space, sat right next to her face, just happy to be there, it seemed, above a painted sign that says \u201cReady to Party?\u201d<\/p>\n

The sky was the color of cotton candy, but the stale kind that\u2019s been hardening in a plastic bag for days after the fair. Something rancid about it. In the foreground of the painting was a car encampment<\/a> with a tattered floral sheet woven through the windows, cloth tarps and couch cushions creating a shield against the elements. Small plastic children\u2019s toys lined at the top of the car \u2014 dinosaurs and dump trucks and sharks \u2014 creating their own shrunken skyline in front of the Vertigo, signaling that young kids likely lived there. It\u2019s less juxtaposition for juxtaposition\u2019s sake and more an accurate reflection of the breakneck duality of living in a place like L.A.<\/p>\n

Even angels exist within the context of their environments. Our Fashion Nova baddie hangs off the Vertigo<\/a>, a building that has used its ad space as physical clickbait and political posturing for over a decade. It\u2019s promoting the kind of fast fashion brand that\u2019s been regarded as a case study on the industry\u2019s environmental impact. In the years the billboard has been up, it\u2019s looked over dozens and dozens of car encampments like the one depicted in Gomez\u2019s piece.<\/p>\n

She feels dubious, yes. But no less like ours.<\/p>\n

Julissa James: I\u2019ve lived in L.A. for 13 years now. For me, the city and the architecture of the city is less the Frank Lloyd Wrights and Frank Gehrys \u2014 there\u2019s that \u2014 but other landmarks that signal, \u201cOh, I\u2019m home.\u201d The Fashion Nova baddie above the Vertigo has always been that for me. Your piece is layered and there\u2019s so much more to it than just that, but that\u2019s the first thing I saw and was like, \u201cWhoa. I need to talk to Sayre. We need to talk about \u2018Vertigo.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Sayre Gomez: It\u2019s like L.A.\u2019s Statue of Liberty. It\u2019s the city of anti-landmarks, you know what I mean? I mean, there\u2019s the Hollywood sign, which I think is so telling, because it\u2019s the remnants of a real estate venture. The city is built by real estate schemes and 100 years later we\u2019re feeling the effects of it. You\u2019ve got empty skyscrapers and a massive homeless catastrophe. L.A. doesn\u2019t really have real landmarks. It has anti-landmarks.<\/p>\n

JJ: When did the Fashion Nova billboard above the Vertigo click for you as something that felt representative of the city, or something that you wanted to depict?<\/p>\n

SG: My studio is in Boyle Heights, so I pass that billboard multiple times a week. This is my 20th year in L.A. and that building\u2019s always been a big mystery to me. It was empty when I moved here before this guy Shawn Farr bought it and turned it into Casa Vertigo. I think he probably makes more money on it with the ad space than anything. I know nobody who has ever been there. Very mysterious to me. So that\u2019s what I was drawn to. <\/p>\n

\"Gallery <\/p>\n

(Paul Salveson from David Kordansky Gallery)<\/p>\n

The Vertigo has always been mysterious to me. And that whole fashion industry is mysterious to me \u2014 the kind of shmatta, American Apparel-adjacent, or maybe coming out of the wake of that. These kinds of businesses, or the representations of these businesses, how do they function and how do they flourish? Is it aboveboard? What more perfectly encapsulates that than that building? It\u2019s this weird thing you can\u2019t quite figure out but somehow it has a lot of money and then it\u2019s an event space, supposedly billed as that. Clearly it\u2019s this big ad thing, and I\u2019m very interested in the changing dynamics of capital. The capital of yesteryear, which was based on the brick and mortar, where things are being made in a specific location, maybe on an assembly line or in a specific way, to a kind of capital that is based solely on advertising or on viewership. These beautiful buildings acting as pedestals for some kind of ad space, you know? It becomes an anti-landmark for me. Something where I\u2019m like, \u201cOh, there\u2019s that thing again.\u201d<\/p>\n

JJ: It\u2019s this gorgeous Beaux Arts building \u2026<\/p>\n

SG: It\u2019s a Freemason building!<\/p>\n

JJ: When I\u2019ve talked to some people about the Vertigo, they\u2019re like, \u201cthe Fashion Nova building?\u201d<\/p>\n

SG: They always have the woman in the same pose \u2014 same pose, different clothes. If you remember before Fashion Nova, they would have these provocative ad campaigns or provocative slogans. \u201cTwerk Miley\u201d was up, remember that? They did a Trump one: \u201cTRUMP NOW.\u201d They did one for Kanye when he ran for president. The 10 and the 110 are literally the crossroads of the city, so it\u2019s really poised to be a special building. It has a special designation because of the location.<\/p>\n

JJ: Talk to me about the process of doing this piece. Where did it start and how did it evolve?<\/p>\n

SG: I was cruising around that vicinity trying to see if I could get a good vantage point to take photos of Vertigo. And then I stumbled upon this car \u2014 the car that\u2019s in the foreground of the painting. Anytime I see an encampment that has kids\u2019 toys, things that reference back to the lives of children, it hits hard. But I like to lay it all out there. I like to make things confrontational. I want it to be difficult. The painting isn\u2019t based on a one-to-one photo [Gomez paints from a composite rendering of images he\u2019s taken around town], but I knew that I wanted to use that car, and I knew I wanted to get the Vertigo building, and so I started just messing around with different iterations. I could never find a good angle to take a good photo of the building, so I just went on Vertigo\u2019s website and I was like, \u201cI\u2019m just using these.\u201d I switched the sky and put a more moody, atmospheric sky in.<\/p>\n

JJ: Which I loved, because we know that feeling \u2014 you\u2019re merging onto the 110 and you see a beautiful sunset. The euphoria of like, \u201cL.A. is the best city in the world.\u201d But you know what? What I found so interesting about your piece is that it was revealing to me about myself, but also about so many of us that live in L.A. and have lived here for years and have developed a jadedness. When I saw your piece, immediately I was like, \u201cOh my God, the Vertigo! The Vertigo! The Vertigo!\u201d And then I was like, \u201cOK, wait, hold on, there\u2019s so much more going on here.\u201d But the fact that my eye went to that first instead of the car encampment, the kids\u2019 toys, brought up a lot of questions about my own relationship to the city and the things that we choose to see, the things that maybe we\u2019ve seen so much of that we subconsciously filter it out. Why was it important for you to put these two things up against each other in this way?<\/p>\n

SG: Because the Vertigo is something everybody who lives here recognizes as central to a sort of framework of Los Angeles. And I think the encampment has become that as well. It\u2019s connecting these integral components \u2014 something that\u2019s more revelatory and more fun with something that\u2019s more grave. That\u2019s what I\u2019m doing in my work at large. I use the sunsets and the beauty to create a dialogue, to entice people to sort of look a little bit at how things are contextualized, how things act, what\u2019s actually happening. I don\u2019t make things in a vacuum. I was working on this show and I was going to really push this agenda of incorporating more of my experience with my kids into the work. That\u2019s also a double-edged sword. I wanted to interject some levity, because the work can get so dark. I wanted to bring in some iconography from their world and things that they get excited about. When you\u2019re juxtaposing that with really stark things, it becomes darker. I want to thicken the stock a little bit. Make things a little more complex.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story is part of Image\u2019s April\u2019s Thresholds issue, a tour of L.A. architecture as it\u2019s actually experienced.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[4188,62892,118254,1409,118252,118255,51912,118256,6195,48,52,51,118253,47,50,49,27635,13568,118257,47675,72],"class_list":{"0":"post-272721","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-building","9":"tag-capital","10":"tag-car-encampment","11":"tag-city","12":"tag-fashion-nova-billboard","13":"tag-first-thing","14":"tag-gomez","15":"tag-jj","16":"tag-kind","17":"tag-la","18":"tag-la-headlines","19":"tag-la-news","20":"tag-landmark-l-a","21":"tag-los-angeles","22":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","23":"tag-los-angeles-news","24":"tag-painting","25":"tag-piece","26":"tag-sg","27":"tag-vertigo","28":"tag-year"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}