For “Scenario in the Shade,” a sprawling installation at Red Bull Studios, Jonah Freeman and Justin Lowe continue to mine their surrealist-suburban aesthetic. The multiroom mise-en-scène, based on a study of Southern California youth subcultures, recalls the approach of such mythologized L.A. artists as Mike Kelley, Paul McCarthy and Jason Rhoades, who found inspiration in the repressed dark underbelly of the Golden State. Viewers traverse a set of about a dozen spaces resembling a surfside tourist shop, a garage, a ’70s living room with a sunken pit and Orientalist touches, a courtroom and more, all part of their fictional city San San International. A hypnotic 30-minute video, part of a trilogy, fleshes out the work. Musician Jennifer Herrema, best known as part of the ‘90s indie band Royal Trux, collaborated with the artists on a haunting soundtrack throughout the space, featuring Devendra Banhart, Kurt Vile, Red Krayola frontman Mayo Thompson, and Lizzie Bougatsos of Gang Gang Dance and I.U.D., among many others.
Pictured: View of “Scenario in the Shade”; at Red Bull Studios. Photo Greg Kessler / Redbull Content Pool.