Born Miami FL
Lives, works Miami FL.
The paintings of John La Huis exist in the unpredictable space between tremendous extremes. His works are simultaneously gestural and geometric, meditative and energetic, figurative and abstract, lofty and prosaic, transparent and dense, turbulent and poised. They maintain a dramatic tension between seeming opposites by employing a richly layered dialect that is open to infinite interpretation. La Huis allows everything to find a place in his paintings. From his own idiosyncrasies to the titles of pop songs, from historical references to contemporary cultural concerns, from the iconography of the American experience to the gleeful effervescence of Zen, he seamlessly meshes emotional, intellectual and biographical material with formal investigation. By mining the elasticity of painting, the work of John La Huis forces the viewer to embrace a multitude of meanings.
On a purely physical level, the paintings also reveal a divergence. They are built up out of layers of materials: found objects, industrial paints, varnishes, resins, acrylics, oils, woodcut inks, pencil markings, films, wires, threads, etc. This range of materials is employed through a variety of techniques including collage, monotype and gestural markings. Open to both experimentation and unorthodox materials, the paintings maintain a gritty urban edge and the spontaneity of everyday living. It is important that the manner in which these paintings are constructed is never obscured. All the layers that make up the paintings manage to peek through the surface at some point, as though this surface is a skin that envelops the cumulative process of production without hiding it.
At the heart of La Huis’ practice, there is a voracious desire to encapsulate the world, to transform it into pictorial language that will not allow him to settle into any one way of making paintings. His process is a democratic one, willing to include everything and to transform the world around him into energetic and uncontainable canvases on the verge of leaping beyond their support. Although his paintings are often large, they grow larger in the mind as we try to follow all their internal maneuvering: the sharp turns and cul-de-sacs, the digressions and discontinuities, the translations and inquisitive pondering.
Solo Exhibitions
"Over & Out", Kavachnina Contemporary, Miami FL
2008
September , Naomi Silva Gallery
Premier, RVS Gallery, NY, NY
“2 Cat One”, Lurie Fine Art Gallery, Miami, FL
“Icons and Figures”, Naomi Silva Gallery, Atlanta, GA
“All That Glitters”, Lurie Fine Art Gallery, Boca Raton, FL
2005
“New Directions”, Naomi Silva Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2004
“Icons and Figures”, Barristers Gallery, New Orleans, LA
Recent Paintings and Works on Paper, Naomi Silva Gallery, Atlanta, GA
“Blah, Blah, Blah”, Soho Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
New Works, 108 Contemporary Art, Miami, FL
“Bang Bang”, Lurie Fine Art Gallery, Boca Raton, FL
New Works, Phthalo Gallery, Bal Harbor, FL
2003
New Works, Seth Bietler Fine Art, Miami, FL
An Abstract Experience, Lurie Fine Art Gallery, Boca Raton, FL
2002
Sky Gallery, Ft Lauderdale, FL
John La Huis, Damien B. Gallery, Miami, FL
Group Exhibitions
2013
Art-Southampton, KAVACHNINA CONTEMPORARY, Miami, FL
Art Wynwood, KAVACHNINA CONTEMPORARY, Miami, FL
2012
Art-Miami- Context, Kavachnna Contemporary, Miami, FL
Art Wynwood, Kavachnna Contemporary, Miami, FL
2011
‘Urban Landscape’, Kavachnina Contemporary, Miami FL
Art Naples; Contemporary Art Fair, Kavachnina Contemporary, Naples, FL
MIA, Contemporary Art Fair. Kavachnina Contemporary, Miami Beach, FL
2010
Red Dot Art Fair, Kavachnina Contemporary, Miami FL
2009
ArtRouge Gallery, Miami FL
2008
“Pop in the Midwest”, Evan Lurie Gallery, Carmel, IN
Lurie Fine Art Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA
Lurie Fine Art Gallery, Miami, Florida
2006
RVS Gallery, NY, NY Bacardi Family, Miami, FL
Atlanta Symphony Decorators Showcase, Atlanta, GA
Miami Rescue Mission Auction, Miami, FL Meitropoulos Family, Atlanta, GA
“Art in Bloom 4”, Miami Beach Botanical Garden, Miami, FL
Naomi Silva Gallery, Atlanta, GA Pasaras Family, Athens, Greece
2005
“Scope”, Carol Jazzar Contemporary Art, Miami, FL
Lurie Fine Art Gallery, Boca Raton, FL
Naomi Silva Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Carol Jazzar Contemporary Art, Miami, FL
“Grand Opening Miami”, Lurie Fine Art Gallery, Miami, FL
2004
“Nepotism: The Art of Friendship”, Museum of Modern Art, Fort Lauderdale, FL
“Abstraction”, Lurie Fine Art Gallery, Boca Raton, FL
“Art Miami”, Phthalo Gallery, Bal Harbor, FL
“Art Miami”, 108 Contemporary Art, Miami, FL
“Six Art Now”, Carol Jazzar Contemporary Art, Miami Beach, FL
2003
“Art Miami”, Seth Beitler Fine Art, North Miami, FL
2002
“Art Miami”, Bakehouse Art Complex, Miami, FL
Group Exhibitions, Cont.
2001
“Artistas de America en Barcelona”, ACEA, Barcelona, Spain
“Premio Remo Brindisi”, Galleria Occhio, Rome, Italy
The Miami Art Exchange Juried Exhibition, The Living Room Building, Miami, FL
Bakehouse Art Complex, Miami, FL
1998
Tenth Anniversary Show, Bakehouse Art Complex, Miami, FL
Selected Collections
Bacardi Family, Miami, FL
Servico S.A. Mexico City
Meitropoulos Family, Atlanta, GA
Michaelman Family, Sands Point, NY
Pasaras Family, Athens, Greece
Pasotti Family, Sydney, Australia
Public Installations
Majestic Properties Lobby Installation, Miami Beach, FL
Clinique l’Actuelle, Montreal, Canada
Salgari Fabrica, Bogota, Colombia
Oceania I Condominium Complex, Miami Beach, FL
