Lari Pittman: Mood Books, features an exhibition design by Michael Maltzan Architecture (MMA) and is currently on view at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California. Pittman’s works consist of six large-scale art books that contain a total of 65 hallucinogenic paintings styled by the artist in the manner of illuminated manuscripts. Michael Maltzan described Pittman’s works to The Architect’s Newspaper during a recent studio visit as “architectural in scale,” which the firm sought to accommodate via an elaborate and expressive series of billowing, stark white pedestals. MMA’s lofted forms serve to highlight the weighty books, with the smooth, white-painted plywood reliquaries accentuating the bulk and eye-popping color of Pittman’s paintings. The pedestals connect to form one long sequence, an alternating display of spreads that will change throughout the course of the exhibition’s duration as the book pages are turned by gallery attendants.

Lari Pittman: Mood Books
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA
Through February 20