Tala Madani

Abjection as the path to enlightenment is as good of a mission statement as any for the darkly comic work of L.A. artist Tala Madani, a Teheran native who was one of the standouts of the 2017 Whitney Biennial. Her paintings there included scatological depictions of a baby reaching for a pair of breasts made of feces, as well as a stygian disco interior lit by naked men, seated in the rafters, shooting spotlights out of their rectums. Indeed, Madani’s scenes often play out against black backgrounds illuminated by cones of light that narrowly issue from one source or the next—including, yes, other assholes. Animations are also part of her toolkit, and, along with new paintings, they be can be found in her gallery debut.