UTA Artist Space Presents New Exhibition of Videos From The Collection of Barbara Balkin Cottle & Robert Cottle

UTA Artist Space will present a new exhibition of video and audio work from the collection of Barbara Balkin Cottle & Robert Cottle. Featuring work by Bruce Nauman, Cory Arcangel, William E. Jones, Douglas Gordon & Oscar Tuazon, High Anxiety brings together iconic works, many being shown in Los Angeles for the first time. Says writer Carlos Valladares, "Amidst the barrage of images-degraded, censored, banal, outrageous-that assault us every day, Barbara and UTA Artist Space have crafted a zone to contemplate the commotion. You cannot relax. We go through our present lives seeking to control the digital cacophony; here, in a controlled environment, chaos runs rampant. It is our inescapable, messy reality."

Barbara Balkin Cottle and Robert Cottle own some of the most cutting-edge, provocative video work of the late 20th century. In posthumous tribute to Robert (known as "Cottle"), Barbara has now curated six works from the Cottle Collection to be shown at UTA Artist Space in a show. "High Anxiety" was an oft-used phrase of Cottle's-and, now in 2022, an all-too-apt one, as this landmark video collection opens during the most extremely angst-riddled and nerve-racking time in recent U.S. history.

The Cottles began collecting art in the late 1970s, starting with a series of prints by Sol LeWitt. However, they soon went beyond pursuing an "encyclopedic" collection of painting, sculpture, and photography. As Barbara told writer Carlos Valladares, "We were interested in pursuing art that went beyond paintings. We were on the search for something more-digging deep into the conceptual nature of a work." The reasons why it has to exist. They were guided by Duchamp's famous statement, "The creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world, deciphering the work, interpreting its inner qualification. He [sic] thus contributes to the creative act as well." In Barbara's case, the act of curating the videos that appear in "High Anxiety" is the act of creating. She plants the idea in the viewer-participant's mind: "What ties these all together?" We might answer: Frustration. Pain. Fear. Guilt. A sense of danger. Shock. You certainly don't enter these works detached, relaxed, looking to be sated or comforted or confirmed in your knowledge. It's remarkably un-audience-pleasing - while, at the same time, bold in how it confronts deep, fundamental questions of human existence, its morality and decline in times of degradation.

Click here to read the full essay by Carlos Valladares.


Carlos Valladares is a writer and critic from South Central Los Angeles, California. He studied film at Stanford University and began his PhD in History of Art and Film & Media Studies at Yale University in fall 2019. He has written for the San Francisco Chronicle, Gagosian Quarterly, and n+1.

UTA Artist Space is an exhibition venue designed by Ai Weiwei in the heart of Beverly Hills that is committed to showcasing art by globally recognized talent. Since its establishment in 2016, UTA Artist Space has presented notable exhibitions with interdisciplinary artists and creatives, including Derrick Adams, Myrtis Bedolla of Galerie Myrtis, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Essence Harden, Larry Clark, Petra Cortright, Conrad Egyir, Amanda Hunt, Mariane Ibrahim, Arcmanoro Niles, The Carpenter's Workshop Gallery, The Haas Brothers, and Ai Weiwei, among others. UTAArtistSpace.com.

All visitors will have to acknowledge both the health and safety guidelines and their health status before they visit. All visitors must wear a mask at all times. Masks and hand sanitizer will be available on site for guest usage. Guests must practice social distancing. Restrooms will be closed to guests and the Artist Space is deep cleaned on a regular schedule.

Photo courtesy of Barbara Balkin Cottle and Robert Cottle.

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