What goes on behind closed doors in Southern California?
Contemporary artist and skater Ed Templeton explores the sinister depths of suburban life in California’s Huntington Beach, with a new solo exhibition of paintings Synthetic Suburbia at Roberts & Tilton gallery in Culver City, California.
A chronicler of Southern California life, Templeton has long photographed the people and culture around Huntington Beach, where he grew up. Now he’s moving into the suburbs, for an expedition into the secret lives of its residents.
With Synthetic Suburbia, Templeton seeks out the darker side of the coastal town, unveiling its shrouded elements of strangeness and fabrication. “Synthetic Suburbia is a culmination of years of looking at the place where I live and the peculiarity of it,” says Templeton, “I have travelled all over the world and there is no place as strange as Huntington Beach.”
Under the surface of his paintings, which may seem like simple depictions of people going about their daily lives, a private world unravels, exposing a patchwork of facade and carefully constructed images.
Templeton perfectly captures the eeriness of a too-perfect, seemingly idyllic vision of manicured lawns and painted wooden fences. And fences feature heavily in this collection; a physical manifestation of the false front they represent. Templeton explains, “Behind all of these nicely painted houses and planned communities are humans and all the thorny issues that come with them.”
Synthetic Suburbia runs at Roberts & Tilton, Culver City, California, April 25 – May 30.
You might like
The sharp rise of video game photography
Point, shoot — As the entertainment medium’s fidelity levels increase and developers build more powerful tools, a growing community of gamers are pushing the boundaries of image making in virtual worlds. Vicky Jessop meets people at the forefront of the emerging artform.
The lasting community legacy of a legendary Californian boxing gym
Moretón — Since opening in the ’80s, the Coachella Valley Boxing Club has trained multiple world champions, while providing a vital hub for local youth. In his new photobook, Darren Vargas documents its tight-knit, Chicano-led community, while also weaving a deeply personal story.
Kristina Rozhkova’s scatty, confronting portrait of captivity
Gut Feeling — The Russian artist’s 2024 arrest and subsequent detention opened her eye towards the omnipresent dynamics of power and control. Her new photobook is a stark exploration of being trapped.
Washing strangers’ feet at Houghton Festival
Pedilavium — As part of artist Henry Krokatsis’s performance piece at the weekender, we sat down with over 30 others to clean the dusty digits of passersby, while reflecting on the power of collective ritual and human connection.
The anti-tourism guides revealing Lisbon’s true, radical heart
We Hate Tourism Tours — The Portuguese capital sees millions of people visit a year, against a backdrop of political turbulence and a housing crisis fuelled by short term holiday lets. Jack Burke meets the crew subverting their city’s perception, while bringing lesser seen stories and monuments to light.
The art of paying attention: How Austria’s Alps reward slowing down
Lebensgefühl — With a growing movement of art and music rooted in the area’s mountains, trees and waterfalls, the region is showcasing the importance of the human relationship to nature.
