‘Heaven ’N’ Earth’: Sayre Gomez blurs the reality and illusion of Los Angeles

Photograph of destroyed car against backdrop of city skyline at sunset, from Sayre Gomez ‘Heaven ‘N‘ Earth’ exhibition at Xavier Hufkens.

‘Heaven ‘N‘ Earth’, Sayre Gomez’s latest exhibition at Xavier Hufkens, begins with the former. Under the celestial glow of the gallery’s top-floor skylight, a meticulously crafted model of a ramshackle two-storey clapboard house occupies the floor’s centre, surrounded on four walls by photorealistic paintings of perfect Californian sunsets.

Scale Replica of the Past, Present and Future (Peabody Werden House) is a recreation of a historic house built in the Boyle Heights neighbourhood of LA, shortly before the turn of the 20th century. When funds for its restoration dried up in 2016, the house was simply lifted off its foundations and moved across the street to make way for a new apartment block.