The Institute for Art and Olfaction
932 Chung King Road
Los Angeles, CA. 90012

Weds., Feb. 2, 3-6pm

Weds., Feb. 9, 3-6pm
Thur. Feb. 10, 3-6pm
Fri, Feb. 11, 12-3pm

Weds., Feb. 16, 3-6pm
Thu. Feb. 17, 3-6pm
Fri., Feb. 18, 12-3pm
Sat, Feb. 19, 2-9pm

Thu., Feb. 24, 2-5pm
Fri. Feb. 25, 12-3pm
Sat. Feb. 26, 11am-3pm

OAK@IAO 2021/2022

February 1st to February 28th 2022 (at the Institute for Art and Olfaction in Los Angeles)

The Institute for Art and Olfaction (IAO) in Los Angeles presents a survey of olfactory artworks selected from the first year of exhibitions at Olfactory Art Keller.

The survey will give an overview over the current status of creative work with scents by international artists. On view will be experimental scents pulled from two group exhibitions, Perfumers Gone Wild and New York/New Fumes and from four solo exhibitions.

Camilla Nicklaus Maurer’s olFACTORY was a site-specific installation that, per the artist’s request, cannot be recreated outside of New York City. However, the scents involved in creating the installation (“Young Banana” and “Old Banana”) will be on display, together with scented blown glass sculptures from the exhibition Suspensio: An Interruption in Time by Josely Carvalho, the 2019 winner of the Art and Olfaction Sadakichi Award for Experimental Scent. Also on display will be M Dougherty’s /FOREST BATH sculptures made from mycelium, wax, and resin, scented with fragrances including essential oils distilled by the artist. Brian Goeltzenleuchter will be represented by one of the hand sanitizing stations from Scents of Exile, a socially engaged olfactory artwork that bears witness to the refugee and immigrant experience.

Emergence (an abstraction)

Gayil Nalls

"Emergence (an abstraction)" is about the phenomena of creating chemical knowledge.

BLACK AND WHITE MAMBO No5

Christophe Laudamiel

Scent paraboles, white KPM® original Urbino® porcelain, kaolin, custom KPM-made black enamel, Algae red decolorized, Amber indenofuran, Ambrarome absolute, Ambrocenide®, Arcolyl®, Cassie absolute Egypt, Coumarin, para-Cresyl acetate, artificial Civet, Cuir DM (vegetal), delta-Decalactone, Derambrene super, Dihydro-camphenyl-butanol, Dipropylene glycol, Ethyl linalool, Gaiacol, Gardenia decalone, Ionol, Iracine, Mugane®, Musk tetralin, Myrrh essential oil Somalian, Myrrh resinoid Namibian, gamma-Nonalactone, Noreenal®, Orris absolute ex-personal collection (2.9%), Orris superfluid Co2 extract organic ex-personal collection (2.9%), Oxane, Patchouli absolute molecular distilled decolorized, iso-Propyl myristate, Sandalwood white Quintis (31%),  Santamanol®, Sulfurol, Triethyl citrate, gamma-Undecalactone, Vanillin ex-biotechnology, Vertofix® coeur, cables, keys.

                The futility of the human brain often transpires when scent and color are confronted simultaneously. One is interpreted in relation to the other, oblivious to other key factors in the equation. We become lame at their mercy.

The smelly bits: you might see splattered milky sandalwood or perhaps a little velvety white peach.  The darkness of smoky twigs or is it a bitter stem? a piece of hot metal flying around, or is it leather? Perhaps just a comforting fur and plump lipstick. Is it just me that feels good and composed today? Or is it the parabole that makes me feel unsettling with smoking guns and hot plastic swirling around? It cannot be. Yes it can.

                 Modus operandi: smell the inside of the lids gently. Sniff eyes open looking at the color black, or white, alternatively. Both paraboles are loaded with the exact same scent.

Replenishing: twice to four times a year or as desired, by dropping 2 drops on each kaolin pebble. Remove the pebbles out of the paraboles and place them on paper towel to do this. Contains non-toxic ingredients, each approved for use in perfumery but wear gloves as the oil is pure concentrate.

Foodgasm on 14th Street

Irina Adam

One of my favorite things in NYC is trying out foods of various cultures while on my way somewhere. That bakery on 14th street I walked into one day. Their cardamom and saffron buns make the world stand still with one bite, while crowds and traffic zoom by. Through conversations with staff, I learned that the dough gets infused with spices overnight, and that Sweden is the world’s largest consumer of cardamom outside of India where it originates.
In addition to the memory of the scent and taste, this work captures a bit of the texture of the pastry, fluffy and buttery with crispy edges, a sugar glaze, and the sparkle of the spices. Featuring a unique ‘brick oven sourdough’ accord I've been experimenting with, including capturing the smoke of fresh bread.

A moment of pure sensorial transcendence, at your fingertips.

Organic cane alcohol, natural ingredients (beegan.) 50 ml.

Intimate City/City Intimacy

Tessa Liebman

Intimate City/City Intimacy is an olfactory translation of the ideas and feelings I’ve felt in the last year or two as I’ve encountered humans (and other inhabitants of this city) again after being isolated during the pandemic. I grew up in New York City and have somehow become very accustomed to the forced proximity and involuntary intimacy the city demands. It is something that I think makes New Yorkers so connected, empathetic towards and unfazed by each other in all of our forms, allowing us to move gracefully through spaces and places so densely packed. Many new to New York are shocked and disgusted, delighted, deeply affected by this instant and literal closeness. I felt that reemerging from the pandemic was like a new introduction to this slightly forgotten and very familiar world of nearness; smelling the alcohol on the breath of a fellow subway rider, recalling the fragrance worn by someone queuing up for toilet paper in front of me, brushing past the greasy hair of an exhausted line cook I recognize by their footwear and fingers. This scent and bottle are a collage of this tender and unavoidable interconnectedness. Notes: Base: Labdanum, Birch Tar, Animalis Hypo, Synthetic Civet Absolute Heart: Ylang Ylang, Iso E Super Top: Wild Orange, Rum Ether

Camilla Nicklaus-Maurer

olFACTORY recreation set

olFACTORY, an immersive experience by the German artist Camilla Nicklaus-Maurer, was a tribute to Andy Warhol's conception of perfume as a way of taking up more space. olFACTORY filled Olfactory Art Keller with two scents contrasting cold, metallic notes with the soft and creamy sweetness of banana, Young Banana and Old Banana. The smells' metallic notes were echoed by tin foil covering the gallery's walls and ceiling. The olFACTORY Recreation Kit contains Young Banana (1mL) and Old Banana (5mL) and folded tinfoil. The inside of the box has the artist's instructions for recreating olFACTORY. (Please be advised that olFACTORY is a site-specific work and can only be recreated in New York City!)

Josely Carvalho

Vessel 56

Suspensio: An Interruption in Time was an olfactory and sculptural installation by Josely Carvalho, a visual and multisensory artist, poet, and activist and the 2019 winner of the Sadakichi Award for Experimental Scent from the Institute of Art and Olfaction. As one entered Olfactory Art Keller, one was enveloped in a deep blue light and encountered four smells inserted into blown glass branches, claws, and empty nests surrounded by dried vines and hanging in the air. The smells, Burrow, Incense II, Emptiness, and Suspension were created by the artist in collaboration with Leandro Petit of Givaudan do Brasil. Vessel 56 is scented with Emptiness, an olfactory interpretation of the discomfort of feeling displaced in space and time.

Brian Goeltzenleuchter

Habte

Scents of Exile is an ongoing art project by the San Diego-based artist, writer, and educator, Brain Goeltzenleuchter that bears witness to the immigrant experience, one person at a time. Habte, 75, 2019 consists of a freestanding hand sanitizer dispenser filled with hand sanitizer scented to evoke the smell of winter in Ethiopia, when the winter rains start, and the harvest begins. A printed display summarizes the story of Habte, the man from Ethiopia the scent is based on.

Carlos Benaim

16 Ton

1Perfumers Gone Wild was an exhibition of olfactory works by seven perfumers working for International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF). The Master Perfumer Carlos Benaim, winner of The Fragrance Foundation 2014 Perfumer of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award created White Diamonds by Elizabeth Taylor, Euphoria by Calvin Klein, and Polo by Ralph Lauren. His 16 Ton is an olfactory approximation of Richard Serra's large steel sculptures.

Yves Cassar

Alger la Blanche

Perfumers Gone Wild was an exhibition of olfactory works by seven perfumers working for International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF). Yves Cassar channeled his childhood on the Mediterranean coast of Algeria and memories of his grandmother’s garden into Alger la Blanche, which forces the scents of white sand and clear blue water into harmony.

M Dougherty

selected works from “/FOREST BATH”

In February 2020 artist and designer M Dougherty attempted to bring the air of the forest and the benefits of forest bathing directly to the city and the people of New York for Olfactory Art Keller's inaugural exhibition, the multi-sensory exploration /FOREST BATH. A mix of phytoncides and subjective woodland materials, including essential oils distilled by the artist, the scent carries the feeling of being surrounded by nature. Scattered through the gallery were scented sculptures. Each one carried with it the material of the woods and its own unique scent. Together, and in unison, these encaustic forest fragments made the scent of the forest.