Informed by his background in magic, computer science, music and animation, Kaino produces a unique slight-of-hand production replete with video, digital media and skillfully crafted objects. Throughout the show the device of cartography serves as a lynch pin to connect an elaborate conceptual infrastructure. In the main gallery, a sculptural photographic piece documents a series of sites that were locations in Los Angeles for seminal artist-run alternative spaces.

Nearby are two large paintings, covered by tapestries that illustrate locks and suggesting that something is behind the coverings. What is being hidden, if revealed, might provide numerous clues and visual puns for the viewer to discover and ponder. Adjacent, a large sculptural element hangs from the ceiling. Entitled a Plank for Every Pirate (2006), this large white, wooden ship with planks exploding from its sides is quite amazing. It evokes a call for the reinvigoration of art through the journey artists themselves must make — a journey that defies complacency and invokes necessary intellectual rigor in an increasingly dumbed down Western contemporary art scene. The show continues with framed objects filled with disassembled toy models, a video depicting a magical illusion suggesting conceptual possibilities, and a beautiful grid of prints entitled Knowledge Transfer (2011). Based on antique maps that have been altered and obscured, they offer up the metaphor that the unknown is a slippery slope of knowledge and infinitude. Kaino’s exhibition succeeds in melding an intuitive yet discursive sensibility to produce an outstanding, intelligent and engaging effort that stands head and shoulders above recent efforts made by younger artists in Los Angeles.