Upon being asked to contribute a project for ESL Lamelas immediately became interested in the fact that the Corridor Gallery, where ESL events are hosted, is often used as a rental photo studio (mostly fashion shoots). This lead him to think about his earlier piece Los Angeles Friends that he had done some thirty years ago while living in the local area.
Lamelas, who lives in Paris, was briefly returning to LA during the same time period as the proposed ESL show, to attend a panel discussion about an exhibit he was participating in at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, titled Beyond Geometry. In the end the Lamelas decided to revisit his Los Angeles Friends although this time around it would become documenation of the people he knew within the context of the LACMA show. Thus his ESL project Beyond Geometry Friends.
By virtue of a two-part process, one part being the LACMA event during which, with David's guidance, most of the musuem show's participants were photographed, the other part being the presentation of said photographs, Beyond Geometry Friends would ultimately become a portrait-document that represents the LA art scene. This included all of Lamelas' 'friends'- local and visiting artists, curators, museum security and elevator operators. Looking at the portaits at the ESL space the following night raised different social and class questions amongst people, some of whom, quite honestly, probably don't travel to ESL's section of Hollywood often. Only one person besides the artist appears in both versions.
