If you're asking yourself, “Why am I looking at a barren storefront?” That is a very good question. This just so happens to be the location of an upcoming unusual inflated (yes, as in blow-up) installation from the elusive Barry McGee.

This September, the Armory Center for the Arts launches its 20th Anniversary year with the exhibition Installations Inside/Out, curated by Jay Belloli and Sinéad Finnerty-Pyne. Paying tribute to its 20 years of exhibition history, the Armory commissioned 20 contemporary artists to make new site-specific works and installations both inside the Armory and at sites throughout Pasadena.

Artists included in the show are Kim Abeles, Edgar Arceneaux, Deborah Aschheim, Daniel Buren, Carl Cheng, Seth Kaufman, Barry McGee, Michael C. McMillen, Carlos Mollura, Matthew Moore, Jane Mulfinger, Bruce Nauman, Rudy Perez, Sarah Perry, Ed Ruscha, Betye Saar, Barbara T. Smith, John Trevino, Pae White, and Mario Ybarra Jr.

Given his sources in street art, Barry McGee’s temporary work for the exhibition is unusual compared to the normal site of an outdoor painting, as he has agreed to do an inflatable-based installation in the empty retail stores in Old Town Pasadena. McGee’s work, covering almost all the walls of the store, is made up of a large number of his complex geometric paintings on thin pieces of wood on which he has done additional painting.

The exhibition will be on view from September 20 through December 31, 2009 with an opening reception on Saturday, September 19, 6–9 p.m. A limited edition publication documenting the exhibition will accompany this show.

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