Lordy Rodriguez, Salt March, 2020, ink on paper, 78 x 34 inches

Lordy Rodriguez

Polar Democracy
October 17 - November 25

Like many of us, Lordy Rodriguez (b. 1976, Quezon City, Philippines)
is a news junky — fixated on unfolding stories of unequal access to resources; the violent quelling of peaceful demonstrations in Hong Kong, Minsk and Washington D.C.; and governments that murder journalists, poison political rivals or enact laws to disenfranchise their citizenry. The work in this exhibition — two new bodies of large-scale drawings — focuses on the bravery inherent in demanding a place at the table.

Twenty-four years ago, Rodriguez started using a visual lexicon of map-based forms as metaphors for defining an individual’s position within a culture or society. For his sixth solo exhibition at Hosfelt Gallery, Rodriguez employs this ever-developing, cartography-inspired vocabulary to ruminate on issues about the immutable appeal of democracy and its very precarious existence.

Lordy Rodriguez, Hong Kong Protests, 2020, ink on paper, 36 x 64 inches

The first series memorializes historic and contemporary efforts at peaceful demonstration. These include the 1930 Salt March, led by Mohandas Gandhi challenging British rule over India; the Langa March of 1960, in which between 30,000 and 50,000 demonstrators marched in opposition to apartheid; the 1965 civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery; and recent pro-democracy protests against Mainland China's oppression in Hong Kong. In Rodriguez’s cartographic lexicon, these routes are “code-switched” in candy-colored references to race and oppression.

Lordy Rodriguez, Texas's 2nd, 2020 (detail), ink on paper, triptych, overall 22 x 66 inches; each panel 22 x 22 inches

The second group of drawings represents efforts by those in power to manipulate the boundaries of voting districts in order to favor a political party or racial group, thereby diminishing the voting power and political voice of others. While researching these gerrymandered districts, his very personal “ah-ha moment” came when he realized many of them were districts in which members of his large and far-flung, Filipino-American family live — districts in states with large immigrant populations, such as Texas and Florida. The pieces in this series represent some of the most egregious examples of voter suppression as well as districts in which activists and courts have compelled boundaries to be re-drawn in ways that are more equitable.

Revisited Spaces
October 17 - November 25

Driss Ouadahi, Revisited Spaces, 2020, oil on canvas, 66 7/8 x 78 3/4 inches

After having trained as an architect, Algerian artist, Driss Ouadahi (b. 1959, Casablanca, Morroco) immigrated from post-colonial North Africa to study painting at the renowned Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf, Germany. Influenced by his lived experience as an émigré he has developed a unique visual vocabulary – a synthesis of structural design and modernist grid painting – which he uses to explore the social, political and psychological aspects of boundaries and the possibility of transcending them.

Driss Ouadahi, Hors les Murs 2, 2020, oil on canvas, 70 7/8 x 59 1/8 inches

Driss Ouadahi studio view

Jutta Haeckel, Hinterland, 2020, acrylic on jute, 74 3/4 x 59 1/8 inches

Düsseldorf-based Jutta Haeckel utilizes a series of unorthodox techniques to turn conventions of painting inside out. Rather than representing a form, she fills in the negative space around it. In so doing, she undermines the concept of foreground and background as well as the meaning of “subject.” She also applies pigment to the “backside” of the painting, pushing that paint through small gaps in the fabric. Through this material extrusion onto the canvas' “front,” she subverts the convention of painting as a two dimensional practice. Haeckel sees these radical and unique processes in her newest work — a painting that was finished just last week — as a reflection of the technological, scientific, social and cultural fluidity of our time.

Jutta Haeckel, Hinterland, 2020 (detail), acrylic on jute, 74 3/4 x 59 1/8 inches

In Conversation: Max Gimblett & Lewis Hyde
Tuesday, October 20 at 12 pm PST

Max Gimblett and MacArthur Fellow Lewis Hyde will be in conversation to discuss their contemporary take on a twelfth-century Chinese story in their collaborative publication The Disappearing Ox — A Modern Version of a Classic Buddhist Tale. The artist and the author explore the wisdom of the oxherding series, a set of drawings and poems that form a Buddhist parable. In ten sumi ink paintings, Gimblett echoes the figurative tradition of the series working in his own abstract, gestural style, while Hyde brings new light to the art of translation by offering three distinct versions of each poem.

The publication was recently released by Copper Canyon Press and is available for purchase here.

Register for the virtual conversation here.

Lordy Rodriguez, Texas 35th, 2020, ink on paper, 44 x 26 inches

Panel Discussion: When Redistricting Becomes Gerrymandering: How Can Districts Be Drawn Equitably?
Thursday, October 29 at 5 pm PST

With the 2020 Census coming to a close, the redistricting process will begin anew for every state in the country. How can districts be determined in a fair and unbiased process so that partisan gerrymandering is eliminated?

Join us via Zoom for an examination of the redistricting process, how gerrymandering can be detected through mathematical models, and a discussion of what constitutes a fair, non-partisan determination of district boundaries.

Panelists include Julia Gomez, attorney at ACLU Southern California; M. Andre Parvenu, 2010 California Citizens Redistricting Commissioner; Dr. Ellen Veomett, Professor of Mathematics at Saint Mary's College of California; and artist Lordy Rodriguez.

Register for the panel discussion here.

Dorothy Napangardi

Jutta Haeckel

Driss Ouadahi

Tim Hawkinson

Left: Nicole Phungrasamee Fein; Right: Marco Maggi

Julie Chang

We recently hosted a series of sumi ink workshops at the gallery, led virtually by Max Gimblett from his studio in New York. During his workshops, Gimblett — a practicing Rinzai monk — talks about the meaning of traditional calligraphic motifs as he guides participants into a space of creativity beyond day-to-day concerns.

If you'd like to know about future sumi ink workshops, email us at info@hosfeltgallery.com.

Lordy Rodriguez's Nasturtium Capers

Ingredients:
1 cup Nasturtium seeds (still firm and green)
1 cup white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
5 to 8 peppercorns (slightly crushed)

Gather the ingredients.
Rinse and drain the nasturtium seeds and blot them well on paper towels.
Pour the seeds into a 1-pint canning jar.
Bring the vinegar, salt, and pepper to a boil and pour over the seeds.
Seal and refrigerate the jar, then let them sit for about 3 months.

Lordy Rodriguez, Salt Flat Desert Valley, 2006, ink on paper, (3 panels) 60 x 36 inches each;
Collection of the Nevada Museum of Art, Purchased with funds from the Elke Hoppe Youth Advancement Trust

Lordy Rodriguez and the Language of Cartography
Nevada Art Museum Art Bite Lecture
Friday, October 16 at 12 pm PST

Using the language of cartography, Rodriguez will discuss his drawings that go beyond map-making into abstracted, imaginary terrain. His work is part of the Museum’s permanent collection and is on view in their exhibition In the Flow.

Register for the virtual conversation here.

Hosfelt Gallery is located at 260 Utah St, between 15th & 16th streets. Wheelchair accessible entrance at 255A Potrero Avenue. For more information call 415.495.5454 or visit hosfeltgallery.com.

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