Closing Soon - on view through Wednesday 24 November
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Our current exhibition is a celebration of the 25th anniversary of Hosfelt Gallery and the artists we exhibit, as well as a sprawling interpretation of this moment in history. WHERE WE ARE is a refection on the zeitgeist of the year 2021... an exploration of what marks the spirit or mood of this particular point in time.
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Bruce Conner, UNTITLED D-10, 1966, ink and pencil on paper, 39 1/2 x 25 5/8 inches |
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Maps are tools we use to understand our relationship to the world... to locate ourselves or something we're looking for. The visual language of cartography provides artists with a powerful metaphor for situating themselves — and us — culturally, socially, politically and psychologically.
As the curator of this exhibition, Todd Hosfelt chose to begin with artworks that refer to way-finding. At the entrance is an exquisite 1966 drawing of a mandala — a representation of the universe in Hindu and Buddhist iconography. It's essentially a spiritual map, made by Bruce Conner. |
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Next to it is a sculpture by Tim Hawkinson that refers to space exploration and points to humanity's insignificance within the context of the universe. And a drawing by Lordy Rodriguez that alludes to the anti-democratic nature of gerrymandered voting districts as well as the disproportionate toll climate change and rising sea levels will have on marginalized people. |
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In Marco Maggi's monumental, 40 x 60 inch drawing, BAD BEHAVIOR of the VERY SMALL, minuscule marks of cut and pasted paper amass and stack in what could be a depiction of satellite imagery of urban density and sprawl, or the alphabet of an unknown language. In either case, there's the sense of an information overload that defies our comprehension.
Sometimes maps confirm how truly lost we are.
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Angelina Pwerle's paintings are representations of her "Dreaming" — the creation narratives the indigenous people of Australia use to pass cultural knowledge, values and traditions to future generations. A person's "Dreaming" is their guide that defines identity and spirituality and allows Aboriginal people to understand their place within their society and in relationship to nature. |
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Last week, someone asked about the relationship between Pwerle's painting — a piece coming out of Aboriginal traditions that are thousands of years old — and Heile Welt (Perfect World) — which was made by the (at the time) 27-year-old German painter, Stefan Kürten. Todd's answer: both are examples of artists representing the personal universes in which they exist, and it's one of the themes of this show.
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Left: Stefan Kürten, Heile Welt (Perfect World), Center: Isabella Kirkland, Brittle Star Aggregation, Right: Jutta Haeckel, Soft Motion
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Another theme is anxiety brought on by the imperiled condition of our planet and political and social upheaval. Let's face it, the last 6 years have been traumatic. Judith Belzer's recent painting of boulders depicts an imminent collapse of equilibrium. Who among us doesn’t feel the ground shifting beneath our feet? How do we manage to not fall apart? |
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Left to Right: Bernard Lokai, Landscape Block G, 2021, acrylic, oil and dust on canvas, 51 1/8 x 183 7/8 inches, Alan Rath, Driss Ouadahi, Michael Light
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Driss Ouadahi's meticulously rendered cyclone fence paintings are signifiers of separation. In this moment, they're both a reminder of personal isolation and the politics of "otherness." Is the fence there to shut you in, or to keep someone else out?
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The job of artists is to reflect on the human condition and create something that enlightens the people who experience their work. The task Todd set for himself in curating this exhibition was to contextualize artworks in ways that would give our audience a means for considering their current emotional and psychological state. We like to know we aren't alone — that other people are feeling the same things we are. Works by Anoka Faruqee, Nicole Phungrasamee Fein, Tyrell Collins, and Jim Campbell speak to a sense of "blurriness" or dislocation. Gideon Rubin's spare rendering of a person gazing out a window evokes a mood we can all relate to.
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Left: Nicole Phungrasamee Fein, 21.08.22.01 Cobalt Blue Cadmium Yellow Deep Hue Pyrrol Red, Center: Nicole Phungrasamee Fein, 1012913, Right: Tyrell Collins, Quantum Entanglement (Red Sphere 2, 3, 5)
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Jim Campbell, Rainy Day in Paris II, 2017, duratrans on plexiglas, custom electronics, 1728 LEDs, 33 x 44 x 2 inches |
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Works by Andrew Schoultz, Jim Campbell, Tim Hawkinson, Alan Rath and Liliana Porter reflect feelings of being overwhelmed, twisted in knots, or endlessly running in place.
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Background: Andrew Schoultz, Diving Beast Between Two Worlds, Foreground: Tim Hawkinson, Knob and Tube
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Alan Rath, Framed Running Man, 2004, Garolite XX, PVC, G-10, wood, paper, software, electronics, LCD, 25 x 21 x 3 inches |
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Liliana Porter, To Untangle, 2020 (detail), acrylic and assemblage on canvas, 25 x 48 inches |
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Crystal Liu, you gave me the moon, 2020, gouache, watercolor, collage and ink on paper, 38 x 50 inches |
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The final "chapter" of the show is about our need for connection.
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Crystal Liu's painting you gave me the moon is a metaphoric landscape in which she represents her father as the moon and herself as his reflection, mirrored in a pool of water that's fed by a waterfall of his love, guidance, and their shared dreams.
While She Sleeps tells a story about tenderness. But it's also about empathy. These creatures are strange, even alarming. But how can we not identify with their vulnerability? Find beauty in their care for each other?
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Patricia Piccinini, While She Sleeps, 2021, silicone, fiberglass and hair, 22 1/8 x 57 1/8 x 34 5/8 inches |
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Patricia Piccinini, While She Sleeps, 2021 (detail), silicone, fiberglass and hair, 22 1/8 x 57 1/8 x 34 5/8 inches |
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Cornelius Völker, Sheet of Paper, 2013, oil on canvas, 43 1/4 x 29 1/2 inches |
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The show closes with the painting Sheet of Paper by Düsseldorf-based Cornelius Völker. In the context of this exhibition, it represents the opportunity for new beginnings, the chance we have to start fresh and do better.
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Cornelius Völker and Jim Campbell
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Jutta Haeckel, Gideon Rubin, and Shahzia Sikander |
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Emil Lukas, Jay DeFeo, and David Wilson |
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Coming Soon: Suzusan Pop-Up Shop |
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We are thrilled to host our friend Hiro Murase for a pop-up shop in the gallery, December 10 to 18. Murase is the founder and creative director of Suzusan — a luxury clothing and housewares brand that utilizes traditional techniques in contemporary design. The 400 year-old art form of shibori involves an intricate process of tying, sewing, folding and dyeing in which each piece is worked on by 4 to 5 specialized artisans to create textiles of extraordinary color, pattern and three-dimensional design. For five generations, Murase's family has been part of this tradition in the Japanese village of Arimatsu, where the craft was most highly refined.
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In 2008, Murase founded the Suzusan label to re-imagine the expertise of the artisans in his hometown in the context of contemporary couture. While shibori was traditionally used on silk and cotton fabrics, Murase added cashmere and alpaca as well as innovative contemporary motifs. Each object Suzusan crafts is handmade, each is unique. Their women's and men's sweaters, shirts, scarves, shawls, and housewares epitomize luxury. |
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Opening reception with the artists: Saturday December 4, 3-5 pm
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Anoka Faruqee & David DriscollDatum
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2021P-16, 2021, acrylic on linen on panel, 33 3/4 x 33 3/4 inches, photo by Liz Calvi @lizcalvi |
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Anoka Faruqee and David Driscoll collaborate to create bewildering paintings devised of layers of carefully misaligned, concentric circles which generate optical effects. The resulting moiré — the fusion of two or more patterns which create another, much more complex pattern — echoes various natural systems, such as wave formations, stress patterns, and magnetic fields. But for the artists, the moiré phenomenon demonstrates that what we perceive as light, form and space is, at its most basic, bits of assembled data. Pixels. Atoms. Nano-particles. These paintings make the invisible tangible. Read more here.
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San Francisco-based Nicole Phungrasamee Fein’s newest body of work marks an abrupt shift from a minimal palette of black, white and gray to an exuberant burst of color. Consistent with prior work, Fein restricts herself to watercolor applied to paper in the format of the square or the circle, achieving a wide variety of effects within her tight, self-imposed strictures. Fine dots of pigment, evenly distributed, mask any trace of the artist’s hand, yet these paintings are made under conditions of extreme concentration and control. Read more here.
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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. Open Tuesday through Saturday
To schedule an appointment, call the gallery or sign up online:
calendly.com/hosfelt-gallery
Hours: Tu, W, F, Sa 10-5:30, Th 11-7
Copyright © 2021 Hosfelt Gallery, All rights reserved.
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