Root Division: Introductions 2014

INTRO DUCT I O N S 2 0 1 4 ONE DOZEN BAY AREA EMERGING ARTISTS

introductions 2014

Photo Credit: Kija Lucas

September 10-27, 2014

Introductions has been a core part of Root Division’s annual Exhibitions programming for eight years. Conceived as an opportunity to bridge a gap left when the San Francisco Arts Dealer Association (SFADA) discontinued their thirty-year summer programming of the same name, Introductions has become a mainstay of our roster. This show highlights talent in the Bay Area and creates connections for artists with commercial galleries and beyond.

Root Division acts as a nexus for the production and presentation of visual art. Our goal is to serve as a connector between artists, the larger art community, and the general public, and we offer an entry point for artists as they develop and hone their professional practice. Especially as the arts community faces a potential exodus of artists to move outside San Francisco and to other cities, Root Division is working to be an anchor for artists to remain in the Bay Area.

Introductions begins each year as an open call to any Bay Area artist whose work is not currently represented by a gallery.

Reviewed by a committee of three arts professionals representing a diversity of commercial, non-profit, and educational venues, the exposure for any submitting artist is invaluable. Each year we are encouraged and impressed by the quality of submissions, and we are surprised by the number of outstanding artists still operating under the radar of commercial representation. In addition, as we see the model of the traditional gallery evolving under the stress of shifting economies, our intent is to capture both the aesthetic and conceptual magic that comes from experiencing a new artwork in person.

This year twelve artists were selected through intensive review by Kevin B. Chen (Former Curator, Intersection for the Arts), Jack Fischer (Owner, Jack Fischer Gallery), and Maysoun Wazwaz (Gallery Manager, Mills College Art Museum). In these pages, you will find an essay by Amy Cancelmo (Root Division’s Exhibitions and Events Director) contextualizing the work of each artist and bringing the works into conversation with one another as well as within a larger discourse of art practice.

Root Division is happy to provide an opportunity for these twelve artists to add to the conversation of contemporary Bay Area art, especially in assertion that the San Francisco art community has a unique voice. We are proud to debut this group of artists and to support their continued artistic and professional development.

– Michelle Mansour, Executive Director, Root Division

2

table of contents Jennifer Brandon — 4 Marshall Elliott — 5 Rodney Ewing — 6 Patrick Hothan — 7 Todd Lavine — 8 Lisa McCutcheon — 9 Sam Metcalf — 10 Mie Hørlyck Mogensen — 11 Raphael Noz — 12 Jeana Poindexter — 13 Stephanie Rohlfs — 14 Kate Short — 15 Essay: Riding the Line Amy Cancelmo, Exhibitions & Events Director, Root Division — 16

ISBN # 978-0-9895890-2-4

3

JENNIFER BRANDON www.jenniferbrandon.com

4

Screen V 2013 40 x 39 in.

Chromogenic print

Improbable Irrigation (Double Negative)

Site Fossils

2014

2014

1:19 Loop

18 x 36 x 22 in.

Video

Plaster, concrete, silt

MARSHALL ELLIOTT www.marshallelliott.com

5

RODNEY EWING

Witness (Emmett Till)

Cloud Jars

2013

2013

60 x 40 in.

Dimensions variable

rodneyewing.com

Silkscreen, ink, dry pigment, and salt

Images on Mason jars

on paper

6

Sbarro 2013 30 x 40 in.

Oil on canvas

PATRICK HOTHAN www.patrickhothan.com

7

Photo Credit: Kija Lucas

TODD LAVINE www.toddlavine.com

8

Within These Walls 2012 48 x 96 in. (installation) Digital archival prints

Pruning Day 2 2013-14 50 x 82 in.

Mixed media collage and watercolor on Yupo

LISA MCCUTCHEON Lisamccutcheon.com

9

Photo Credit: Kija Lucas

SAM METCALF sammetcalf.com

black box 2014 90 x 51 x 51 in.

Aluminum blinds, aluminum extrusions, light, areca palm, chair, sensors, electronic and

10

mechanical components

Photo Credit: Kija Lucas

Installation view, from the series’ Survivng California and Stay Tropical 2014 Dimensions vary Ceramic, plaster, brass, wood, rope, fake fruit

MIE HØRLYCK MOGENSEN www.miemogensen.com

11

Photo Credit: Kija Lucas

RAPHAEL NOZ www.raphaelnoz.wordpress.com

12

Sky Cup Land Cup, from Future Souvenirs From the Great Exhibitions of the Past 2014 15 x 12 in.

Oil on metal

Getting To Know The Width Of The Line Between 2014 11 x 8.5 in. (each)

JEANA POINDEXTER

Series of 50 inkjet prints

13

Photo Credit: Kija Lucas

STEPHANIE ROHLFS

www.stephanierohlfs.com

14

Untitled (InstallationView) 2014 96 x 144 x 18 in.

Epoxy clay, wire, string, acrylic paint

Photo Credit: Kija Lucas

Fissure 2014 120 x 78 x 20 in.

Wood, paint, light, subwoofer

KATE SHORT www.kateleeshort.com

15

Riding the LinE It has been a challenging year for the arts in San Francisco.

the subject of a series of prints. Poindexter uses language and

Shifting economies in the city have forced longstanding

varied density of line to explore personal and paradoxical

commercial galleries to shut their doors, many artists to

juxtapositions of concepts and ideas. For example, in Bought

scale down or relocate their studio practice, and non profit

in and Sold out, the hierarchy of how much weight is given

spaces like Root Division to navigate the turbulent real estate

to the space between each concept differs depending

market. Yet in the face of these struggles it is exhibitions like

on the viewer. The artist uses this to show the manipulative

Introductions that reassure me that artists will continue to

and malleable nature of language and interpretation. In

thrive in the Bay Area. In conducting the studio visits, and

presenting her own assessments, the artist is interestingly riding

overseeing the installation of works for this ambitious exhibition,

the line between public and private in her work.

I am struck by the earnest and optimistic dedication of these

This line, the tension and evaluation between two points

twelve artists. Many of the works contain an element of humor,

of inquiry seem to permeate this exhibition. Perhaps a sign

wit, and playfulness--perhaps a method of optimism and

of the times in San Francisco: much needed optimism for the

tool for light-handed critique. Others use natural elements

future with a healthy dose of skepticism and critique. Marshall

as allegory or employ formal design concepts as ways to

Elliott’s sculptural and video work playfully presents the tension

destabilize perception and engage audiences. Selected

between the presence of humanity within natural systems. In

by a jury panel, these artists present formal, contextual, and

Improbable Irrigation (double negative), the artist documents

material explorations. Larger meaning can be found in the

a portable sprinkler functioning at the site of Michael Heizer’s

interstitial spaces between form and content in often surprising

prominent earthwork, Double Negative (Mormon Mesa in

juxtapositions presented as part of this exhibition.

Overton, Nevada). In this “site-responsive” work, the sprinkler

In her work, Getting to Know the Width of a Line, artist

rhythmically (optimistically) attempts to cover the expanse

Jeana Poindexter has made this idea of interstitial content

of the canyon with its limited resource and reach, the futility

16

of its action suggesting a commentary on environmentalism and the role of humanity in nature. Similarly Elliott’s sculptural installation Sight Fossils, the artist comments on the tangible remnants and relics of advancing technologies through the mound of fossilized cameras cast in plaster and silt. These forged fossils speak of created histories through the objects we leave behind, as well as the beauty of the discarded.

Likewise, Patrick Hothan’s meticulously rendered paintings of trash highlight what is left behind. In removing the objects

Raphael Noz

from context, Hothan has created a body of work that could

Bowl Ladle Bowl, from the series Future Souvenirs from

be read as portraits of consumption. His delicate handling of

the Great Exhibitions of the Past

his subject, often signifiers of vice--discarded cigarette packs,

2014 13 x 15 in.

Oil on metal

coffee cups, sugar, and malt liquor—bring that which we hide, or throw away to the forefront. What stories are told by the

the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, the US Civil rights movement,

objects left behind?

and Hurricane Katrina. Images from these national historical

Familiar objects, shapes, and colors can define moments,

moments (as well as images from the South African Apartheid

histories and cultural references. In Raphael Noz’s series,

protest in which police disbursed crowds with Purple Rain)

Future Souvenirs from the Great Exhibitions of the Past, the

are printed on Mason jars filled with varying levels of salt and

artist has conflated traditional Mexican and Colonialist

water. Ewing explores ideas of surface tension, evaporation,

aesthetics. Forms of Wedgwood servingware, a status symbol

and water as a “universal solvent.”

of sorts, are presented in a style and material inspired by the

Visualizing those most affected by failed governmental

Mexican tradition of hoja de lata, or hammered tin. These

interventions is also employed by Todd Lavine in his series of

works explore the fall of Mexico at the hands of the Spanish

photographs, Within These Walls. Working with students after

Conquistadors, and nod to the emergence of the Mexican

the passing of the Massachusetts Educational Reform Act

mestizo race.

(MERA), a 1993 (pre No Child Left Behind) law which coupled

Similarly reimagining histories through artistic intervention is

state developed curricula and standards with testing and

Rodney Ewing. In his series of works on paper entitled, Fact

accountability policies. The artist documented the limited

& Fiction, Ewing presents images of historical figures with

academic pathways and narrowly defined standards for

well-known fictional texts complicating and questioning the

student success that resulted from the laws enactment.

congruent narratives that inform our cultural understanding

Lavine asked students to articulate their response and visualize

of history. Addressing issues of war, race, religion, and

the effects of the changes that MERA caused them each

global narratives, these silkscreened portraits emerge from

personally. Their shared expression of disempowerment

poured pigment, inks, and salt suggesting the amorphous

is palpable in the intimate photographs. Lavine’s work

understanding of historical figures. Water is a powerful

demonstrates documentary photography’s ability to empower

symbol in Ewing’s work. His installation Cloud Jars deals

through visibility.

with the impact and significance on African Americans in

In a series of photographs of abstracted forms, Jennifer

17

Brandon addresses the power that photography has on

mechanized by the motorized structure of the artwork itself.

controlling the gaze. In her series, Screens, Brandon presents

Metcalf’s work speaks to tension between control, access,

meticulous photographs of reflective masses. For these

and movement.

works the artist created forms from mirrored privacy window

Lisa McCutcheon also utilizes natural elements as a

film--exposing a material meant to control the gaze. In her

metaphor for systems of control and forced conformity. The

accompanying video work, Screenings III, the forms are

artist’s large-scale collage work is inspired by the heavy

brought to life in real time, activating the prismatic qualities

pruning and disfiguring of suburban trees to make way for

of the material, through motion. The changing shapes of the

development. To create the amorphous forms, the artist

artists own studio are reflected and distorted as the material

“prunes” her own existing paintings of trees. By cutting and

moves.

layering existing works on Mylar, McCutcheon forms complex and exquisite formal compositions giving new life, and movement to her organic forms.

Samuel Metcalf Installation view of Device for simulating the motion of a tumbleweed,(left) and black box (right)

2014 Photo credit: Kija Lucas

Samuel Metcalf’s kinetic sculptures similarly toy with ideas of access and visibility. Situated in the gallery’s front window, black box, interacts with viewers in the gallery, and the public on Market Street. A motion sensor closes the blinds each time a person approaches the work—denying access to the cubicle-like office space he has created. The work’s presence in a gallery also suggests the tensions of shifting landscape in the Mid-Market neighborhood of San Francisco. Metcalf’s

Todd Lavine Bradley in 704 Wood Technology 1, Academic

2012 20 x 16 x 1.5 in.

Digital archival print, edition 1 of 3

Stephanie Rohlfs’ work similarly layers materials and

Device for simulating the motion of a tumbleweed, mimics the

design elements. The artist’s mixed-media installation has a

natural motion of a tumbleweed the artist found rolling along

purposefully handmade aesthetic, creating a playful and

the highway. The plant’s natural freedom is constrained and

spatially complex environment. Rohlfs’ drawings, sculptures

18

and wall painting consider formal aspects of color, line and

destabilize the viewer’s experience through surprising

composition with a hint of awkwardness and self-conscious

juxtapositions of materials and precarious positioning of

failure. Her whimsical sculptural arches stand and sag,

sculpture. Addressing personal narrative through humor and

interact, and stand alone, interacting in relationships that

the language of materiality, Mogensen’s media choices—

suggest character flaws and quirks. Rohlfs’ work challenges

brass, wood, plaster, ceramic, and fake fruit--suggest weight,

perspective in the real and imagined environment

dexterity, possibility, and the attempt to slow down or control

incorporating 2D and 3D components that delight and

chance and change. The artist reflects on her upcoming

disorient.

departure from the Bay Area by freezing each moment

Kate Short’s work also creates a controlled environment,

and opportunity, represented by fruit, in to a burly cast of

both sonically and visually. Her new work, Fissure, utilizes low

plaster. The artist’s dreams and worries about her career and

frequency sound and minimalist sculptural elements to both

transition are explored in two accompanying video works,

entice and disrupt the senses. The hum of the low frequency

Optative Drawings, and Some worries I have, in which the artist

is felt most in the vibration of the body and is palpably

humorously draws and narrates line drawings. Mogensen’s

disorienting when a viewer engages with the sculptural object.

work is at once playful and whimsical, yet formally and

The tension between being drawn in by the sculpture and

contextually compelling, often straddling the line between

pushed back by the sound offers momentary reflection on the

form and content.

physical act of encountering an art object or space.

Mie Hørlyck Mogensen’s sculptural interventions also

The worries Mogensen expresses are not unlike those of any of the artists presented in this exhibition. Finding a way to

Rodney Ewing Installation view of Cloud Jars,(left) and Fact and Fiction (right)

2014 Photo credit: Kija Lucas

19

make work, maintain connections, and navigate change will continue to be a challenge for artists in the Bay Area in the coming years. It is a privilege to facilitate opportunities like this exhibition to present the inspiring work of emerging artists, who are confidently, and capably pursuing their practice. In these turbulent times, we are all riding the line between Yesterday and Today, but in seeing the earnest engagement of each these artists, I remain, optimistic for tomorrow. – Amy Cancelmo, Exhibitions & Events Director, Root Division

20

jurors Kevin B. Chen – Artist & Curator; Former Program Director for Intersection for the Arts Jack Fischer – Owner, Jack Fischer Art Gallery Maysoun Wazwaz – Program Manager, Mills College Art Museum

staff MICHELLE MANSOUR – Executive Director AMY CANCELMO – Exhibitions & Events Director EMILY DOMAN – Education Director Brooke Westfall – Communications & Development Manager Blake Gibson – Facilities & Installation Manager

catalogue production NATALIE CHRISTINE – Designer (www.natalieachristine.wordpress.com) KIJA LUCAS – Exhibition Photographer (www.kijalucas.com)

about root division Root Division is a visual arts non-profit that connects creativity and community through a dynamic ecosystem of arts education, exhibitions, and studios. Our mission is to empower artists, foster community service, inspire youth, and enrich the Bay Area through engagement in the visual arts.Root Division is a launching pad for artists, a stepping stone for educators, a door to creativity for youth, and a bridge for the public to become supporters of the arts.

Root Division is supported in part by grants from Grants for the Arts: San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund / Voluntary Arts Contribution Fund, San Francisco Arts Commission / Cultural Equity Grants, Walter & Elise Haas Fund, Drusie Davis Family Fund, Adobe Foundation, Zellerbach Family Foundation, Morse Foundation, A Better Place Foundation, and Art4Moore.

pop-up

P.O. Box 411605, San Francisco, CA 94141 (Mailing) 1059 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 (Location)

www.rootdivision.org 415.863.7668

21

ISBN # 978-0-9895890-2-4