Perception
6/12/2015 - 7/25/2015
g a l l e r y
Cover image: Surrounded (#4) by Isaac S. Lewin. Steel rods and white paint. 2014.
Perception
EMBARK GALLERY 06.12.15 - 07.25.15 Megan Chunn, CCA Olivia Poppy Coles, CCA Isaac S. Lewin, SJSU Malena Lopez-Maggi, Mills Minoosh Zomorodinia, SFAI
gallery
Perception mediates the way we experience the world and how others understand us. For this exhibition, our esteemed jurors chose a diverse selection of conceptually complex artworks that explore epistemology through visual design, visceral tactility, speech and communication, culture and religion, nostalgia and memory. Minoosh Zomorodinia’s powerful performance Requiem for Water seeks to unite ego with environment, insisting on our responsibility to natural resources. Her video performance Jump reminds us that our perception of others is often based upon a snapshot, a still in a long and complicated reel. Megan Chunn explores sense of self through memory and personal ephemera. Found objects change or lose function in her sculptural process, asserting the artist’s perspective on the past. Olivia Poppy Coles explores the commonalities and inadequacies of language in redacted letters on which the viewer can project their own meaning as they are read aloud by a disorienting sound installation. Both Isaac S. Lewin and Malena Lopez-Maggi challenge formal perceptions of sculpture. Lewin’s white wire creations, striking on their own, create shadows that mirror their movement and add an unexpected element to their environment. Lopez-Maggi’s dissections, both repulsive and mesmerizing, surprise at every turn as she shows us the wonders of what’s hidden beneath the form. Angelica Jardini | GALLERY DIRECTOR
Megan Chunn CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS, 2015 “I make art to gain understanding of my past and present experiences. I collect, then hoard, materials for their personal and symbolic properties. In processing their disassembled parts into new forms, I challenge the potential and original function of the objects. In exploring these remnants, I seek to find connections between life and the residue of my environment.” Megan Chunn’s sculptures are somewhere beyond the past or present, skewing our perception of time. Using found elements that on their own may seem nostalgic, she morphs them into alien objects that are strange, yet somehow familiar. They are at once the artist’s mediation of memory and a glimpse into a possible future.
Umbilical Conduits; 2015. Mixed Media.
Perception Megan Chunn, CCA Olivia Poppy Coles, CCA Isaac S. Lewin, SJSU Malena Lopez-Maggi, Mills Minoosh Zomorodinia, SFAI
Embark Gallery at Fort Mason opening reception 6.12.2015 6-8pm Lord Willing; 2015. Mixed Media.
Creek Don’t Rise; 2015. Mixed Media.
Olivia Poppy Coles CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS, 2016 “Point of Presence uses language as a way to try and understand the construct of the self and the other, and how we perceive the separation between the two. Two texts hang on the wall opposite each other, they have been removed of all specificities. The viewer is able to place themselves within the language, they can recognize its format, they have said those words. From two corners of the room, the same voice reads each letter separately. A conversation with the self. Words are spoken and some unspoken. Gaps in the text are left silent and every so often the two voices speak at the same time, words overlapping, striking a sudden connection between the two. Between them stands a cylinder. The point stands like an antenna, a connection between two speakers. It houses a text printed on transparency, unfragmented like the ones on the wall, but rolled so it is still unreadable. Like a message in a bottle, it is a message that may never be read but that needed to be written. Its destination is unknown.�
Point of Presence; 2014. Acrylic, acetate, silver gelatin prints, audio.
Isaac S. Lewin San Jose State University, 2016 “Initially these rod forms were three-dimensional representations of two-dimensional drawings of what I call geometric pathfinders. These pathfinders are illustrations of unseen energy and force. Upon previous installations I was excited to find shadows that I had not expected because of my focus on the physical form. The shadows gave life to the static forms. They expanded their expansive arms and bore vibration from the idle steel. I soon realized that the shadows were an integral phenomenon of these pathfinders and something to be pushed. The building process is a meditative and organic. Little is premeditated, each new rod length cut and welded to the previous is based upon intuition of how I feel, not think, the pathfinder should move.�
Pieces from Surrounded series; 2014. Welded steel rod, white paint.
Malena Lopez-Maggi MILLS COLLEGE, 2015 “When we look at a sculpture, we usually focus on its surface. We might consider whether the materials are solid or hollow, or how the armature is made, but our perception of it is largely informed by its visible exterior. But what if the best part of the sculpture is on the inside? How does this change our perception of the object as a whole? I am interested in the crazy amazing insides of things, and the anticipation and surprise involved in the process of unveiling incongruent innards. My recent sculptures resemble furry beasts resting peacefully on the floor. Through video I document their dissections. Like a mad taxidermist I peel back their hides revealing layer upon layer of strange anatomy. Once they are undone, I petrify their remains into a geode-like form.�
Beast; 2015. Video performance. (Photo by SF Art Enthusiast; Al Cosio)
Fossil; 2015. Mixed media.
Minoosh Zomorodinia SAN FRANCISCO ART INSTITUTE, 2015 The performance Requiem for Water challenges the distance we perceive from our environment, evoking spirituality to inspire respect for our most precious resource. The projection shows a tree growing out of a cracked marsh. The artist recites a prayer of protection for the water from the Quran as she draws a circle on the wall and scrawls the words over and over again inside it. The circle seems to indicate an inextricable one-ness with living beings and water, while the words inside create an almost vaginal form that suggests both birth and renewal. This life force is treated solemnly and with reverence. As the sounds of a trickling river mix with an otherworldly voice that echoes Zomorodinia’s muttered prayer, the light in Embark gallery dramatically changes. Suddenly the sun goes dark behind a passing cloud, right at the moment she wipes away the charcoal text. What’s left is a smudged remnant of her requiem, as the artist gravely moves through the audience and presents to us her blackened hands, like a warning, and a call for action.
CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS, 2016 Here’ sentence number one about Bobby, that should still be connected to Master Page A. Consequat cold-pressed slow-carb, exercitation roof party bicycle rights semiotics DIY dolor heirloom gastropub. Pinterest listicle dolor, PBR anim Blue Bottle banjo umami. Pug voluptate farm-to-table, post-ironic forage vero eiusmod XOXO mlkshk mustache proident pop-up exercitation commodo. Locavore placeat banh mi, keffiyeh tote bag eu vinyl esse DIY fap church-key. Reprehenderit sint nulla, cred XOXO put a bird on it four dollar toast lomo accusamus duis. Wes Anderson minim nihil, retro forage fanny pack sunt consequat enim iPhone. Helvetica ea reprehenderit, skateboard veniam voluptate sustainable jean shorts dolore Carles. Truffaut bespoke eiusmod, tote bag roof party four loko XOXO sriracha mlkshk normcore letterpress meggings salvia. Mustache Neutra viral four loko McSweeney’s Etsy mixtape tempor, do qui letterpress. Cred sartorial veniam Blue Bottle, bicycle rights cillum asymmetrical Godard. Laboris distillery food truck, Echo Park irony butcher deep v. Selvage trust fund meditation aesthetic. Consequat banh mi letterpress mixtape bitters, tattooed VHS kale chips small batch 3 wolf moon mumblecore placeat. Artisan actually ugh, ad four dollar toast DIY Brooklyn cold-pressed cardigan Marfa lomo keytar deep v cray. In bitters pug health goth nesciunt, crucifix keytar. Cliche Blue Bottle stumptown sustainable, duis Pitchfork Marfa sint mollit paleo Helvetica. Ullamco Carles taxidermy dolore YOLO, consequat tofu mustache nulla DIY vero butcher sed ugh. Direct trade meh ugh drinking vinegar labore, duis mixtape Tumblr crucifix tilde anim magna do Echo Park. Scenester fap consectetur vero eiusmod sartorial.
Requiem for Water; 2015. Performance.
Acknowledgements Sartle.com Fort Mason Center Julie Lazar Michael Zheng Marina MacLatchie Xiao Wang Lauren Dare Jennifer Tucker Al Cosio
2 Marina Blvd. Bldg. B Ste. 330, San Francisco CA 94123
Cover image: Surrounded (#4) by Isaac S. Lewin. Steel rods and white paint. 2014.
Tania Houtzager FOUNDER Angelica Jardini DIRECTOR Carolyn Nickell ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
Embark Gallery.com