LOS ANGELES Hauser and Wirth While both iterations have followed immense tragedy—9/11 and then the Palisades and Eaton fires—what Hammons attunes us to is not the instance of tragedy itself, but the infinitely combinatory and socially contingent conditions that inform the spaces we occupy.
Michelle Lopez and Ester Partegàs
SAN FRANCISCO Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts Both artists describe engaging in a direct dialogue with materials, without preconceived ideas of the outcome. Lopez has talked about the pleasure she derives from the experiences engendered by such directness—the physicality of exerting force, finding form through interaction.
Richard Shaw and Reniel Del Rosario
SAN RAFAEL, CALIFORNIA Marin Museum of Contemporary Art As described by Natasha Boas, co-curator with MOCA director Jodi Roberts, part of the impulse behind the exhibition was the “idea of artistic transmission and influence across generations.” The show also investigates how the tangled messes of our everyday lives can engender transcendent art.
Camille Henrot
NEW YORK Hauser & Wirth While these works inspire free association and advocate for the importance of the imagination—implying that the grid’s rubric of rules and orderliness can be disrupted—other sculptures inquire into the nature of art-making and the desire to break completely free of formal boundaries.
Katie Hubbell
PHILADELPHIA Cherry Street Pier Katie Hubbell works across sculpture, new media, and installation, often using fantastical, high-key colors in combination with biomorphic or subtly anthropomorphic forms to trace the tension between the grotesqueness and beauty of the human body.
“Moment of Perception”
VENICE, CALIFORNIA King Studio Taking almost diametrically opposed approaches, Mahoney and Johnson demonstrate rigorous, meticulous control of their selected materials and processes. In fact, the level of craft they achieve plays a major part in the appeal of the wall-based works presented here.
Joanna Malinowska
NEW YORK CANADA In Malinowska’s case, a casual arrangement of objects enables her to suggest interpretive links from one work to the next—a highly efficient way of creating an open field in which the artist’s decisions are placed to the side in favor of the viewer’s imaginative connections and intelligence.
Hugh Hayden
DALLAS Nasher Sculpture Center Hayden’s use of wood is nostalgic, since such workmanship on an object of public utility has largely been replaced with metal and plastic. It is also a testament to his craftsmanship and skill.
Elina Autio
HELSINKI Forum Box After years of producing wall-dependent compositions—works that resemble hangings, misaligned Venetian blinds, wooden screens, and rows of exposed pipes—Elina Autio has turned to the floor. While the departure seems unexpected, these new works also recall furnishings, specifically small tables or beds, and closely relate to earlier projects.
