LAND OF THE FREE - Curated by Lee Plested
389 Valencia Street
August 6 - August 28, 2004
Opening Reception: Thursday, August 6th, 6:30 - 9:30pm
Oh, say can you see, by the dawns’ early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleamin’
The Jack Hanley Gallery is pleased to present Land of the Free.
Canadian curator Lee Plested has organized the exhibition as a dense tableau of photography, painting and sculpture featuring artists Keith Boadwee, Anne Collier, Katy Grannan, Greg Halpern, Colter Jacobson, Sean Landers, Mitzi Pederson, Will Rogan, Molly Springfield, Stephanie Taylore, Althea Thauberger and Mungo Thomson. Together the work forms a landscape where freedom is in question, a reflection of a time in which experiences of autonomous ‘freedom’ is constantly shifting and individuals attempt to rationalize their sense of identity and place in society.
The work in this exhibition uses conceptual strategies to question the notion of socially-engaged art practice. Each artist responds to current social pressures aesthetically, through an exploration of individualism and the freedom of expression within their socio-political context. The works utilize traditional genres to both familiarize the viewer and to rethink the way that genre might work in today’s anxious cultural climate.
Landscape (Landers, Rogan, Taylor, Thauberger), portraiture (Boadwee, Grannan, Halpern, Springfield), and the strategic use of everyday objects (Collier, Springfield, Pederson, Thomson) are made to reflect the complex fragmentation of identity and personal liberties in our contemporary culture. Through the creation of art, philosophical questions are explored in oscillating reflections of the self. The gallery becomes a site for the viewer to bring their own sense of alienation to the quasi-narrative of the grouped art works, and to think through their own experience of a Land of the Free.
Keith Boadwee received a BFA from UCLA and a MFA from U of Cal at Berkley. He has recently shown in San Francisco in ‘The Grey Area’ in the CCA Wattis Institute, and presented recent solo shows at Lucky Tackle (Oakland) and Peres Projects (LA). Boadwee will be teaching this fall at the San Francisco Art Institute.
Anne Collier graduated from UCLA with an MFA and shows with Jack Hanley (San Francisco) and Marc Foxx (LA). She has shown recently in San Francisco as a part of ‘Likeness’ at the CCA Wattis Institute and in her first NY group show at Nicole Klagsburn Gallery (NY). She teaches at CCA and SFAI.
Katy Grannan received her MFA from Yale University. She shows with Artemis Greenberg von Doren (NY) and was included in the 2004 Whitney Biennel.
Greg Halpern graduated with a BFA from Harvard University and an MFA this year from CCA. This is his first group exhibition in the Bay Area.
Colter Jacobson is a prolific artist heralding from the Mission District. He has recently shown in ‘Felix Variations’ curated by Meredith Talusan at Play Space Gallery (CCA SF) and curated an exhibition reflecting the lives of Kevin Killian and Dodie Bellamy at the Harvey Milk Memorial Library.
Sean Landers is represented by Andrea Rosen Gallery (NY) and teaches at Yale University. His work was shown recently in the Bay Area in ‘Likeness’ at the CCA Wattis Institute and he is currently has a solo exhibition at the Zurich Kunsthalle.
Mitzi Pederson graduated with an MFA from CCA this year. She has shown her work in many group exhibitions including The Post-it Show and Felix Variations at the Play Space Gallery (CCA SF).
Will Rogan received his BFA from CCA. He has exhibited extensively receiving the 2003 SECA Award from the SFMOMA and was included in Yuerba Buena’s 10 year anniversary invitational ‘10 x 20.’
Molly Springfield graduated from U of Cal at Berkley this year with an MFA in painting and drawing. Her work was recently exhibited in ‘Fluid Exchange’ at the Play Space Gallery (CCA SF).
Stephanie Taylor graduated with a BFA from Art Center and is based in LA. She is represented by Daniel Hug (LA) and Galerie Christian Nagel (Berlin). She recently presented her first solo exhibition in LA at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE). This is her first exhibition in San Francisco.
Althea Thauberger received her BFA from Concordia University (Montreal) and a MFA from the University of Victoria, BC. Her work is included in ‘Baja to Vancouver’ which opens at the Wattis Institute in Sept, InSite 5 (San Diego/ Tijuana) and will be presenting her first American solo exhibition for the Matrix Program at the Berkley Art Museum in the spring of 2005.
Mungo Thomson received his MFA from UCLA. He exhibits with Margo Leavin Gallery (LA) and John Connelly Presents (NY). He was this years US representative at the Cuena Bienal (Ecuador).
Lee Plested is an independent curator originally from Vancouver, BC. He is currently a masters candidate in the curatorial practice program at CCA. Plested recently co-curated ‘Thrown: Influences and Intentions of West Coast Ceramics’ with Scott Watson for the Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery at UBC, Vancouver and has an upcoming exhibition on the Canadian Craft Collection from Expo 67 at the Confederation Centre for the Arts in Charlottetown PEI, Canada. He will be working with John Baldessari to realize a project for the Play Space Gallery (CCA SF) this winter.