NEW YORK, NY.- Garis & Hahn, in conjunction with AH Arts, announces Linear Tensions, an exhibition of new work and site-specific installations from Jillian Clark and Gabrielle Duggan, located at Garis & Hahn’s Bowery location. After announcing the relocation of the gallery last month, this will be one of the last Garis & Hahn projects in New York before opening a new, dedicated Los Angeles space in early 2017.
Curated by Alixandra Hornyan for AH Arts, a curatorial platform for emerging artists, Linear Tensions comprises two large-scale installations and several two-dimensional wall works by the artists which confront issues of memory, displacement, appropriation, labor and identity.
Exploring the tension between physicality and ephemerality, Jillian Clark uses constructiongrade chalk and a snap-line tool to create immersive, floor-to-ceiling installations. Initially only working with blue construction-grade chalk, she has expanded her visual vocabulary by incorporating other construction-grade chalks in orange, lavender, black, red, and white, as well as resin, which insulates the chalk from its own temporality.
By the very nature of the material, her chalk drawings are the fleeting result of a deeply personal methodology. Every line builds with each trace and stain, creating both a direct linear record and a residue that falls to the floor, becoming inextricable from the next and playing with perception and sensory understanding. As she says, “I want the viewer to feel the driving processes through observing the space and understanding their own personal reflections imbedded in each line.”
Building on and expanding techniques rooted in traditional fiber work, Gabrielle Duggan creates elaborate installations of disparate materials; glass, tar, rocks, wire, yarn, wood, paint, found objects, and other textiles. She is drawn to organic materials, and values a connection to animals through researching fiber production; from shearing, spinning, and hand-producing cloth. Reminiscent of the Post-Minimal fiberglass sculptures of Eva Hesse, Duggan’s installations challenge gender boundaries and labor value systems, addressing these concerns through the use of tension, repetition, and ambiguous meanings imbued in the material itself. By appropriating these industrial tools and technologies, Duggan’s work is lifted from the art historical context, extending its materiality beyond established social structures.
Jillian Clark was born in California. She is based in the Tri-State area and manages the woodshop at the New Museum. Her work has been exhibited in group shows at Root Division in San Francisco in 2011, the Walsh Gallery at Seton Hall University in 2012, and the Governor’s Island Art Fair in 2014, as well as in a solo show at the Bortolami Gallery in New York in 2013. She received her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and her MFA from California College of the Arts in 2011.
Gabrielle Duggan was born in Buffalo, New York and earned her Master of Art and Design in Fibers and Surface Design from North Carolina State University. Her work has been exhibited at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC and Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington, SC (Out of Fashion, 2011-2012) as well as at the Indie Grits Film Festival, Columbia, SC (2015). She was the recipient of the North Carolina Arts Council’s Regional Artist Project Grant (2011), Artspace’s Regional Emerging Artist Residency (2013-2014), and the Governor’s Island Art Fair Residency (2014). She teaches Textile Art and Design as the Visiting Lecturer at Georgia State University, Atlanta.
