FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Regen Projects II
9016 Santa Monica Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90069
Tel. (310) 276-5424
Fax. (310) 276-7430
www.regenprojects.com
ELLIOTT HUNDLEY: Hekabe
March 7 – April 4, 2009
Gallery Hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Opening Reception: Saturday, March 7, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Regen Projects is pleased to announce an exhibition of new work by Los Angeles based artist Elliott Hundley. This exhibition, the artist's first solo show at the gallery, will feature new sculptures and a group of new lightbox photographs. Elliott Hundley's sculptures provide a multi-faceted and profound journey into history, mythology, and contemporary culture. The dense surfaces built from a myriad of materials including wood, string, wire, paper, canvas, photographs, textiles, sequins, colored yarn, wax, and beads are laced with historical references and mythological narratives. The underlying thread of this exhibition is the Greek tragedy Hekabe. In the play written by Euripides, Hekabe, the wife of the King of Troy grieves over the death of her daughter Polyxena and takes revenge over the loss of her son Polydorus in a tale of torment, revenge, and rage.
Elliott Hundley has re-imagined the aesthetics of assemblage as a way of structuring the surface. His works are composed as a web of interconnections that create a fragmented tableaux that are an investigation into the material process and the resulting formal tension and visual narrative that unfolds. By excising fragments from ancient mythology, he fuels obscure and mysterious visual dramas that unfold on the surface of his sculptures. There is a dialogue between classical antiquity and the relics of modernity. The coalescence of Hundley's own personal and symbolic world with contemporary and ancient cultural references and signs weaves an epic visual narrative in his work.
The photographs found in Hundley's sculptures are taken during elaborate photo shoots the artist has orchestrated. In these shoots the sitters are adorned with jewelry, paint, costumes, and props. The figures are then cut out of the photographs and collaged to the surface of his works. For the lightbox photographs, he asked the sitters to play the role of Polyxena, Polydorus, and Hekabe with his sculptures serving as the backdrops. There is an intimacy in these powerful and seductive portraits that provide an immediate and visceral engagement with the sitter. These works conjure a drama that captures both the reality and fantasy of theater.
"…Hundley's compositions are delicately balanced and formally elaborate. The ghosts of Robert Rauschenberg's combines permeate these constructions. Color shifts between flamboyant and subtle, from intensely saturated to whispered tonalities...Textures may vary between tender and silken to prickly and menacing. Gravity is defied and exposed…In Hundley's assemblages, time—ancient and contemporary—spills forward and backward, one condition fusing into the other. A state of grace, before the fall, remains an echo, a still palpable presence, against the cacophony of history."
(Garrels, Gary. "Elliott Hundley" in Eden's Edge: Fifteen LA Artists. Los Angeles: Hammer Museum, 2007. p.102)
Elliott Hundley studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and UCLA. In 2006, he had his first solo exhibition at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Hundley's work is included in several museum collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
An opening reception for Elliott Hundley will take place on Saturday, March 7, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm.
For further information please contact Jennifer Loh, Stacy Bengtson, or Heather Harmon at (310) 276-5424.
Upcoming Exhibitions:
Regen Projects II (9016 Santa Monica Boulevard at North Almont Drive)
Manfred Pernice: April 11 – May 16, 2009
Scott McFarland: May 23 – July 3, 2009
Regen Projects II
9016 Santa Monica Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90069
Tel. (310) 276-5424
Fax. (310) 276-7430
www.regenprojects.com
ELLIOTT HUNDLEY: Hekabe
March 7 – April 4, 2009
Gallery Hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Opening Reception: Saturday, March 7, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Regen Projects is pleased to announce an exhibition of new work by Los Angeles based artist Elliott Hundley. This exhibition, the artist's first solo show at the gallery, will feature new sculptures and a group of new lightbox photographs. Elliott Hundley's sculptures provide a multi-faceted and profound journey into history, mythology, and contemporary culture. The dense surfaces built from a myriad of materials including wood, string, wire, paper, canvas, photographs, textiles, sequins, colored yarn, wax, and beads are laced with historical references and mythological narratives. The underlying thread of this exhibition is the Greek tragedy Hekabe. In the play written by Euripides, Hekabe, the wife of the King of Troy grieves over the death of her daughter Polyxena and takes revenge over the loss of her son Polydorus in a tale of torment, revenge, and rage.
Elliott Hundley has re-imagined the aesthetics of assemblage as a way of structuring the surface. His works are composed as a web of interconnections that create a fragmented tableaux that are an investigation into the material process and the resulting formal tension and visual narrative that unfolds. By excising fragments from ancient mythology, he fuels obscure and mysterious visual dramas that unfold on the surface of his sculptures. There is a dialogue between classical antiquity and the relics of modernity. The coalescence of Hundley's own personal and symbolic world with contemporary and ancient cultural references and signs weaves an epic visual narrative in his work.
The photographs found in Hundley's sculptures are taken during elaborate photo shoots the artist has orchestrated. In these shoots the sitters are adorned with jewelry, paint, costumes, and props. The figures are then cut out of the photographs and collaged to the surface of his works. For the lightbox photographs, he asked the sitters to play the role of Polyxena, Polydorus, and Hekabe with his sculptures serving as the backdrops. There is an intimacy in these powerful and seductive portraits that provide an immediate and visceral engagement with the sitter. These works conjure a drama that captures both the reality and fantasy of theater.
"…Hundley's compositions are delicately balanced and formally elaborate. The ghosts of Robert Rauschenberg's combines permeate these constructions. Color shifts between flamboyant and subtle, from intensely saturated to whispered tonalities...Textures may vary between tender and silken to prickly and menacing. Gravity is defied and exposed…In Hundley's assemblages, time—ancient and contemporary—spills forward and backward, one condition fusing into the other. A state of grace, before the fall, remains an echo, a still palpable presence, against the cacophony of history."
(Garrels, Gary. "Elliott Hundley" in Eden's Edge: Fifteen LA Artists. Los Angeles: Hammer Museum, 2007. p.102)
Elliott Hundley studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and UCLA. In 2006, he had his first solo exhibition at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. Hundley's work is included in several museum collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
An opening reception for Elliott Hundley will take place on Saturday, March 7, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm.
For further information please contact Jennifer Loh, Stacy Bengtson, or Heather Harmon at (310) 276-5424.
Upcoming Exhibitions:
Regen Projects II (9016 Santa Monica Boulevard at North Almont Drive)
Manfred Pernice: April 11 – May 16, 2009
Scott McFarland: May 23 – July 3, 2009