“On the Edge of the Wilds” Exhibition

532 Gallery Thomas Jaeckel

[Image: Electric Coffin "Ursa Major Arctic Blast" (2019) Acrylic, Dichroic film, Acrylic Paint. 32 x 48 x 1 in.]

This event has ended.

On the Edge of the Wilds, a new exhibition of works at 532 Gallery Thomas Jaeckel, features five artists who each make use of a distinct set of materials, methods, and artistic concerns to create works that reflect a sense of ambivalence about modern culture and our relation to nature at a time when both are in a precarious state of flux.

Seattle-based collaborative duo Electric Coffin (artists Duffy de Armas and Stefan Hofmann) have fabricated four works that look something like gigantic stickers peeled from the deck of a gargantuan hipster’s skateboard.

Amy Wilson presents four new knit and crochet pieces that reference traditional women’s crafts, political manifestos, and the general doom, gloom, and uncertainty of 2019.

In a set of four recent oil paintings that include the aptly-titled Jungle and three floral still lifes embedded within undulating, wavelike backgrounds, German artist Lennart Rieder seems to point toward the profound gulf between humanity and the natural matrix from which we once emerged.

Finally, Cuban artist Elio Rodríguez returns to Jaeckel Gallery with a selection of his wall-mounted monochromatic soft sculptures. In these works, Rodríguez assembles forms that initially read like whimsical semi-biomorphic riffs on 20th century Abstract Expressionist sculpture, as in Tropical Garden #1 and Goldie #2 (both 2018), which almost feel like a playful synthesis of Louise Bourgeois and John Chamberlain.