MAKING TIME

Featuring: Sarah Bedford, Juan Angel Chavez, Isabella Cuglievan, Michael Dumontier & Neil Farber, Robert Heinecken, Paul Heyer, Ben Houtkamp, Kysa Johnson, Sung Jang, Tony Matelli, Kristoffer McAfee, Alessandra Norman, Carolyn Ottmers, Sterling Ruby, A.V. Ryan, Claudia Peña Salinas and Jacqueline Surdell.

Secrist | Beach is pleased to present Making Time, a salon presentation curated by artist Stephen Eichhorn. The title of the exhibition is taken from a concept called "The Archeology of Time". This states that if we want to understand what time is, then we need to accept that things, or objects, do not just exist in time, they make time. Featuring seventeen artists working in a variety of mediums, on view will be works of art that represent a variety of philosophical and metaphysical ideas about how objects exist within and interact with the framework of time. Making Time is presented in conjunction with the solo exhibition VOIDGROUND by Stephen Eichhorn at 1801 W. Hubbard St. from June 14 - August 22, 2024.

The artworks in Making Time use elements of organica as a way of exploring the dichotomy between objects and time. With materials made from - or representing - flowers, wood, fiber, rock, light, seeds, clay and the human figure, each artwork/object offers profound insights into the human experience. The bridge between objects and time is a concept that delves into the relationship between material entities and the temporal dimension. How those objects merge and exist within the framework of time oscillates between the existence of the natural world and how we interpret, utilize, ingest and embrace/reject it. If these interlocking elements of the physical world around us and the objects it produces accumulate what we know as the macrocosm, its excavation leaves us with wonder. 

Through metaphor and symbolism, the themes in Making Time revolve around ideas of ownership, transcendence, entropy and perception. By using the earth as a starting point for understanding an object's place within the structure of time, the positive and negative elements of human interference in our complex ecosystem are revealed. In elevating these objects with their alchemic approaches, the artists here individually decipher the macrocosm through the act of slowing time and illuminating the microcosms that surround us.

Sarah Bedford's (New York) flower paintings are a visible reminder of the fragility, beauty and arc of life in this shadowy, broken world - full of interpretive metaphors and ripe for interpretation. 

Juan Angel Chavez (Chicago) repurposes found wood, figuratively and conceptually, through public burns and the use of seemingly random words - phrases and nouns - that confound and placate. 

Isabella Cuglievan's (Lima, Peru) paintings, from the series titled "Reaching for a leaf as it spirals down", are dimensional, hypnotic colorful abstract accumulations built organically brushstroke by brushstroke. 

Michael Dumontier & Neil Farber's (Winnipeg) deceptively simple paintings of flowers with phrases mimic the complexity of daily life and the whimsy of nature. 

Robert Heinecken's (New Mexico, d. 2006) historically significant appropriated and re-processed photographs focus on the female form revealing conceptual links that hint at humanity's complex relation with itself and its surroundings. 

Paul Heyer's (Chicago) paintings intersperse imagery of landscapes and skulls through the guise of perception and illusion to explore the spectacle of nature. 

Ben Houtkamp's (Chicago) translucent stained glass pieces combine shapes, line and natural light to reveal enigmatic characters with an expressive nod to nostalgia. 

Sung Jang's (Chicago) painting and sculptures utilize natural materials such as wood, rock and sand to draw meaning from memory and explore how our recollections inform our current experiences. 

Kysa Johnson's (Los Angeles) paintings explore patterns in nature that exist at the extremes of scale - microscopic or macroscopic - using them as a way to reflect on our place in the physical universe and history.

Kristoffer McAfee's (Chicago) Universal Identity series of paintings reinterpret the 3rd dimension by presenting the five Platonic solids: fire, air, earth, water and "the heavens", that connect to every living entity on the planet and the known universe as a whole.

Alessandra Norman's (Chicago) sculpture/painting investigates the space between perception and perspective by playing with reality and its landscapes. 

Carolyn Ottmers' (Champaign, IL) cast stainless steel sculptures of flora hanging from the ceiling calls attention to the detail and beauty of the natural world by representing it in an exaggerated scale.

Sterling Ruby's (Los Angeles) print humorously pronounces a straightforward call to arms for a new way of life by denouncing form and its mathematical and aesthetic properties. 

A.V. Ryan's (New York) steel sculpture shows how constructing a cube involves an arc and wing, star, and moon incorporating an organic math, a science born of nature.

Claudia Peña Salinas' (New York) photographs depict dislocated rocks from the archeological site of Uxmal, Yucatan extracted by looting and tourism - alluding to the conceptual nature of both materiality and migratory paths.

Jacqueline Surdell's (Chicago), sculptures of rope, fabric and steel resemble amorphous topographic landscapes that incorporate perspective, voids and windows - all the while utilizing the formidable role of gravity as a tool for creating.