Tim Hawkinson—Finding the Extraordinary in the Ordinary

Garden Variety SF

It’s been awhile since I saw the Tim Hawkinson’s exhibition Zoopsia at the Getty, almost ten years in fact now that I look it up online, and its centre-piece creation "Urberorgan" remains in my mind as one of those rare contemporary works that holds true to its eccentricity while capturing the attention of a mass public.   

Uberorgan on display at the Getty

Youtube video Owen Smigelski

Witnessing "Uberorgan’s" glutinous belching berth crowded into the architectural splendor of the Getty’s atrium was like giving a mysterious sea creature of the deep (sea slug, jelly fish, crossed with a whale and an actual organ) reign above land in a castle of man.   Hawkinson’s images and sculptural renderings of octopuses and bats, combining composites of human parts--lips, hands, fingers, nails--and recycled materials were so deceptive that it took some inspection to dissect their true provenance—unsettling, strange, rooted in the familiar.

Detail, Thumbsucker, 2015

On view Hosfelt Gallery March 26-May 7, 2016 

Cosmonaut thumb, made from impressions of Hawkinson's thumbs

Catching up with Jennifer Vanderpool

Minimalism in an Age of Hoarding: Artist Jennifer Vanderpool

I first experienced Jennifer Vanderpool’s hypersensitive reality close to a decade ago, having walked into one of her elaborate installations at the former Bandini Gallery in Culver City.  It was one of the most obsessive, engaging installations I had come across, and it remains as such in my memory today.

"Hysterical Paradise," 2008 
Bandini Art 
Hysterical Paradise, Culver City, CA 

Jennifer is someone who understands the charm of visual narratives, her works unfolding with an imaginary appreciation, and this room-sized setting was one of her most intricate stagings.  Called, 'Hysterical Paradise', the title summed up well this over-the-top, technicolor landscape of flora, fun, fervor and fanaticism (with the countless hours spanned to spin, tie, mold, paint, and glitter the eruption of pieces, immediately evident).  The work was both appealing and slightly unsettling (like eating too much cotton candy at the fair); hugging that fine line between extremes that Jennifer does so well. 

"Hysterical Paradise," 2008 
Bandini Art 
Culver City, CA