KIM VAN SOMEREN \ INTO ITS OWN ECHO
Seattle-based printmaker Kim Van Someren builds wondrous architecture that defies physics. Their impractically cantilevered extensions catapult themselves beyond the frame, while others appear to be untethered and hovering in the air. Some present themselves as complicated intertwined tiers of balconies, mezzanines, steeples, and ladders; strands of overlapping rope, drapes, and banners festively decorating their towers; or cascading down towards some unknown terrain. Kim Van Someren's aesthetic engineering is as much a kind of wayfinding as it is the formal inquiry of a material body.
For her solo exhibition, Into Its Own Echo, she amasses an inventory of prints on delicate tissue, or Japanese kitakata paper, to cut up and reuse as collage elements. As we play along with Van Someren in guessing what these almost-familiar objects might be, and to what purpose they serve, we engage with her sense of investigation and exploration into what is possible when such structures become animated.
For her solo exhibition, Into Its Own Echo, she amasses an inventory of prints on delicate tissue, or Japanese kitakata paper, to cut up and reuse as collage elements. As we play along with Van Someren in guessing what these almost-familiar objects might be, and to what purpose they serve, we engage with her sense of investigation and exploration into what is possible when such structures become animated.
SUE DANIELSON \ INTANGIBLE HORIZON
Bridge Productions is pleased to present a series of new paintings by Seattle painter, printmaker, and multimedia artist Sue Danielson. For her solo exhibition, Intangible Horizon, Danielson fluctuates between the chromatic frenzied lines and layers of a city map and the verdant hues of a natural landscape; telling a story of entropy, time, and place.
For Intangible Horizon, Danielson illustrates these ideas through a lush offering of deep, rich color. She layers her materials in variegated pattern and calligraphic forms using acrylic paint, ink, marker, and graphite; and collage onto which she has painted, drawn, or printed. Though some works feel almost effortless, gestural, and free; they’re each the result of a deliberate, methodical, and taxing effort to employ a series of specific, dedicated choices. These choices themselves describe a journey of deep connection to place through work created over a period of time before, during, and after a series of residencies in the past year.
For Intangible Horizon, Danielson illustrates these ideas through a lush offering of deep, rich color. She layers her materials in variegated pattern and calligraphic forms using acrylic paint, ink, marker, and graphite; and collage onto which she has painted, drawn, or printed. Though some works feel almost effortless, gestural, and free; they’re each the result of a deliberate, methodical, and taxing effort to employ a series of specific, dedicated choices. These choices themselves describe a journey of deep connection to place through work created over a period of time before, during, and after a series of residencies in the past year.
THE VEIL
CURATED BY SEQUOIA DAY O'CONNELL
FEATURING THE WORK OF CHARLIE CROWELL, TAYLOR HANIGOSKY, MARKEL URIU, & KO KIRK YAMAHIRA
This July and August, Bridge Productions presented The Veil, Sequoia Day O'Connell's curatorial debut, featuring a poetic collection of multi-media installation from four artists across Seattle and New York City: Charlie Crowell (NYC), Taylor Hanigosky (SEA), Markel Uriu (SEA), and Ko Kirk Yamahira (SEA).
The undercurrent of The Veil is meant to evoke a sense of the in-between: the membrane between reality and the constructed world, where life and death exist simultaneously, precariously entwined. In this collection of works in mixed media, installation, and sculpture, artists embody ideas of birth and abundance; of what has been germinating in the spring and summer months that commence the harvest. The emergence is key: the moment when bitter turns sweet turns rotten, and the grief that follows. As seasons rapidly shift, this tender contemplative exhibition is an offering to the shadow-self, and the shadow world. You can read the full curatorial essay here!
The undercurrent of The Veil is meant to evoke a sense of the in-between: the membrane between reality and the constructed world, where life and death exist simultaneously, precariously entwined. In this collection of works in mixed media, installation, and sculpture, artists embody ideas of birth and abundance; of what has been germinating in the spring and summer months that commence the harvest. The emergence is key: the moment when bitter turns sweet turns rotten, and the grief that follows. As seasons rapidly shift, this tender contemplative exhibition is an offering to the shadow-self, and the shadow world. You can read the full curatorial essay here!
DEEPER THAN THE WALL
A TWO WEEK POPUP EXHIBITION WITH SUE DANIELSON, EMILY GHERARD, & KIM VAN SOMEREN
Please join us throughout the day for a tightly curated selection of work from intimate drawing, printmaking, and collage to large-scale paintings. Each artist exhibiting embodies the laborious process of accretion, excavation, and labor that goes deeper than the wall to reveal entire new worlds, hidden layers, accumulation, and cartography. This exhibition offers up an opportunity to see a few new pieces alongside previous work by Emily Gherard, and to introduce a few exciting new paintings and collage in anticipation of our fall exhibitions with Sue Danielson and Kim Van Someren.
2018 SPRING \ SUMMER CURATOR IN RESIDENCE
NEGARRA A. KUDUMU \ FROM FOOL TO WORLD, WORKS BY MIKE WAGNER
This spring and early summer, Bridge Productions unveiled our first Curatorial Residency featuring Negarra A. Kudumu. Throughout our 7 year history, we've often invited guest curators to take over our box sets and gallery spaces to use as laboratories for inquiry, ideas, and research. This year, we wanted to present the opportunity for an independent curator to take complete ownership of the space over time, to live in it the way we do, and see how that lived-in feeling shifts one's curatorial perspective.
The inaugural Bridge Productions Curatorial Residency hosted independent essayist & curator and Frye Art Museum Manager of Public Programs Negarra A. Kudumu, highlighting Negarra’s ongoing intellectual and professional trajectory from neophyte art administrator to established, independent art scholar, writer, and emerging curator. Drawing from her rich repository of public talks and writings, Negarra’s residency produced new writing on the key issues she continues to work with in her practice namely, among them the education and curation as spectrum, not a binary, curatoriality, and condition versus methodology particularly where African and African Diasporic cultural politics are concerned. To highlight and bring to bear these thought experiments, Negarra curated an exhibition featuring new and existing works by the prolific multidisciplinary artist Mike Wagner.
The inaugural Bridge Productions Curatorial Residency hosted independent essayist & curator and Frye Art Museum Manager of Public Programs Negarra A. Kudumu, highlighting Negarra’s ongoing intellectual and professional trajectory from neophyte art administrator to established, independent art scholar, writer, and emerging curator. Drawing from her rich repository of public talks and writings, Negarra’s residency produced new writing on the key issues she continues to work with in her practice namely, among them the education and curation as spectrum, not a binary, curatoriality, and condition versus methodology particularly where African and African Diasporic cultural politics are concerned. To highlight and bring to bear these thought experiments, Negarra curated an exhibition featuring new and existing works by the prolific multidisciplinary artist Mike Wagner.
KAT LARSON \ CAREFULL.
In Kat Larson's new chapter of large-scale video installations, the Ghost is a representation of the Self; a figure upon which we can project ourselves to imagine the individual acts of introspection and compassion they represent, which leads to great changes in the larger scope of our world. The Ghost, having fallen to Earth in the midst of a dance, began to diminish because of the conditions of emotional scarcity; but through us may be renewed as we renew one another, celebrating in our regeneration and revival, together.
The Ghost has been a symbol and spirit of love and compassion as tools for modern activism against thought regimes that limit our potential and our spirits. If we can agree that we are humans entrenched in politics desiring revolutionary change, then we must begin to change the personal self before we can collectively excite a massive difference within a larger population. We need to first revolutionize the perceived image and belief systems we have about ourselves before we can revolutionize our patriarchal institutions.
The Ghost has been a symbol and spirit of love and compassion as tools for modern activism against thought regimes that limit our potential and our spirits. If we can agree that we are humans entrenched in politics desiring revolutionary change, then we must begin to change the personal self before we can collectively excite a massive difference within a larger population. We need to first revolutionize the perceived image and belief systems we have about ourselves before we can revolutionize our patriarchal institutions.
GUEST CURATOR SUE DANIELSON \ SOMEWHERE NEARBY
FEATURING CATHERINE HAGGARTY, JULIE TORRES, MATTHEW NEIL GEHRING, PAOLO ARAO, MINKU KIM, & SARAH TRIGG
Bringing in the new year, Bridge Productions is very excited to host this intimate group show, Somewhere Nearby, curated by Sue Danielson; and to welcome New York artists Catherine Haggarty, Julie Torres, Matthew Neil Gehring, Paolo Arao, Minku Kim, and Sarah Trigg to Seattle. This tender bridge connecting the edges of place is an attempt to further the connection between our cities and our coasts through the alignment of art and practice.
Can the geographical space between Seattle and New York be bridged because of cross-pollinating nature of the internet, or does a regional sensibility still prevail? What story do these works tell that are distinctive from those painted in Seattle? How do our shared visual narratives convey a connective thread of tenderness, community-building, and humanity that overcomes the span of a continent? With this small sampling of work, our inquiry won’t answer the question but is meant to cultivate an invitation to become a part of this exciting and dynamic conversation.
Can the geographical space between Seattle and New York be bridged because of cross-pollinating nature of the internet, or does a regional sensibility still prevail? What story do these works tell that are distinctive from those painted in Seattle? How do our shared visual narratives convey a connective thread of tenderness, community-building, and humanity that overcomes the span of a continent? With this small sampling of work, our inquiry won’t answer the question but is meant to cultivate an invitation to become a part of this exciting and dynamic conversation.