observed union: new photography exhibit by wyatt troll

The Hansell Gallery is pleased to announce a new show, OBSERVED UNION by artist Wyatt Troll. 

Opening: Saturday, June 22nd, 5pm-8pm, featuring dance performance by Katie Malia
Closing: Wednesday, July 10th
Exhibit Hours: Tuesdays 5pm-7pm, Fridays 11am-4pm, and by appointment (info@prs.org)

Artist Statement: Our human experience finds us in conflict, both on and beneath the surface of life. We live in contradiction, feeling separated from our inner child, from nature, from love, and from the spiritual world while knowing there is a universal truth that connects everything down to the microscopic level. In OBSERVED UNION, the world is transcendent and filled with magic. Moments of divinity are revealed with a sense of patience and wonder; the contrasts of life depicted in harmony. Light and dark. Feminine and masculine. Each image, a meditation on beauty realized through expansive horizons and ephemeral nature, mirroring our union with the universe. The show features an original soundtrack by E Ruscha V., incorporating heartbeat recordings by Wyatt Troll.

Artist Bio: Wyatt Troll is passionate about creating images. As a photographer, cinematographer, and director, he is driven by honest storytelling through a visual language all his own. Being raised on a commune, then bred in New York City, makes for quite an interesting outlook. He attended LaGuardia School of Art, Music, and Performing Arts before moving to California to study photography at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Never without his camera, Wyatt has taken countless photographs throughout his life and career, honing a multifaceted understanding of spaces and human dynamics, both natural and staged. Drawing from art history, he is always looking for a new way of seeing. As a photographer, he has documented incredible human portraits and intimate circumstances of intrigue. His experiences have instilled a heavy desire to share the situations he has documented visually. His development as an artist never stops due to the dynamic surroundings of his life.

This exhibit is curated and produced by Yael Greenberg/CURRENT PROJECTS. 

SACRED ORNAMENTS BY MALADO BALDWIN - A PRS LIBRARY EXHIBIT 

Opening: Saturday, June 22nd, 2019 - 5pm-8pm
Closing: Saturday, August 31, 2019
*Inner Light Embroidery sculpture and Talisman Charm were donated by the artist to the PRS Library and are permanently on display in the PRS Library

Malado Baldwin (b. Malado Francine Baldwin-Tejeda) is an American artist based in Los Angeles.  The daughter of Peace Corps volunteers and development workers, she spent her childhood in West Africa. Her diverse cultural and genetic background becomes a rich source for her telling of personal narratives as presented through larger cultural myths and histories. Highly researched and richly textured, Malado's work draws us into stories where symbolic artifacts from one culture can be reworked by another. New meaning is created in objects by allowing cultures to mix in surprising ways. The artist’s curiosity about her roots began a journey of exploration and discovery, and years of research into symbolic ornamentation across diverse cultures and religions. She began her research in our Library, so it is fitting to see her work displayed in this context, exemplifying our mission of the diversity of wisdom.
​
INNER LIGHT EMBROIDERIES (embroidery on fabric) 2018
The embroidered textile collars were made in the style of contemporary Senegalese embroidery. The designs are based on representations of sacred “inner light,” or “divine presence,” sometimes depicted as a halos or rays of light in Christian, Buddhist, and other religions. By flipping the imagery and turning them into vibrantly-colored ornamental wearables in collaboration with Muslim tailors, they become newly symbolic works of art. They are presented encased as in a jewelry display, as objects to ponder.
PECTORAL (3D print) 2018
The "wind breastplate" of the “feathered serpent" -a Mesoamerican iconic image of Quetzalcoatl’s pectoral is rendered as a 3D print as a "ghost image" in white of a disappearing artifact. Traditionally the pectorals were made of conch shells and worn by priests throughout the region of various religions, and through generations.  As original artifacts, few remain. In Nahuatl, the neckpiece is called the ehecailacacozcatl, meaning the wind before a rainstorm, or the “spirally voluted wind jewel.” As the multi-faceted God of wind, air, and learning,  the planet Venus, of arts, crafts, and knowledge, Quetzalcoatl is depicted as a benevolent God who taught humans science and invented the calendar.
HALO / CROWN (3D print) 2019
This 3D-printed “ghost image” of a halo, crown, or laurel, is based on depictions of the Virgin Mary in Mexican and Italian sculptures. Halos often represent a circle of light around a holy person or saint. It is a modern “pop” interpretation, which includes snakes, daisies, and moons. With thirteen extended rays carrying flowers, the Chinese lucky number symbolizes ‘assured growth’ and ‘vibrancy’.
TALISMANS / CHARMS (3D prints) 2019
In these jewelry-like 3D-printed objects, versatile symbolic talismans are fashioned in multiple mediums in geometries of colored plastic and plated metals. They recall Tuareg veil weights, or veil fasteners worn by the nomadic women in the African desert to keep their head scarfs from flying off in the wind, also called “assrou n’ swoul”, or, “the key which is thrown over the shoulder”.  Made as wearable pendants or charms, they are intended to bring good luck and to unlock wishes.