"Second Nature" - a four person show

Hashimoto Contemporary is proud to present “Second Nature”, a group exhibition featuring work by Bessma Khalaf, Jacqueline Norheim, Steuart Pittman and Dan Swindel.

"Second Nature" navigates a conversation between incident and transformation. These four artists - each currently based in Oakland, CA - form their practices around the representation of experience as material. In reference to the idiom "second nature", the works on display are a result of an innate pull to continually transcribe and further expand one's surroundings.

Bessma Khalaf investigates the boundaries of place through a methodical practice of degradation and endurance. Working within a multitude of mediums, such as video, performance, and photography, Khalaf’s practice takes root in the coalition between futility and possibility. Her short video piece “In The Woods” (2014) presents a calm scene of blue sky filtering through a covering of trees. The tranquility of the shot is soon compromised by a jarring rearrangement of perspectives, challenging the viewer’s understanding of space and reality.

Jacqueline Norheim’s work explores a visual reinterpretation of the natural world. Combining the use of paint, collage, textiles and photography, the artist pulls from her personal tie to the landscape and produces a sensation of apparition. "Near Far" (2015) and "Far Near" (2015) are works on canvas that survey a rocky riverbed and stark desert horizon through the use of photo-transfers and a diffusion of spray paint. Norheim’s process of adding and subtracting information from her images alters the perceived candor of her photography with gestural imperfections of the hand, creating a fabricated reality of the artist’s time spent in each location.

Dan Swindel’s photographic work navigates between the two-dimensional image and the three-dimensional sculpture. Creating free-standing pieces on the floor or hanging images molded within the snug corner of a room, Swindel molds his photographs into singular objects that can be experienced on multiple levels. His images play with the subject of human intervention within the local landscape. This theme further reflects upon the artist’s own interference of photography as a medium.

Steuart Pittman’s carefully rendered oil paintings speak with a language of simplicity and formality upon first glance. However, through further investigation, each piece establishes a steady presence that is made known through the artist’s process and presentation. For Pittman the act of painting is an extension of experience, with each work serving as a votive object. In his piece “Anything is Impossible”, Pittman depicts a dugout fence of a baseball diamond that captures the artist’s time spent with his local baseball team.

Please join us for “Second Nature”, opening Thursday, November 5 with an evening reception from 6pm - 10pm where the artists will be in attendance.

The exhibition will be on view through Saturday, November 14. For more information, additional images, or to request a collector's preview, please email us at [email protected]