Channing Hansen: Morphogenesis

Stephen Friedman Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition of new, large-scale works by American artist Channing Hansen. Hansen’s paintings comprise abstract, hand-knitted constructions stretched over wooden frames. Developing his longstanding interest in the crossover between craft, science and technology, this new body of textiles is the most technically complex the artist has made to date.

The exhibition takes the late work of Alan Turing, WWII code breaker, and father of computer science as its inspiration. Turing’s theory of ‘morphogenesis’ hypothesised how patterns and structures such as stripes, spots, and spirals can form spontaneously in nature through genetic abnormalities. Inspired by Turing’s biological principle, the design of Hansen’s paintings in the exhibition are produced by a unique computer algorithm that is able to generate potentially infinite combinations of colour, fibre, and knit.

Channing Hansen was born in 1972 in Los Angeles USA, where he continues to live and work.

Notable solo exhibitions include: ‘Fluid Dynamics’, Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Beverly Hills, USA (2017); Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK (2017); ‘Self Portraits', CRG Gallery, New York, USA (2017); ‘K2’, Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Beverly Hills, USA (2016).

Notable group exhibitions include: ‘Inherent Structure', Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio, USA (2018); ‘Knowledges', Mount Wilson Observatory, Los Angeles, USA (2017); ‘Intertwined', The Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, New York, USA (2016); ‘The Slow Burn', Ditch Projects, Springfield, USA (2015); ‘When the Sun Hits', The Pit, Los Angeles, USA (2015); ‘Warp and Weft, Chain Stitch and Pearl: Textiles in the Ahmanson Collection', Fieldsted & Company, Los Angeles, USA (2015); ‘Made in LA', Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, USA (2014).

Hansen's work is included in a number of prominent international collections including: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, USA; The Ahmanson Foundation, Los Angeles, USA.