Jason Hendrik Hansma at The Van Doesburg House Foundation

Artist: Jason Hendrik Hansma

Exhibition title: When it Comes to Certain Rooms

Venue: The Van Doesburg House Foundation, Meudon, Paris, France

Date: July 13 – September 21, 2019

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and The Van Doesburg House Foundation

The Van Doesburg House Foundation is pleased to present ‘When it Comes to Certain Rooms’ a solo exhibition by artist Jason Hendrik Hansma within the former home and studio of Theo and Nelly van Doesburg in Paris, France.

The title ‘When it Comes to Certain Rooms’ was inspired by Van Doesburg’s house and studio where no standard measurements were applied to the design of the house. Jason Hendrik Hansma worked with what he termed ‘softer standard’ in opposition to so-called harder ‘universal standards’ which were being promoted by Van Doesburg’s modernist contemporaries at the time.

In the kitchen of the Doesburg’s home, a cast concrete table became the starting point for the new body of work. The table cast for Van Doesburg’s 167cm height was originally intended as a standing table, and is now often mistaken as a sitting table. The ambiguity of the height and the notion of sitting at the table with different bodies, past, present and future formed the ideas for Hansma’s new body of work. An adaptable standard willing to break away from normative structures, one built to the proximity and willingness to encompass other bodies onto its pane, and vice versa for the architecture to reciprocate and incorporate a standard where a build – ing, artwork, and structure can change, adapt, and be reworked.

Hansma will present a series of new works ranging from painting, photography, text and glass works, as well as a new collaborative work with artist Damon Zucconi. All interrogating the idea of abstraction from the stan-dard through unfixing qualities of liquidity, identity and the body. Hansma presents works that undermine the modernist logic of othering by considering the space of the pre-articulate, before the grid. Partly a reflection on the artist’s personal history with a neurological disabil-ity that resulted in language loss, a new essay on these ideas will be available in the house (and later online) in accompaniment to the work. The essay is supported by annotations from Élisabeth Lebovici, Joseph Grigely and Gordon Hall who provide an expansive and generous set of references for the reader.

The Van Doesburg studio-house is one of the best known artists’ homes from the interwar period, and was designed by Theo van Doesburg for himself and partner Nelly towards the end of the 1920s in Meudon-Val-Fleury, a suburb of Paris. Van Doesburg could finally translate his views on art and life into an architectural creation in the city where the international avant -garde had settled. The house was completed at the end of 1930.

Using photography, sculpture, drawing, text, glass, video, and painting, artist Jason Hendrik Hansma explores the notions of the in-between, the liminal, and the nearly articulate. For Hansma, a photograph might be created over months, a glasswork’s borders could extend to being installed in transitory architectural spaces, a curtain might slow down an exhibition, providing a soft cut, moved by a light breeze from outside air. In his work, language (and the loss of language) plays a key role in thinking through the politics of aesthetics, the body and presentation. Jason Hendrik Hansma was born in Lahore Pakistan in 1988. Exhibitions, performances, readings and screenings have been included at the

Eye Filmmuseum, Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst Aachen, Contemporary Art Centre Vilnius, Centre Georges Pompidou, Parc Saint-Léger Centre d’art Contemporain, Hordaland Kunstsenter, Centre International d’art et du paysage de l’île de Vassivière, Center For Contemporary Art Futura, Jan van Eyck and De Appel among others.

The development and exhibition is kindly supported by the Creative Industries Fund NL and the Stichting Niemeijer Fonds.

Jason Hendrik Hansma, When it Comes to Certain Rooms, 2019, exhibition view, The Van Doesburg House Foundation

Jason Hendrik Hansma, Shear II, Polished glass, polished screw, silver fiberoptic cabling, 54cm x 7cm, 2019

Jason Hendrik Hansma, When it Comes to Certain Rooms, 2019, exhibition view, The Van Doesburg House Foundation

Jason Hendrik Hansma, Sheer, Set of 40 enamel paintings on multi-wall plastic, 100cm x 60cm, 2019

Jason Hendrik Hansma, Rush, and Light the Sun, In collaboration with Damon Zucconi, Acrylic, LCD panels, single-board computer, custom written code, 2019

Jason Hendrik Hansma, Shear I, Polished glass, titanium, silver, fiberoptic cabling, 54cm x 8cm, 2019

Jason Hendrik Hansma, When it Comes to Certain Rooms, 2019, exhibition view, The Van Doesburg House Foundation

Jason Hendrik Hansma, Sheer, Set of 40 enamel paintings on multi-wall plastic, 100cm x 60cm, 2019

Jason Hendrik Hansma, When it Comes to Certain Rooms, 2019, exhibition view, The Van Doesburg House Foundation

Jason Hendrik Hansma, Untitled, Silver gelatin prints, 14cm x 22cm 12cm x 14cm, 2019

Jason Hendrik Hansma, Sheer, Set of 40 enamel paintings on multi-wall plastic, 100cm x 60cm, 2019

Jason Hendrik Hansma, When it Comes to Certain Rooms, 2019, exhibition view, The Van Doesburg House Foundation

Jason Hendrik Hansma, Sheer, Set of 40 enamel paintings on multi-wall plastic, 100cm x 60cm, 2019

Jason Hendrik Hansma, When it Comes to Certain Songs, Essay with annotations by Joseph Grigely, Élisabeth Lebovici and Gordon Hall, 7 A4 pages, 2019