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Matthew Angelo Harrison at Jessica Silverman Gallery

October 28, 2020

Artist: Matthew Angelo Harrison

Venue: Jessica Silverman Gallery (online), San Francisco, US

Date: Online

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco

Jessica Silverman is pleased to present eight new sculptures by Matthew Angelo Harrison for the first edition of 8-bridges, the gallery platform named for the eight bridges that cross the San Francisco Bay.

Harrison creates enigmatic sculptures that explore anthropology, industrial design, science fiction and the realities of 21st century capitalism. As part of a new “Global Dissidents” series, Harrison has made resin encapsulations of fragments of car headlights. Figures that refuse their function, these rebels from the assembly line are like runaway slaves or robots gone rogue. The artist’s “Bodily Studies” take the form of thrones made of acrylic resin and real zebra bone. The combination of organic animal and petroleum-based acrylic is oxymoronic, evoking both preservation and extinction, while the sliced skulls create phantom faces.

The first presentation of 8-bridges is now live with exhibitions from committee galleries: Altman Siegel, Fraenkel Gallery, Friends Indeed, Gagosian, Jessica Silverman, Pace Gallery, and Ratio 3, as well as guest gallery, Rebecca Camacho Presents.

On the first Thursday of every month, 8-bridges will launch eight gallery shows and host one Bay Area non-profit arts organization, sponsored by Phillips. This month, we feature the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD), a contemporary art museum celebrating Black cultures.

A series of panel discussions about “Bridging the Bay Area Art World” starts on Wednesday, October 21st at 6pm, with a Zoom panel chaired by Sarah Thornton, featuring Alison Gass (Director, ICA San Jose), Julie Rodrigues Widholm (Director, Berkeley Art Museum), and Jay Xu (Director, Asian Art Museum).

Special thanks to our Ambassador Committee and Sponsors.

Harrison (b. 1989, Detroit, MI) completed his BFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2012. He has been awarded grants and fellowships by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), United States Artists, and Kresge Arts. He has enjoyed solo shows in the following public institutions: Broad Art Museum (East Lansing, MI); Atlanta Contemporary; and Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD). His work is in many permanent collections, including but not limited to: de Young Museum, San Francisco; Detroit Institute of Arts; Galeries Lafayette Foundation, Paris; Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. In June 2021, Harrison will debut his first European solo exhibition at the Kunsthalle Basel, and in October 2021, will open a solo exhibition at MIT List Visual Arts Center. Harrison lives and works in Detroit. He is represented by Jessica Silverman.

Matthew Angelo Harrison, Bodily Study: Fallow, 2020, Zebra skulls, tinted polyurethane resin, 32 1/4 x 15 3/4 x 20 1/4 inches, 81.9 x 40 x 51.4 cm

Matthew Angelo Harrison, Bodily Study: Stasis Restored, 2020, Zebra skulls, tinted polyurethane resin, 32 1/4 x 15 3/4 x 20 3/8 inches, 81.9 x 40 x 51.8 cm

Matthew Angelo Harrison, Bodily Study: Turbid Repose, 2020, Zebra skulls, tinted polyurethane resin, 32 1/4 x 15 x 19 inches, 81.9 x 38.1 x 48.3 cm

Matthew Angelo Harrison, Seer: Gleam Subdued, 2020, Headlight, tinted polyurethane resin, anodized aluminum, acrylic, Sculpture: 20 5/8 x 10 3/8 x 6 1/2 inches, 52.4 x 26.4 x 16.5 cm, Overall: 73 5/8 x 12 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches, 187 x 31.8 x 19.1 cm

Matthew Angelo Harrison, Seer: Lay Bare, 2020, Headlight, tinted polyurethane resin, anodized aluminum, acrylic, Sculpture: 20 5/8 x 10 3/8 x 6 1/2 inches, 52.4 x 26.4 x 16.5 cm, Overall: 73 5/8 x 12 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches, 187 x 31.8 x 19.1 cm

Matthew Angelo Harrison, Seer: Obstructed, 2020, Headlight, tinted polyurethane resin, anodized aluminum, acrylic, Sculpture: 20 5/8 x 10 3/8 x 6 1/2 inches, 52.4 x 26.4 x 16.5 cm, Overall: 73 5/8 x 12 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches, 187 x 31.8 x 19.1 cm

Matthew Angelo Harrison, Seer: Peering through Aurora, 2020, Headlight, tinted polyurethane resin, anodized aluminum, acrylic, Sculpture: 20 5/8 x 10 3/8 x 6 1/2 inches, 52.4 x 26.4 x 16.5 cm, Overall: 73 5/8 x 12 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches, 187 x 31.8 x 19.1 cm

Matthew Angelo Harrison, Seer: Peering through Gloam, 2020, Headlight, tinted polyurethane resin, anodized aluminum, acrylic, Sculpture: 20 5/8 x 10 3/8 x 6 1/2 inches, 52.4 x 26.4 x 16.5 cm, Overall: 73 5/8 x 12 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches