MUSHROOMS & HONEY at metro pcs

Artists: Merideth Hillbrand, Whitney Hubbs, Ian James, Nick Kramer, Julia Leonard, Candice Lin, Anna Mayer, Devon Oder, Matt Siegle, LeRoy Stevens

Exhibition title: MUSHROOMS & HONEY

Organized by: Nick Kramer

Venue: metro pcs, Los Angeles, US

Date: May 14 – July 2, 2016

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and metro pcs, Los Angeles

metro pcs and ANIMALS WITH HUMAN RIGHTS HUMANS WITH ANIMAL RIGHTS present

MUSHROOMS & HONEY

in collaboration with Either Way LA

May 14 – July 2, 2016
Opening Saturday, May 14, 2016
11 AM – 4 PM at Nuisance Alley, Echo Park
7 – 10 PM at metro pcs, Chinatown

with
Merideth Hillbrand, Whitney Hubbs, Ian James, Nick Kramer, Julia Leonard, Candice Lin, Anna Mayer, Devon
Oder, Matt Siegle, LeRoy Stevens
~ Organized by Nick Kramer ~

I’ve invited you for many reasons. I value my encounters with your work and I value the opportunity I’ve had to think about it for a long time, that is, to remember it. You are all artists whose work I admire and loosely associate with “outside” or “outdoors” and, most importantly for me, you resonate as a group in other, less definable ways. Maybe you project a certain calm. Or, maybe I like to imagine your work in unfiltered daylight. Planted in time and conversation I trust that our ideas will expand and coalesce.

Honey, sweet bio-gold, isn’t made in plastic bears and mushrooms aren’t convenient stools for tiny creatures. The thing is, both honey and mushrooms keep their truths secret from all but the most dedicated connoisseur. Mushrooms are basically the official plant of the avant-garde* and honey is the moon juice of spiritual correctness. Held secret in hives and beneath the ground these two substances embody weird math lurking outside the easy purview of us human animals.

The connections I draw here are not reflective of the facts or respectful of nature’s patterns. Rather, they are based on an imagination of the world via distant, hidden metaphors. Let your mind wander, ask yourself if, and how, you can you compress the alien rhythms, expressions and textures of creepy nature into a form that is at all compatible with human understanding.

To give meaning to the shortness of the afternoon (mushrooms), I wanted weeks (honey). I wanted a container, like a hive, to keep all this honey. I wanted something like a mycelial bloom balanced with the frantic orchestration of a hive, each with its own patterns, speed and scale: Mushrooms & Honey.

For the first event of the day, we will gather in a disused alley from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m., for the brief, outdoor section of the show. Then, as day turns into evening, metro pcs will house the second, slow section of Mushrooms & Honey. This exhibition will open from 7 p.m. until 10 p.m. on Saturday, May 14, and be on view until 6 p.m. Saturday, July 2 (with regular hours in between).

– Nick Kramer

Anna Mayer, No End of Channels 18 (Figuring), 2016. Ceramic

Anna Mayer, No End of Channels 18 (Figuring), 2016 (detail). Ceramic

Candice Lin, Mushroom study 2 (Oyster), 2016. Ceramic, human hair, string, plasticine, epoxy and dried homegrown mushrooms

Candice Lin, Mushroom study 2 (Oyster), 2016 (detail). Ceramic, human hair, string, plasticine, epoxy and dried homegrown mushrooms

Candice Lin, Clairvoyant Testosterone, 2016. Herbal tincture with mineral essences, porcelain

Candice Lin, Mushroom study 1 (Lion’s Mane), 2016. Ceramic, epoxy, and dried homegrown mushrooms

Devon Oder, The Flats, 2014. Archival inkjet print

Ian James, Wolf River Harbor (looking east), 2016. Pigment print, coroplast, grommets

Julia Leonard, Meanwhile 3, 2016. Ink on paper

LeRoy Stevens, Cosmos, 2014. Pencil on paper on LP

LeRoy Stevens, Cosmos, 2015. Digital Video, TRT 20:45

Matt Siegle, New Model Law’s Domicile, w/ bag, 2016. Anodized aluminum, acrylic on Tyvek (DuPont HomeWrap®), found tarp with grommets, paracord, sunbleached Coke can, recycled jeans insulation, PVC, staples, other mixed material

Matt Siegle, New Model Law’s Domicile, w/ bag, 2016 (detail). Anodized aluminum, acrylic on Tyvek (DuPont HomeWrap®), found tarp with grommets, paracord, sunbleached Coke can, recycled jeans insulation, PVC, staples, other mixed material