Shovel + Sky
November 10, 2018 - January 13, 2019
Travis Grant | Sarah Hearn | Michael Kondel
“I dwell in a lonely house I know
That vanished many a summer ago
And left no trace but the cellar walls
And a cellar in which the daylight falls.”
-Robert Frost, Ghost House
In scuffed floorboards culled from old homes, in the mysteries of meteorology, to the unconsidered weatherings of a family barn: Travis Grant, Sarah Hearn, and Michael Kondel cement personal moments while wiring circuits of connection through ubiquitous, functional materials. Hearn photographs the Midwestern clouds, then transfers the print to a shaped fresco. To many, Hearn’s shapes may appear as geometric, abstract forms that stand in contrast to the pictured amorphous clouds; however, an informed viewer can recognize the shapes of international weather symbols within the structures. Likewise, Grant’s quiet, austere forms bear connection to minimalist sculpture while his chosen materials - repurposed wood, clamps and other tools - playfully wink to contractors and woodworkers. Printmaking is physical memory in Kondel’s work; his canvases bear testament to the rafters where they’ve hung and the grounds where they’ve lain. Using rust, line chalk powder, dirt and stains, Kondel further merges the physical presence of place with the visual while picturing places of contemplation, birth, death and distance. From a farm in Michigan, to a field in Kansas City, cloud types will reappear and structures may still stand, but their meaning is contingent upon who stands beneath or within.
Curated by Nadine Beauharnois & Morgan Hobbs