Olga Korper Gallery presents new drawings and sculptures by Barbara Hobot. An opening reception on Saturday, November 19 from 2 to 5 pm marks the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery.
“Can an artwork make itself?” This is the central question that propels Hobot’s studio practice. She speculates how a drawing might look if an object drew it and imagines what a sculpture might be like if it was willed into being by felt or rope. She is determined to reach beyond her own creative intentions and attempts this by using existing artworks as tools to create new ones.
Recently, Barbara has been cooperating with a hand-knotted nylon net, tracing and translating it to make drawings, collages and sculptures. Off-cuts from a sculpture make their way into a collage, while the shadows from a collage dictate the form of new drawings. Elements from one piece are resized, inverted, repeated, and even cannibalized to create new compositions. This circuitous process generates works that are related to one another, similar to a family tree.
Barbara’s drawings and sculptures propose what art might be like if human-centered decisions are reduced. Her studio-based research is complemented by theories such as post-anthropocentrism and panpsychism, helpful tools for considering the political possibilities within abstraction.
This exhibition is the result of a year of studio experimentation and speculation fueled by productive questions. How does abstraction shift the power dynamic between viewer and object? Can art exist without human-centered intentions? What would it look like?
Opening Reception
November 19, 2016 2:00 pm – 5:00 pmArtist Links
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Included Artworks
White Net in Tinted Space #6, 2016
Barbara Hobotwhite transfer, charcoal transfer, casein on paper 25.5" x 19.5"
