“Gas Giant,” 2012, Installation at Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago
In conjunction with “Gas Giant” opening at the MOCA in LA this weekend, Jacob Hashimoto is currently presenting a collection of his installation’s studies at Martha Otero Gallery. The studies represent the work’s blueprint and inspiration. Hashimoto reimagined the large-scale work for its latest showing at the MOCA since its previous iterations at Rhona Hoffman Gallery in Chicago in 2012 and Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice, Italy in 2013. In their simplicity, Hashimoto’s drawings may be deceiving. They are a precursor to a wondrous landscape made entirely by hand from the most basic materials, such as wood, paper and string. In addition to the blueprints are beautifully rendered graphite patterns on paper echoing influences from artists like Agnes Martin and Jessica Stockholder.
Complimenting Hashimoto’s process work are yellow kites from gallerist Martha Otero’s own collection, hand strung one by one into impressive, puppet-like columns. The kites are significant as one of the starting points for “Gas Giant,” which fuses Hashimoto’s interest in pattern-making with an abstract interpretation of our relationship to space. The kites are a continued motif in his MOCA exhibition, which builds from the ground floor, chromatically up the stairs into an explosion of color in the second floor gallery. For anyone who plans to attend the show at the MOCA, showing March 1 through June 8, “Gas Giant Studies” will provide a deeper appreciation and rare glimpse of Jacob Hashimoto’s process. “Gas Giant Studies” exhibits at Martha Otero gallery February 20 – April 5, 2014.
“Gas Giant,” 2012, Installation at Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago
Jacob Hashimoto with his installation for “Gas Giant Studies” at Martha Otero Gallery