Jared Pankin: Places I Seen, Things I Seen

JARED PANKIN
Places I Been, Things I Seen

Reception: Saturday, October 21, 6-9 pm

Coming off his critically acclaimed debut exhibition last year, Jared Pankin will be featured in his second solo show at the Carl Berg Gallery (CBG) this fall. Pankin’s first solo exhibition at CBG received rave reviews in ArtForum, Art in America, Artweek and the Los Angeles Times and his second solo exhibition should prove to be as exciting and fresh as his debut show.

Pankin’s new sculpture still finds itself in the realm of landscape and is derived from the artist’s vivid imagination of places he has visited throughout his life. His work however has taken a turn and is now more detailed and dense, the forms become more sculptural, and their explosive elements make them less of a tableau. This is most prevalent in “Lucky Strike Three, Shit Hits the Fan” which juts from the wall in all directions. Two other sculptures “Long Arm of the Draw Bridge” and “Man Look Over Valley” again employ explosive elements that occupy the architectural space of the gallery and force the viewer to be engaged in a physical realm outside of the safe comfort of passive viewing.

The materials Pankin uses are still those of seemingly random bits of wood including two by fours, plywood, and moldings that have been cut, nailed, and glued to suite the artist’s needs. In many respects, the process could be viewed as akin to drawing as elements are both added and subtracted until the piece is finished. It is this process that has enabled the artist to create sculptures of enormous power and subtle humor that tear down and reconfigure what is natural or man-made.

Jared Pankin was recently featured in a solo show at Rubicon Gallery, Dublin, Ireland, participated in a group show titled “Clutter” at the Carl Berg Projects in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and was represented in a in a two-person show at ARCO ’06 Art Fair in Madrid, Spain.