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David Hartt, Negative Space, 2018. Tapestry, 5% Trevira CS, 19% cotton, 28% wool and 38% Acrylic, Edition 1 of 3, 9.5 x 18 ft. (2.9 m x 5.5 m). Commissioned by the Institute for Contemporary Art, Virginia Commonwealth University, with additional support from David Nolan Gallery and Corbett vs. Dempsey. Photo: David Hale
Photo: David Hale
Installation Shot: Abbas Akhavan, Untitled Garden, 2008/2018. Installation including Emerald Green Arborvitaes, planter, soil, and water, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and Catriona Jeffries, Vancouver. Photo: David Hale
Pascale Marthine Tayou, Plastic Tree, 2014¬-2018. Branches and plastic bags, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and GALLERIA CONTINUA, San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins. Photo: David Hale:
Pascale Marthine Tayou, Colored Stones, 2015-2018. Granite setts, paint, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and GALLERIA CONTINUA, San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins. Photo: David Hale
David Hartt, Artifact, 2017, Aluminum, polycarbonate, steel chains. Image courtesy of the artist and Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin.
Julianne Swartz, Sine Body, 2017. Blown glass, unglazed porcelain, electronics, and sound generated from the objects, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and Josee Bienvenu Gallery. Photo: David Hale
Hedges, Edges, Dirt
October 17, 2018 – January 6, 2019
Hedges, Edges, Dirt considers how we relate to our surroundings and to each other, whether we are rooted in place or in transition.
Five artists—Abbas Akhavan, Jonathas de Andrade, David Hartt, Julianne Swartz, and Pascale Marthine Tayou—are each represented here by a focused body of work. This international group of artists—many of whom live outside their culture of origin—deploys play, beauty, and poetry to complicate and reimagine interrelationships among nature and culture, bodies and spaces.
Their poetic, conceptual, richly material art is presented on the first and second floors of the Markel Center. As you explore, we encourage you to contemplate how the works on view relate to each other and to the space, and to consider these questions: What does it mean to perceive ourselves and others as native or non-native? As welcome guests or invasive species? How do we navigate real or imagined borders and boundaries? How do expressions of power, dominance, and vulnerability permeate our experience of place, self, and others?
Co-curated by ICA Assistant Curator Amber Esseiva and Chief Curator Stephanie Smith.
Pascale Marthine Tayou, Plastic Tree, 2014-2015 branches, plastic bags Variable dimensions Exhibition view Art Basel Unlimited - Basel, Switzerland, 2015 Courtesy the artist and GALLERIA CONTINUA, San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins / Habana Photo by Andrea Rossetti
Mobile Tour
No time for a guided tour but want more info? Listen in as ICA staff, artists, experts, and other interesting folks share their thoughts and unique perspectives about our exhibitions and architecture.
Abbas Akhavan, Untitled Garden, 2008/2018. Installation including Emerald Green Arborvitaes, planter, soil, and water, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and Catriona Jeffries, Vancouver. Photo: David Hale
David Hartt, Artifact, 2017, Aluminum, polycarbonate, steel chains. Image courtesy of the artist and Galerie Thomas Schulte, Berlin.
Pascale Marthine Tayou, Plastic Tree, 2014¬-2018. Branches and plastic bags, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and GALLERIA CONTINUA, San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins. Photo: David Hale:
Pascale Marthine Tayou, Colored Stones, 2015-2018. Granite setts, paint, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and GALLERIA CONTINUA, San Gimignano / Beijing / Les Moulins. Photo: David Hale
Julianne Swartz, Sine Body, 2017. Blown glass, unglazed porcelain, electronics, and sound generated from the objects, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and Josee Bienvenu Gallery. Photo: David Hale
David Hartt, Negative Space, 2018. Tapestry, 5% Trevira CS, 19% cotton, 28% wool and 38% Acrylic, Edition 1 of 3, 9.5 x 18 ft. (2.9 m x 5.5 m). Commissioned by the Institute for Contemporary Art, Virginia Commonwealth University, with additional support from David Nolan Gallery and Corbett vs. Dempsey. Photo: David Hale
Jonathas de Andrade, O Peixe, 2016. 16mm film transferred to 2k, color, sound, 38:00 minutes. Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, gift of Mary and Earle Ludgin by exchange, 2017.3. Photo: David Hale
Abbas Akhavan, Study for a Curtain, 2015/2018. Installation including plants not native to Richmond, sticks, oscillating fan, and wind chime, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and Catriona Jeffries, Vancouver. Photo: David Hale
ICA Curatorial Intern and Maggie Walker Governor’s School Senior Julia Parks shares her unique perspective on the works and artists of Hedges, Edges, Dirt.
Blog: Seeing Stones: Pascale Martine Tayou’s “Colored Stones”
Julia Park
Nov 6, 2018
Ripped out of their “correct” place in the street and in the ground, Tayou asks us to examine what we perceive to be permanent in the landscape of our constructed cities and world.
Blog: Gardens as Domesticated Exclusion: Abbas Akhavan’s “Untitled Garden”
Julia Park
Oct 30, 2018
There is no doubt that the hedges in Untitled Garden are beautiful, even mysterious, feats of horticulture. Beyond this, however, there is a deeper meaning as intended by the artist. What, then, do Akhavan’s hedges mean - especially in the context of Richmond?
Blog: Rashid Johnson’s “Monument” // What Does It Mean to Activate a Work of Art?
Julia Park
Nov 19, 2018
I sat down on the bench and looked up at Rashid Johnson’s “Monument,” a 20-foot high tower constructed of a metal grid brimming with potted plant life, shea butter sculptures, stacked books, and video monitors. The piece officially kicks off the ICA’s annual Provocations series, which invites artists to interpret the unique True Farr Luck Gallery located on the top floor of the ICA’s Markel Center. The First African Baptist Church Contemporary Choir had just finished performing the last notes of their encore, and the room was alive and buzzing.
Blog: Existing in the Physical Body: Julianne Swartz’s “Sine Body”
Julia Park
Dec 7, 2018
Co-existing with the vessels is strange because it is an experience to which we are not accustomed. In the moment of discomfort, I feel every part of my body. I am almost painfully aware of every innard, limb, and extremity. It is a full sensory experience of the body, which I have not felt in a while.