Gerald Peters Contemporary is pleased to announce Among Monsters, a group exhibition of artists whose works address and reinterpret mythological references. The thematic presentation will include paintings, sculptures, textiles, and works on paper from Nani Chacon, Esther Elia, Angelica Raquel, Gil Rocha, Peter Rogers, and Hank Saxe.
Throughout history, mythologies have provided explanations for humankind’s existential surroundings through collective beliefs and shared verbal and visual narratives. The artists included in this exhibition preserve and evolve this tradition, drawing on mythological references to explore identity, fear, nostalgia, and socio-political conditions.
A resident of Taos, New Mexico since the early 1970s, Hank Saxe (b. 1950) has worked in industrial and commercial ceramic production, challenging his forms in scale and uniformity. Saxe credits the repetitive nature of ceramic production as the trigger of his subconscious manifestation of forms such as monsters, protective spirits, or neutral entities.
“These monsters came about as the inevitable and logical outcomes of clay working processes I have engaged in. The repetitive nature of ceramic production can trigger the subconscious manifestation of forms like these. Whether they be monsters, protective spirits, or neutral entities, they are not far away from their maker. They are simply waiting for the opportunity to come forward.
This selection of ceramic heads comes from a series of renderings based on a single object, made in the 1990s. These were made in response to conversations with Kenny Price about exercises he employed while teaching in the art department at the University of Southern California.
Some of the objects I have provided for this exhibition are small-scale golems, or they could be, given the right type of activation. Golems have a long history, dating back to the Garden of Eden. Perhaps they have existed for as long as human beings have been around, depending on what stories a person subscribes to.
Golems begin as inanimate lumps of clay. By some accounts, they can be animated with the right sort of procedures or incantations. Golems have served many purposes over time but managing them is tricky. They can be useful helpers, but sometimes they can run wild. These golems are inanimate, they’re not going to be going out on their own; they’re not even thinking about it.”
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