high plains, three-person exhibition

Johansson Projects, with Blaise Rosenthal & Andy Vogt 

Oakland

January 8 - February 26, 2022

Johansson Projects presents High Plains, a three-person exhibition featuring the work of Rachelle Bussières, Blaise Rosenthal and Andy Vogt. Ranging in mediums from exposures on gelatin silver photo paper, to reclaimed wood lath constructions, and layered painting and drawing on canvas, these three artists use unique vocabularies to compose reflections of individual experience. Their practices share in the use of time and transmutation, each performing acts of alchemy in the studio that shift their humble materials in the direction of the sublime. The exhibition opens January 8 and will run through February 26, 2022

Beyond materials and process, High Plains draws our attention to an open and varied landscape where an endless possibility of sight lines and visual experiences can be imagined. It also alludes to the idea of “planes of abstraction” where new and open-ended visual languages provide a way of examining the endless potentials of conscious reality.


Rachelle Bussières’ (b. 1986) practice is based on exploring the impact of light on our psyche, environment and social structures. The products of her process, known as lumen printmaking, include photograms that oscillate between two-dimensional images and three-dimensional objects. These are windows on interior spaces that grow and are depleted by sunlight, as well as artificial light sources such as flashes and light bulbs. She seeks to generate new ways of seeing, to challenge our beliefs and intuitions about perception, and draw attention to the ways in which light and shadow sculpt new optical space.


The first home Blaise Rosenthal (b. 1973) remembers was on the edge of nowhere. At the end of a dirt road in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada he spent his formative years. The elemental character of this environment and its aesthetic vocabulary became archetypal for him. Earth, water, fire, and wind; all in local forms. Seasons. Dusty bare feet and no shirt through dry heat Summers, and the sound of crickets at night. Stars beyond counting. The still death of autumn. Winter, with rain on the roof, the smell of cold smoke, and darkness. And then spring, and resurrection. This place formed his bones and his blood, and much of what is true about him. It made what is his, and what he has to share. It is from the residue of this experience that he forms his paintings.


Andy Vogt’s (b. 1970) work straddles the line between sculpture and drawing, or put another way; between the physical and the imagined. He often uses repetition of physical materials and variation of the material’s color to depict shapes that capitalize on our reflex to see dimension where none, or very little, exists in reality. The works included in “High Plains” are part of a series that utilizes thin strips of wood salvaged from the destruction of lath and plaster walls during the renovation of older buildings. The forms in this series are inspired by the moment of upheaval that architectural demolition brings. When the wrecking ball takes down a vintage building, the materials are thrown into chaos, lightened through the entropic release of force. For Vogt, they change states and become a drawing medium where new forms emerge from the dusty rubble.


Exposures on gelatin silver paper and archival pigment prints, 20 x 24 inches/each

20 x 24 x 1 inches/each, exposures on gelatin silver paper

When Light Becomes Form: Processing Photography, group exhibition

San Francisco State University

Organized by Kevin Chen & Sharon E.Bliss

February 19 - March 31, 2022

How do we consider what makes a photograph in this time of merging and diverging technologies? Every photograph, regardless of format or process, begins with and can be simplified to being a product of light, time, and materiality – the recording of the image. When Light Becomes Form: Processing Photography explores a variety of unconventionally innovative, and sometimes antiquated, photographic techniques, and celebrates the subjectivity of the definition of photography. By reframing the way photography is traditionally presented, the exhibition highlights the way these ten artists tangibly shape light using the conceptual tool of time. Featuring Lisa K. Blatt, Rachelle Bussières, Adam Chin, Binh Danh, Chris Duncan, Amy Elkins, Kija Lucas, Felix Quintana, Ron Moultrie Saunders, and Andrew Wilson. 

'Overview Collection'

TWIN NFT, organized by Mike Tan

TWIN wants to be the decentralized museum of the future. This is an ambitious goal which reimagines the museum as bottom-up, global and constantly shaping the future. NFTs aren’t just collectible, they should stand for something.


They can be programmed to be far more interesting than a web2 image linked to a token. With Editions, every NFT is forever linked to a cause chosen by the creator. Whether it’s a reforestation project or the Wikimedia Foundation, every NFT now benefits the world and shapes the future in a tangible way.


TWIN x Space for Humanity


Space for Humanity is organizing the planet’s first Sponsored Citizen Astronaut Program, where leaders, from any walk of life, can apply for an opportunity to go to space and experience the Overview Effect: the cognitive shift in awareness that occurs when a human being looks down on the Earth from space.

Each year, a new crew is selected from a diverse group of leaders from around the globe. Upon their return, each citizen astronaut has a commitment to leveraging that experience for the collective good.

Through our citizen spaceflight program, leadership training, and collaborative efforts to educate the public, we are setting the stage to create the world we want, both here on Earth and throughout the cosmos

We believe our future in space will be determined by who we resolve to be on Earth, today.