SARAH BRAMAN JESSICA JACKSON HUTCHINS MICHAEL MAHALCHICK JOHANNES VANDERBEEK

At its best sculpture exists not about things but as things themselves, interacting and intertwining with us on an equal ground. The sculptures in Memories are Made are imbued with humanity allowing a closer relationship to our own existence and, possibly, our sense of memory.

In Jessica Jackson Hutchins sculpture, Hanging Figure 2, an obliquely figurative and richly glazed ceramic vessel is suspended in a hammock beautifully made from braided fabric taken from old textiles belonging to her and her children. VanDerBeek’s work, Cloud #1, involves a cast taken from the wall of his home and studio, which has been manipulated to portray thunder in a frozen form. Though communicated subtly, the distortion between surface and volume becomes in a way a physical realization and questioning of his spiritual relationship to his surroundings.

Through a process of erasure and trace, one thing becomes another without ever totally losing sight of its original. In Mahalchick’s, You’ve Learned Nothing, the whole is organically formed from a combination of ‘impotent elements’ that collectively form a rich and engaging narrative of cogitation. The disparate nature of the fragments invites the viewer to assign meaning and complete the narrative. There is a sense of natural growth that comes from this unguarded, personal engagement with the materials. Braman’s titles alone show the immediacy with which the sculpture is evoked from memories, thoughts and hopes. She describes her work as ‘monuments to the people I love and the joy and confusion I feel in being alive’. Collectively the works in the show communicate in an abstract language, but not simply of form and mark making, but also the abstract and personal nature of thought.

Braman has exhibited widely including ICA, Philadelphia and PS1/MoMA. In September 2010 she had a major solo show at Le Confort Moderne, a large institutional space France, and will have a solo exhibition at MACRO, Rome in May 2011. She lives and works between Amherst, Mass. and New York City and is one of the founders of CANADA Gallery.

Hutchins lives and works in Portland, OR. Her work has been exhibited at the Seattle Art Museum; 2010: The Whitney Biennial, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and the ICA Philadelphia. Her work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Seattle Art Museum. A solo exhibition of her work opens at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center April 2011. She is represented by Laurel Gitlen, New York.

Mahalchick lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. He has exhibited at The Kitchen, New York; Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Frankfurt Kunstverein, Frankfurt am Main, Willy Wonka Inc., Oslo; David Zwirner, New York, CANADA Gallery, New York, Kate MacGarry, London and Greene/Naftali, New York. He is represented by CANADA Gallery, New York.

VanDerBeek graduated from Cooper Union in 2004. His work was exhibited in National Projects at PS1/MoMA and Amazement Park: Stan, Sara and Johannes VanDerBeek at the Tang Museum at Skidmore College. He is lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. He is represented by Zach Feuer Gallery.