JACOB HASHIMOTO
The First Known Map of the Moon
8 September to 29 October 2016
On 8 September 2016, Mary Boone Gallery will open at its Fifth Avenue location The First Known Map of the Moon, an exhibition of new works by JACOB HASHIMOTO.
With their arrangement of discs suspended from string, Jacob Hashimoto’s works – occupying a place between painting and sculpture – bear resemblance to models of a complex planetary system. For this exhibition, Hashimoto builds on this correlation to meditate on mankind’s enduring fascination with creating order of the world. The quest for knowledge represented in ancient celestial maps and bygone charts of the unknown serve as inspiration for new imagery and a new color palette.
The collective turn away from mystery, myth, and magic – an unfortunate and unintended result of rapid scientific advancement – resides at the crux of concerns driving Hashimoto’s work, which recuperates our sense of wonder via layers of overlapping “kites” of intricate cut paper collage and bamboo. When seen head-on, compositions coalesce suggesting cryptic diagrams or coded maps, then dissipate into illegible fragments when the works are viewed at an angle, an effect analogous to processes of the Information Age: pixelization of images, digital signal processing, compression of data.
In the small gallery, Hashimoto presents a new installation work, a ten by seven-foot square hanging column of resin-saturated paper modules. This medium – and its enduring physicality – represents a departure from earlier large-scale works, while the architectural volume defined by the translucent discs recalls his acclaimed 2014 installations Gas Giant at LA MOCA Pacific Design Center and Skyfarm Fortress at Mary Boone Gallery.
The exhibition, at 745 Fifth Avenue, is on view through 29 October 2016. For further information, please contact Ron Warren at the Gallery, or visit our website www.maryboonegallery.com.
