MAREN HASSINGER

Susan Inglett Gallery is pleased to present Process, Maren Hassinger’s third solo exhibition with the Gallery, from 20 April through 3 June 2023. The Gallery will host an opening reception with the artist on Thursday, 20 April from 6 – 8 PM. The artist will be present for a rolling...

Three large vessels framed in wire and clad in sheer fabric sway ethereally from the ceiling of the Gallery, two woven wire rope equivalents rest below feet firmly planted on the ground. Hassinger looks to the vessel for its rich history and symbolism, for its resonance with the human body. Scale brings these objects in direct communication with the viewer, while their anthropomorphic design sparks a sense of recognition. In the qualities shared by these vessels, and between us, we see our commonality writ large. We are indeed all Vessels.

For four decades, Maren Hassinger has worked in sculpture, installation, film/video, performance, and public art. Carefully selecting medium and materials for their own innate language and abilities, she has explored the space of movement, change, family, love, nature, environment, consumerism, identity and race. “As One” will focus on her recent projects surrounding issues of equality.

Bringing together the work of six intergenerational artists working across media, Body | Image examines the pre-reflective appearance of the corporeal in works of contemporary abstraction. Merleau-Ponty was the first to propose that one could not consider perception without considering the body as mediator of experience. On a conscious or subconscious level this interface is fundamental to the reception and perception of our world. The existence of the body in Art of the abstract/conceptual nature shown here, though surprising should not be unexpected.

Challenging the notion that socially or politically charged content cannot coexist with Beauty and Form, these twelve artists skillfully employ imagination, observation and humor to produce works that engage the viewer with thought and feeling. Informed by a particularly American experience and diverse cultural backgrounds, the artists (conceptually) tow a line between their local environments and a global existence. Lines between form and content do not exist or are blurred purposefully to insist on an art that both interrogates and gives pleasure.