Hudson (Show)Room Exhibition: Jim Hodges

Jim Hodges: Returning
01.09.03

About the Artist
A native of Spokane, Washington, Hodges currently resides in New York. He received his BFA from Fort Wright College in Spokane, Washington in 1980 and his MFA from the Pratt Institute of Art, Brooklyn, New York in 1986.

Numerous solo exhibitions have been mounted at institutions including the Capp Street Project, Oakland, CA; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA; The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO; Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY; Miami Art Museum, FL; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; SITE Santa Fe, NM; and the Fabric Workshop, Philadelphia, PA.

Hodges's work has also been seen in multiple group exhibitions including the 1997 Venice Biennale, the 1996 São Paulo Bienal, Regarding Beauty: A View of the Late 20th Century, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC; and Present Tense: Nine Artists in the Nineties, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA. In addition, Hodges is a recipient of grants from the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Washington Sate Arts Commission.

About the Exhibition
Returning is work created during Hodges's recent residency in the Lab Grant Program at the Dieu Donné Papermill in New York. While at Dieu Donné, Hodges experimented with a process new to him—creating drawings with handmade paper. Forming various hues of abaca paper pulp from pigments of pure color, then working from top to bottom and left to right to lay down and overlap sheets of this wet pulp, Hodges constructed three large-scale panels measuring 60 x 40 inches each. Once fused with a hydraulic press, these patchwork panels were cut into thirty-six individual works, each measuring 15 x 13 inches. The division from three panels to thirty-six allows the artist to play with the presentation of the piece, shuffling the individual sheets into new formations to call attention to the conditions of connection and separation, examining how each part relates to the whole.

Reversing his usual working process, Hodges considered the physical aspects of the materials involved in papermaking before developing any initial sketches for Returning. Color was one of the most important aspects of this work—Hodges considers it the purest form of expression. The artist relied heavily on his intuition to carefully place each layer of the pigmented pulp, creating new shades of color. At first glance the work is deceptively simple, on closer inspection the degree of opacity and translucence along with the subtle juxtapositions of color reveal Hodges's intention: to transform basic elements into emotionally charged metaphors for human experience.

Returning stretches the definition of editioning artwork—it was fabricated in twenty-seven variants of each of the thirty-six sheets. Thus each paper pulp panel is unique—the poetic shifts in color could not be precisely reproduced as a result of the differing levels of pigment saturation and the way in which the overlapping layers fuse together. In this new work, Hodges draws upon and further addresses concerns raised in previous works where he has utilized commonplace, unassuming objects such as light bulbs, flowers, metal chains, and napkins to thoughtfully consider the elusive issues of memory, time, relationships, loss, and place. Returning quietly evokes emotion by engaging the audience in contemplative reflections of the transitory moment.

Exhibition Dates
January 9 – April 6, 2003

Opening Reception
Thursday, January 9, 6:30-8:00 PM

Gallery Walk-Thru with the Artist
Thursday, January 9, 7:00 PM

Brown Bag Lunch
Wednesday, March 19, 12:00-1:00 PM
Join us for a tour of Jim Hodges—Returning and a brown bag lunch provided by Pecan Street Deli. Please call ArtPace to make reservations.

Event Location
All events held at ArtPace, 445 N. Main Avenue. Free parking at N. Flores and Savings Streets. ArtPace is open to the public Wednesday thru Sunday, 12-5 PM, Thursday 12-8 PM, and by appointment. There is no charge for admission.

About ArtPace
ArtPace, A Foundation for Contemporary Art | San Antonio serves as an advocate for contemporary art and as a catalyst for the creation of significant art projects. We seek to nurture emerging and established artists and to provide opportunities for inspiration, experimentation and education. Through our International Artist-in-Residence Program, we invite nine artists annually to participate in a two-month residency which supports the evolution of new ideas in art. Our broad range of panels, lectures, artist talks, and studio visits cultivates diverse audiences for contemporary art and provides a forum for ongoing dialogue.

445 North Main Avenue San Antonio TX 78205 t 210 212 4900 f 210 212 4990 www.artpace.org