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Catharine Clark Gallery

January 31 - March 15, 2009

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248 Utah Street
 San Francisco, CA 94103
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(un)natural hightails (be still), 2008, Computer, projector, speakers, electronics, Dimensions variable
Catharine Clark Gallery announces concurrent solo exhibitions: new digitally-based images, sculptures and installations by John Slepian, titled (un)natural, and new graphite drawings by Jonathan Solo, titled Other. The exhibition dates are January 31 – March 14, 2009. An opening reception for the artists is Saturday, January 31, 2009, from 5 to 7pm. In his new work John Slepian explores environmental aesthetics and ethics by constructing paradigmatic natural scenes from modern technology. Slepian sites a key influence on the work in (un)natural as the idea that our conception of "nature" is socially constructed, and that many of our thoughts about it were first articulated by 19th century Romanticism. Slepian riffs on the romantic view with images of nature that are entirely technologically derived, humorously offering the possibility of reconciliation between the experience of living in a techno-centric society and the natural world. His previous blemished and be-stubbled creatures have been replaced with hirsute creations that tremble, cower, and dash from the viewer’s sight when approached. They are placed into the context of a commercially available "moving" waterfall picture, or are rendered stereographically in a children's toy. In hightails (be still) a forest scene is projected onto a screen and squirrel-like figures creep cautiously into view. Sensitive to the movement of the viewer, they fearfully take cover behind trees. The landscape then appears devoid of any animal presence. A comical take on our fixation with the picturesque is portrayed in the landscape ex machina series. Slepian constructs an idyllic, waterfall setting where hedgehog-looking figures call out longingly to each other from across a body of water. Behind the semi-translucent c-print, a light flickers making the water appear as if it is flowing. In scopotopia, Slepian recreates the animal images found in the child's stereographic View-Master® toy, placing his creatures three dimensionally into their "natural" setting. John Slepian received a BFA in Film and Television from New York University in 1988 and an MFA in New Genres from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2002. In 2005-2006 he was granted a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship and in 2002-2003 he participated in the P.S.1 National Studio Program in New York. Slepian is currently the Five College Assistant Professor of Art and Technology at Hampshire and Smith Colleges in Massachusetts. This is his first solo show at Catharine Clark Gallery.