Catherine Fairbanks: Two Chimneys

Wilding Cran Gallery is pleased to present Two Chimneys, Catherine Fairbanks’s first solo show in Los Angeles. The exhibition will feature new sculptures and works on paper.

The exhibition is structured around two large chimney sculptures that reflect on the ruins of domestic buildings across the West. Originally constructed according to a particular purpose, over time abandoned chimneys gradually assume the function of a monument. Like these chimneys, Fairbanks often makes use of forms and materials which first appear in culture one way, only to reappear later in another way, transformed.

With her Ceramics/z series she challenges the way ceramic vessels are often disregarded as sculpture. An object appears at first glance as a classic ceramic vessel but then resists such an easy categorisation. Clay pitchers and cups are combined with paper mâché spouts and handles; the vessel is stripped of its ability to be used and falls into consideration as sculpture.

In each of her embossed drawings, the skin of the paper is raised relief-like to form a near-invisible rendering of a pair of objects from art history. Their abstraction amounts to a levelling, clearing the way for a formal comparison of objects shorn of their historical, scalar, or material differences.