HEMPHILL is pleased to announce the exhibition Jump, Twist, Flow… opening on Friday, July 14, 2023, with a Summer Open House on Saturday, July 15, 2023 from 12-5 pm. The exhibition will remain on view through August 19, 2023. Jump, Twist, Flow… will feature works by artists, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Rush Baker IV, Willem de Looper, Thomas Downing, Shaunté Gates, Sam Gilliam, Hedieh Javanshir Ilchi, Wayson R. Jones, Lisa Scheer and Anne Truitt.
Imagine, children exclaim with glee, running over hot stone pavers as they take turns plunging deep below the water’s surface. “Cannonball!” one screams, jumping as high as the springs allow and catapulting into the air. The water erupts from its confines, soaking everything within 5 feet of the board. They churn the chlorine filled water, goggles suction cupped to their faces. The large-scale, exuberant pieces in Jump, Twist, Flow… encourage the viewer to move through the gallery in ways that evoke iconic summer diving board tricks: the cannonball, pencil dive, corkscrew, can opener, front flip, belly flop and the flying squirrel.
Jump, Twist, Flow… invites summer through vivid colors and dramatic pieces that radiate from the walls. As you venture into the exhibition, deep, eye catching tones from Hedieh Javanshir Ilchi’s tile triptych, Untitled, draw you closer to intricate Tazhib designs which overlay paint pours. Weaving through the gallery, physically engaging pieces erupt forward into your line of sight. Sam Gilliam’s Mirrors, utilizes acrylic paint in a unique fashion, thick smears of color coating the surface with shifting metal armatures tilting forward. Lisa Scheer’s sturdy and angular sculpture, Leviathan looms from the wall, also unique, appearing weightless and substantial simultaneously. With sculptures and paintings bursting from the walls, jutting into the room and rich colors enticing closer inspection, Jump, Twist, Flow… urges the viewer to swirl, flow, and bob through the gallery, like a child in a swimming pool.