In Plain Sight
Mills College Art Museum
September 18 – December 8, 2019
curated by Daniel Nevers

featuring: Kathryn Andrews, castaneda/reiman, Dario Robleto, & Weston Teruya

In Plain Sight brings together artists whose work points to the invisible systems and unknowable mysteries that shape and define our lives. A seeming paradox, the phrase “hiding in plain sight” contains elements of both obscuring and exposing, and it implies that secrets, while visible, may only be noticed or revealed upon close inspection. Through strategies of layering, embedding materials, replacing one material for another, and giving concrete form to invisible phenomena, the artists in the exhibition center approaches that reward what the writer Rebecca Solnit calls “slow seeing” — a discipline of pleasure that comes from allowing works to make an imprint on us. The artists in the show reference history and art history, pop culture, science, and personal identity, and their work underscores that our understanding of the world is not formed solely through reason, but also through complex emotional interactions taking place throughout time and space.

Inspired by my own interests in transformation, identity, and authenticity, as well as a formal concern for sculpture that blurs boundaries between object, image, and text, my intent is to juxtapose works by mid-career artists from different cities in a way that encourages slow seeing. Interpretive text will focus on impressions and implications of the phrase “hiding in plain sight” — tying it to our current moment through recognition of political and social movements, yet also examining its origin and meanings in other contexts — and let viewers draw their own conclusions about associations between each artist’s work. (Daniel Nevers)

Casting shadows