VSF is pleased to present A Concept is a Brick, a group exhibition curated by Joshua Nathanson and Anthony Salvador that brings together new work by Lizette Hernandez, Ravi Jackson, and Thalia Rodgers. In order to address their origin stories, intellectual pursuits, and personal histories, these artists have dispensed with easy answers and traditional boundaries. Each practices a type of expressionism that borrows freely from both within and without the traditional forms of Modernism—transforming the mundane into a sacred act of visibility. By combining formal rigor with lighthearted gestures, these works offer promise in the face of a cynical world.
Inheritance and regeneration are common themes found in the ceramic sculptures of Lizette Hernandez. A large component of her practice stems from topics such as cultural practices, community, and oral histories about migration and survival. In particular, Hernandez references and questions belief systems to try to understand the relationship migrant communities from Latin America have with worship. The clay functions not only as a material that speaks to her personal relationship with nature and memory but also as a vehicle to examine what a ‘sacred’ object can be.
Ravi Jackson cuts across visual boundaries, merging together provocative painterly palettes with phallic symbols and protrusions, found imagery, text, and ephemera. In one work, a large colorfully-painted plywood panel leans against a wall, its central image featuring the cover artwork of Lil’ Kim’s first album, Hardcore. In another smaller wall work, a delicately hanging pleather sheet is cut to reveal the eyes of Kurt Russell, a still-life from the movie Tombstone where he plays Wyatt Earp.
