LOS ANGELES, CA.- Bridge Projects announced Here After on view in Los Angeles starting May 7.
“Everything beautiful has a mark of eternity.” —Simone Weil
The group exhibition features thirty-six artists who explore the idea of paradise—both how it has been pursued on earth across history, and how it is imagined after life. From Pure Land Buddhism’s chant “Namu Amida Butsu” (“I take refuge in Amida Buddha”) to Christianity’s prayer for the Kingdom to be “on earth as it is in heaven,” the concepts of paradise are as diverse as those who hope for it.
For millennia, artists have been depicting the various contours of this hope, and their work continues, informing the contemporary artists featured in Here After. Engaging an ontology of peace, the works in this exhibition dwell upon our shared yearning for all that is good. Some shroud this hope in the mists of a distant future, but these artists bring eternity into close, immediate proximity—as though we are living in it now. We may not see it, but what we see is not all there is.
As with all of Bridge Projects’ exhibitions, the curatorial process has been collaborative, and the team and the Bridge Projects’ board brought many artists into consideration from across the globe and with connections to many of the world’s religions. Artists featured in the show are:
Alberto Aguilar, Farkhondeh Ahmadzadeh, Lynn Aldrich, Afruz Amighi, Andrea Büttner, Jeni Spota C., Claire Curneen, Mercedes Dorame, James Elaine, Maja Lisa Engelhardt, Belu-Simion Fainaru, Amir H. Fallah, vanessa german, David Wallace Haskins, Bonita Helmer, Gyun Hur, Zarah Hussain, Kate Ingold, William Kurelek, Olga Lah, Beth Lipman, Greg Lookerse, Regina Mamou, Kris Martin, Tatsuo Miyajima, Jordan Nassar, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, Master Shen-Long, Stanley Spencer, Linnéa Gabriella Spransy, Charwei Tsai, Mandy Cano Villalobos, William Villalongo, Patty Wickman, James Wines, and Xu Zhen ®.
In Here After, works like William Kurelek’s Farm Boy’s Dream of Heaven (1963) envision an eschatological beyond in figurative form, while works by Bonita Helmer and Zarah Hussain do so in more abstract terms. Andrea Büttner and Claire Curneen’s works point to a vulnerable, sensual bodiliness, embedded in the surface of the world where all things come to pass. There is a land beyond the river by Gyun Hur and Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn’s The Boat People make space for remembrance of those who have passed, while Afruz Amighi, Mercedes Dorame, and Charwei Tsai position the viewer between worlds, feet firmly planted on the ground yet gazing at the glory and wonder of the beyond. In his sculpture, David Wallace Haskins plunges into a boundless void, letting all the terrifying otherness and beauty of openness grip the viewer. Kate Ingold intones the rhythmic mantras of what the divine is not with minute stitches, employing almost impossible patience to painstakingly outline absence. Kris Martin lodges small contradictions in the mind, which, in time, grow to be distracting puzzles—the candle in a sealed box, whose existence cannot be proven with the senses. And Tatsuo Miyajima uses digital counters to display the uncountable, unending dimension of existence.
A series of performances and speaker programs will take place concurrently with Here After at Bridge Projects and online. Events will explore topics such as the pursuit of paradise across world religions and art history, secret chords and heavenly music, the tradition of altar making across different cultures, as well dance performances, an artist-led performative dinner, and an olfactory journey of the scent of heaven.
The exhibition is curated by Bridge Projects’ team Cara Megan Lewis, Linnéa Gabriella Spransy Neuss, Vicki Phung Smith, and Meaghan Ritchey.
