AVA WOO KAUFMAN | SELVAGE

June 19 through July 31
Opening Reception: Sunday, June 19. 4-6 PM

South Willard is pleased to present the work of Point Reyes-based artist
Ava Woo Kaufman (b. 1986, San Francisco) in her first solo exhibition with the gallery.

–

When I’m in the air I am weightless. Wind pierces through
each interstice of the feathers. Find weight in the water.
Find fish, find krill. Find plant and sand. Find earth
when I’m feeling brave. Dig dig. In the earth with my mouth
in the air with my nose. Friends come friends go. Make formations
find direction. Clouds are sweet. Cover me shield vision.
Bit of fear bit of pleasure. Not knowing where you’re going
as you charge through the sweet. Dry is clear and clear is day.
When you see the forest for what is laid. Leaves and twigs
and spines. Find some miraculous pool. Seeing my eyes,
glinted reflection of air and blue. Find new pool. See eyes.
Find spine. Return to air.

–

The work on view stems from a decade-long practice of engaging with found textiles and materials. To put that into perspective: the undulating rock formations found in Central Park are 500 million years old; the Coast Miwok inhabited tamál-húye (Point Reyes) for 10,000 years.
Woven tapestries constructed on Walco Indian Bead Looms* salvaged from Los Angeles thrift stores by her grandmother, Josephine Woo, are mounted onto palm-sized armatures made of materials ranging from book-making board to bamboo from her mother’s garden. Motifs range from transport graphics to dragonflies: “Lily”, a trucking company named after the founder’s mother; “Young” references the Young Brothers logo, belonging to the monopolistic shipping company that touches almost every product sold on the Hawai’ian islands; dragonflies, appearing in art from haiku to the Pueblo Isleta cross, are depicted here as the adder (referring to the snake’s similar pattern) and darner (referring to the mending needle). Centered within the space is a tapestry work, “Untitled (ritual bronze, seasons)”, 2022, affixed to a bronze armature inspired by ancient Chinese ritual bronze vessels. Accompanying these sculpture works is a series of linoleum block prints in sumi ink made during spring 2022 in New York City. Taken as a whole the exhibition is a meditation on the ways in which vestigial materials, objects, and histories of the past, present, and future shape our relationship to a changing landscape of consumption and production.

* A New York company based in the now defunct Manhattan bead alley, the looms were marketed to Americans during the Depression to start projects at home. Beading work had already been practiced extensively by Indigenous Americans using porcupine quill beads, and eventually glass beads that were traded into the U.S. via Italy.

Untitled (blue selvage), 2022
wool, silk, linen, binder’s board, gesso, gouache, pumice
6.1 x 2.5 x 2.3 inches (15.5 x 6.5 x 6 cm)

Untitled (wild rose),
2021 rayon, wool, polyester, gesso, binder’s board, bamboo, acrylic, ink
5.5 x 2.75 x 2.5 inches (14 x 7 x 6.5 cm)

Untitled (Lily trucking),
2021 wool, cotton, binder’s board, gesso, gouache, pumice
6.1 x 2.5 x 2.3 inches (15.5 x 6.5 x 6 cm)

Untitled (fish, black), 2021
wool, silk, binder’s board, hazelnut wood, gesso, nylon, beads
9 x 2.85 x 2.15 inches (23 x 7.25 x 5.5 cm)

Untitled (fish, brown),
2022 silk, cotton, binder’s board, gesso, gouache, pumice
5.5 x 3.5 x 2.5 inches (14 x 9 x 6.5 cm)

Untitled (fish, brick),
2022 silk, cotton, binder’s board, gesso, gouache, pumice,
found object 5 x 2.5 x 3 inches (127 x 63.5 x 76)

Untitled (fish, pink), 2022
silk, cotton, binder’s board, gesso, gouache, pumice
4.75 x 2.75 x 3.25 inches (120 x 51 x 82)

Untitled (TN), 2022
silk, linen, binder’s board, bamboo, gesso, gouache
5.1 x 2.3 x 2.3 inches (13 x 6 x 6 cm)

Untitled (Young),
2021 cotton, silk, gesso, and gouache on stretched linen
11.8 x 7.8 x .78 inches (30 x 20 x 2 cm)

Untitled (Citrus),
2021 wool, silk, gouache, watercolor on cotton Arches paper
29.7 x 22.8 x .2 inches (75.5 x 58 x .5 cm)

Untitled (ritual bronze, seasons), 2021
silk, wool, cotton, enamel, bronze armature
17.3 x 5.9 inches (44 x 15 cm)

Untitled (darner dragonfly), 2021
rayon, cotton, silk, bamboo, gesso, gouache 13.75 x 8 x .4 inches
(35 x 20.5 x 1 cm)

Untitled (adder dragonfly), 2021
vintage Wamsutta Mill cotton textile, bamboo, gesso, gouache
18.5 x 10.6 x .4 inches (47 x 27 x 1 cm)

Untitled (store for rent), 2021
denim, silk, paint, bamboo, gesso
14.2 x 5.9 x .4 inches (36 x 15 x 1 cm)

the back side of a front facing clock, 2022
sumi ink on paper,
8.5 x 11 inches (216 x 279 mm)

gift stack, 2022
sumi ink on paper,
8.5 x 11 inches (216 x 279 mm)

eastern black oak, 2022
sumi ink on paper,
8.5 x 11 inches (216 x 279 mm)

500 million years, 2022
sumi ink on paper,
8.5 x 11 inches (216 x 279 mm)

wind water, 2022
sumi ink and watercolor on paper,
quadriptych of 8.5 x 11 inches (216 x 279 mm)

Untitled (found sculpture, pink), 2022
sumi ink and watercolor on paper
5 x 7 inches (127 x 178 mm)

Untitled (found sculpture, purple), 2022
triptych of 5 x 7 inches (127 x 178 mm)
sumi ink and watercolor on paper

Untitled (found sculpture, green), 2022
watercolor on paper, ink on cotton Arches paper
7 x 10 inches (177 x 254 mm)