Thursday, February 1-Sunday, April 21, 2024

All galleries

Free

THIS EXHIBITION HAS ALREADY OCCURRED.

Related Events

Thursday, February 1, 4-6 PM
OPENING RECEPTION
Moss Arts Center Grand Lobby
Free

 

Friday, February 2, 11 AM
ARTIST PANEL DISCUSSION
Cube
Free

 

VIEW THE STUDY GUIDE

The Moss Arts Center is dedicated to providing transformative arts experiences to children through gallery tours and artist engagements from renowned touring artists for children, teachers, and families. Explore exciting new opportunities to connect with the arts through study guides created especially for young audiences.

 

View the study guide for our spring exhibition.

Take Me There

Messengers explores the use of photography to communicate — not only through visual aesthetics, but to transmit more profound personal, cultural, and societal messages. Photography acts as a conduit for the artists’ hybrid interdisciplinary approaches, enabling them to convey rich and multifaceted narratives, evolving through their formal and material languages.

The title refers to the transcendental nature of photographic images to traverse time and space by capturing the moment in static form. Hewitt, Krajnak, and Valenzuela transmute the traditional boundaries of photography by juxtaposing constructed and archival images and abstracting the documentary and spatial attributes of images.

Biographies

Leslie Hewitt

Leslie Hewitt (b. 1977, New York), who lives and works between New York and Houston, Texas, combines photography and sculpture, exploring still life from a post-minimalist perspective. Hewitt examines fluid concepts of time, exploring shifts in perception and space while navigating between the illusionary aspects of photography and the tangible weight of sculpture. She uses geometric compositions to frame and crystallize ordinary materials, including personal mementos like family photos, books, and vintage magazines.

Leslie Hewitt's "Before Noon (Duha), Meandering Heights, Reflected Light," 2023, chromogenic prints, courtesy of the artist and Perrotin. Two works framed in raw wood. At left, a nearly square grass green work, and at right, a slightly horizontal rectangle in a sandy yellow. Leslie Hewitt's "Blue Green, Blue Green Yellow, Sometimes," 2022, chromogenic prints, courtesy of the artist and Perrotin. Two works framed in raw wood frames. At right, a square of a blue-based teal, at right a larger slightly horizontal rectangle of a blueish forest green. Tarrah Krajnak's "Black Messengers," 2013-present (detail), silver gelatin frames, © Tarrah Krajnak, courtesy of Zander Galerie, Cologne. A white man holds a white ceramic bowl in this black and white image. Tarrah Krajnak's "Black Messengers," 2013-present (detail), silver gelatin frames, © Tarrah Krajnak, courtesy of Zander Galerie, Cologne. A person stands on the roof of a rectangular brick building looking towards the right side of the frame. The person is very small in the image, mostly filled by the building and a grey cloudy sky. The image is black and white. Tarrah Krajnak's "Black Messengers," 2013-present (detail), silver gelatin frames, © Tarrah Krajnak, courtesy of Zander Galerie, Cologne. A black and white image of an ornate double church door with greenery hung across the lintel and on each door, an arch above them. The image leans slightly to the left, as if the street itself is on a slight incline. The door is inset in a stucco building and looks European. Rodrigo Valenzuela's "Garabato #18," 2023 (detail), archival inkjet print, ed. 1 of 3 plus 1 AP, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Kandlhofer, Vienna. A white sculptural piece of plaster and wire that is reminiscent of bones and organic matter as photographed with stark, zig zag lighting. The image is black and white. Rodrigo Valenzuela's "Garabato #21," 2023 (detail), archival inkjet print, ed. 1 of 3 plus 1 AP, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Kandlhofer, Vienna. A sculptural work with several pieces made of plaster and wire, reminiscent of stalactites, bones, and organic matter, photographed in a beam of sunlight. The image is black and white. Rodrigo Valenzuela's "Garabato #22," 2023 (detail), archival inkjet print, ed. 1 of 3 plus 1 AP, courtesy of the artist and Galerie Kandlhofer, Vienna. A black and white image of a sculptural piece lit by a follow spot. The work is reminiscent of bones and organic matter, and appears to be made of plaster and wire.

Tarrah Krajnak

Tarrah Krajnak (b. 1979, Lima, Peru), who lives and works between Eugene, Oregon and Los Angeles, is a multidisciplinary artist working across photography, performance, and poetry. Krajnak focuses on the material process of photography, utilizing large-format cameras as a tool to examine ties between her body, her birthplace of Lima, and the invisible histories and ghosts that reside in both. Krajnak’s life experiences as an Indigenous transracial adoptee influence her work, which reclaims marginalized histories and bodies hidden in the archive through archival interventions.

Rodrigo Valenzuela

Rodrigo Valenzuela (b. 1982, Chile), who lives and works in Los Angeles, concentrates on photography, video, and installation, merging his interest in art history, architecture, the concept of work, and the realities of laborers. Valenzuela builds scenes in his studio, often working with simple building materials such as cinder blocks, pipes, wooden pallets, corrugated metal, and two-by-fours. The resulting monochrome photographs constantly shift between flatness and architectural space and between documentary photography and fiction, encouraging an incessant yet pleasurable tension.

Header Image:
Leslie Hewitt
Riffs on Real Time with Ground (Green Mesh), 2017
Digital chromogenic print and silver gelatin print
41 x 91 inches
Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin

Image Gallery:
(from left to right, top to bottom)
Leslie Hewitt; Before Noon (Duha), Meandering Highlights, Reflected Light, 2023; chromogenic prints; 17 13/16 x 34 3/4 x 2 inches; courtesy of the artist and Perrotin
Leslie Hewitt; Blue Green, Blue Green Yellow, Sometimes, 2022; chromogenic prints; 14 13/16 x 25 3/4 x 2 inches; courtesy of the artist and Perrotin
Tarrah Krajnak; Black Messengers, 2013-present (detail); silver gelatin print; 8 x 10 inches; ed. 2/3, 1 AP; © Tarrah Krajnak; courtesy Zander Galerie, Cologne
Tarrah Krajnak; Black Messengers, 2013-present (detail); silver gelatin print; 8 x 10 inches; ed. 2/3, 1 AP; © Tarrah Krajnak; courtesy Zander Galerie, Cologne
Tarrah Krajnak; Black Messengers, 2013-present (detail); silver gelatin print; 8 x 10 inches; ed. 2/3, 1 AP; © Tarrah Krajnak; courtesy Zander Galerie, Cologne
Rodrigo Valenzuela; Garabato #18, 2023 (detail); archival inkjet print; 24 x 30 inches; ed. 1/3, 1 AP; courtesy of the artist and Galerie Kandlhofer, Vienna
Rodrigo Valenzuela; Garabato #21, 2023 (detail); archival inkjet print; 24 x 30 inches; ed. 1/3, 1 AP; courtesy of the artist and Galerie Kandlhofer, Vienna
Rodrigo Valenzuela; Garabato #22, 2023 (detail); archival inkjet print; 24 x 30 inches; ed. 1/3, 1 AP; courtesy of the artist and Galerie Kandlhofer, Vienna