In the Shadow of Numbers: Charles Gaines Selected Works from 1975–2012

History of Stars 6 - 7, 2007 C-Print mounted on aluminum, and Pencil on paper Four parts, two 40" x 40" each, two 40" x 24" each Gallery Inventory #GAI136.01 Courtesy of Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects; Photo credit: Robert Wedemeyer

Sky Box I, 2011 Acrylic, digital print, polyester film and LED Lights, changing light system, fixtures and tracks 3 Boxes, 84" x 48" x 5" each Gallery Inventory #GAI213 Courtesy of Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects; Photo credit: Robert Wedemeyer

Sky Box I, 2011 Acrylic, digital print, polyester film and LED Lights, changing light system, fixtures and tracks 3 Boxes, 84" x 48" x 5" each Gallery Inventory #GAI213 Courtesy of Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects; Photo credit: Robert Wedemeyer

Sky Box I, 2011 Acrylic, digital print, polyester film and LED Lights, changing light system, fixtures and tracks 3 Boxes, 84" x 48" x 5" each Gallery Inventory #GAI213 Courtesy of Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects; Photo credit: Robert Wedemeyer

Installation view of In the Shadow of Numbers: Charles Gaines Selected Works from 1974–2012. Photo credit: Robert Wedemeyer

The Pomona College Museum of Art is pleased to present In the Shadow of Numbers: Charles Gaines Selected Works from 1975-2012 in collaboration with Pitzer Art Galleries, Pitzer College. Based in Los Angeles, Gaines investigates the relationships between aesthetic experience, political beliefs, and the formation of meaning. His work over the last forty years has typically employed systems and rule-based procedures to explore how we experience and derive meaning from art. Gaines is often linked with early Conceptual artists who came to prominence in the 1960s questioning subjectivity and traditional formal and material concerns. However, he identifies more closely with John Cage’s examinations of indeterminacy in both composition and performance and focuses on linguistic tools such as metaphors and metonyms.

In the Shadow of Numbers: Charles Gaines Selected Works from 1975-2012 represents the first collaboration between the Pomona College Museum of Art and Pitzer Art Galleries, Pitzer College. The exhibition consists of photographs, sculptures, video, and drawings from several bodies of Gaines’s work over the last several decades, including the “Explosions,” “History of Stars,” “NIGHT/CRIMES,” “Shadows,” and “Walnut Tree Orchard” series, among others, presented at the two Claremont College venues. A catalogue accompanies the exhibition and includes writings by the artist, Michael Ned Holte, Ciara Ennis, and Rebecca McGrew. This exhibition is Project Series 43.

September 4 – October 21, 2012 at the Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College

Artist

Charles Gaines

Curators and Sponsor

Rebecca McGrew, Senior Curator at the Pomona College Museum of Art

Ciara Ennis, Director/Curator at the Pitzer Art Galleries, Pitzer College

Pomona’s Project Series, an ongoing program of focused exhibitions of work by Southern California artists, has always relied on the good will and generous support of many individuals and groups, in particular, longtime supporters the Pasadena Art Alliance.

View the Publication