Where We Were When We Were Not What We Once Were

Where We Were When We Were Not What We Once Were
June 2, 2021 – July 9, 2021

Curated by Häsler R. Gómez and Kristin Hough

WHERE WE WERE WHEN WE WERE NOT WHO WE ONCE WERE presents the work of nine artists who, through acts of repetition, augmentation, and abstraction, reveal the alienness of quotidian life. They investigate a world where walls become malleable, language is ever-shifting, and everyday objects melt into new forms. The works that comprise WWWWWWNWWOW do not propose a singular narrative nor mode of processing experience, but rather they vacillate between apocalyptic hopefulness, utopic horror, and absurdist humor. Spotlights, crescendos of water, and a raft of ducks are just some of the elements at play, reminding us of the familiar strangeness that has seeped into our periphery in the past year.

Featuring works by Erin K. Drew, Isaac Soh Fujita Howell, Garrett Marshall Gould, Veronica Graham and Julia Kim, Jeremy Le Grand, Jackson Hunt, Adam Liam Rose, and Bea Parsons.

Häsler R. Gómez (hr.g.) was born in Guatemala City, Guatemala in 1993, but has lived in the United States since the age of four. His work predominantly investigates issues of personal, political, and social desire, and probes the complexities and connections between language, history, immigration, gender, and oppression. Gómez holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Nevada, Reno. His work has been exhibited nationally, most recently at Zygote Press in Cleveland, OH. Gómez currently works out of Reno, NV.

Kristin Hough is an artist, educator, and curator based in Las Vegas, Nevada. She received her BA from Wesleyan University and her MFA from UC Davis, where she was awarded the Provost and Margrit Mondavi Fellowships. Her work has been exhibited nationally and featured in New American Paintings, Friend of the Artist, and Hyperallergic. In addition, she’s been an artist-in-residence at the Vermont Studio Center and Los Angeles’s ECF Downtown Art Center, and recently released a book with National Monument Press. She co-founded an artist-run project space, Outback Arthouse, and has co-curated exhibitions throughout Los Angeles, as well as at Carnation Contemporary in Portland, Oregon. She’s currently teaching at UNLV, curating shows in Nevada, painting stills from reality TV, and collaborating on a land art project – Pinewood Vortex.

Photo Album | READ + LISTEN: Interview with Veronica Graham