Bentley Gallery Inaugurates Its New Space with a Multi-Faceted Sculpture Show

In honor of its new space, Bentley Projects, Bentley Gallery mounts “Survey: 12 Artists 3 Dimensions,” a dynamic contemporary sculpture show that homes in on the many ways that art can interact with space. Curated by director John Reyes and organized in collaboration with Mark Moore Gallery in Los Angeles, the exhibition spotlights 12 artists (most of whom are from the gallery’s stable), focusing on outstanding sculptural works that push viewers to consider material, process, and dimensionality. Ranging from Yoram Wolberger’s resin-cast revolvers to Jun Kaneko’s ceramic slabs, the works joined in this exhibition engage a broad spectrum of media, challenge common conceptions of sculpture, and evidence their makers’ inquisitive and innovative processes.

Woods Davy’s gravity-defying vertical sculpture Cantamar 09-23-11 (2011) is comprised of smooth stones, weathered from the ocean that are balanced atop a granite pedestal, suspended in a seemingly impossible composition. The work plays with Zen notions of balancing mass, volume and weightlessness. Similarly surprising are the works by mixed-media artist Dominique Blain, who engages materiality to explore ideas of disembodiment and absence within larger contexts such as the history of war, exploitation, and imperialism. In his Blue Ballgown (2000), a ghostly mannequin missing its upper body and head is dressed in a ballgown made from overalls; and in Mirabilia (Ankhesom, sister of King Tut, 14th century BC) (2014), a mummy form is cut into a glowing green LED light sculpture.  

Stephanie Bachiero’s sleekly convoluted metal and porcelain sculptures, such as Displacement (2014) and Instantaneous (2015) complicate minimalism, even while working within its constraints, striking a balance between strength and fragility in works realized in flexible forms, through rigid materials. Works by Jun Kaneko and Mark Pomilio similarly balance dualities. Kaneko’s large curvilinear, glazed ceramic wall slabs hover somewhere between sculpture and painting, while Pomilio’s geometric paintings, such as Muley Point (2013), are at once diaphanous and concrete. Together, the wide span of sculptures represent a spectrum of possibilities and ideas, much like the new space where they are shown.