White Columns Online #26:
Joan of Arc and her Unicorn
curated by Daisy Sheff
Jennifer Quinones
Joan of Arc and her Unicorn, 2021
Colored pencil on paper
18 × 24 in.
Courtesy of the artist.
Alex Crocker
Red Cat, 2021
Pigment and rabbit skin glue on canvas
211 × 172 cm
Courtesy of the artist.
R. Blair Sullivan
Harbinger (Chimney Sweep), 2022
Cold porcelain with spirulina and giemsa dye
10 1/2 × 7 inches
Courtesy of the artist.
Oswald Newman Saenz
Silly Peeking Pluto!, 2023
Colored pencil on paper
20 × 16 inches
Courtesy of the artist.
Ali Bonfils
Wide-Eyed 1, 2023
Acrylic and colored pencil on inkjet printed canvas
44 × 40 inches
Courtesy of the artist and Mery Gates.
chandni amira dhanoa
Cassette, 2021
Stoneware from Laguna, glaze, dried mushrooms from an open cabinet in Topanga, the valley tight with seamist
6 × 4 in
Courtesy of the artist.
Ward Schumaker
Bludar, 2023
Unglazed ceramic
5 × 5 × 6.5 inches
Courtesy of Jack Fischer.
Exhibition Description
White Columns Forever!!!!!
All of the work on here is so wonderful.
Jennifer Quinones’ drawings absolutely blow my mind. They are confident, funny, complicated, and strange. She weaves historical figures and ancient times with her own personal mythology. I am obsessed with all the small critters she packs in who busily live their own lives parallel to whatever majestic event is occurring. They are technicolor glorious inventions, sometimes leaning ’60s flower power, sometimes campy goth, always sincere and compelling.
These Alex Crocker paintings definitely have a restraint that I don’t have. I like that the paint strokes feel active/kinetic. Staining, repeated feathered brush marks, bleeding drops, wet-on-wet layers within the “economical” figurative framework.
In their artist statement R. Blair Sullivan sort of covers the entire evolution of the Earth in four paragraphs, mentioning algae, oxygen, organisms, etc. They use definitely seductive materials imbued with scientific/poetic significance. I love this pale emerald-y Chimney Sweep — aesthetically cartoony and romantic.
There is a sense in Oswald Newman Saenz’ drawings of a complete world— individuals interact with each other as we spy on them. Some of the drawings are almost collage-looking — imagery carved on white blank-paper background. Very original character design— interesting hands and hats, eyes, profiles, hair, and everything. Dog/wolf/cat-human hybrids with invented accessories, and floral motifs. Beautiful curling cursive signature. Fantastic titles.
These Ali Bonfils works feel like mysterious plans/maps/architectural schemes overlaid with cartoony drawings- a mermaid tail, googly eyes, arrows etc. I like that it’s a painting on an inkjet print— and that it kind of looks like it’s drawn with ballpoint pen. It feels almost like a stained-glass window.
Chandni Amira Dhanoa juxtaposes organic matter – mushrooms, seashells, flowers with human-intervention- ceramic, chains, weaving etc. Their all-encompassing 3-D practice is personal and intimate. There’s something disturbing about these mushrooms growing out of ceramic holes.
There’s a satisfying density to Ward Schumaker’s abstract sculptures— almost feeling like mushrooms themselves. It seems the color comes directly from the material. Scraps/crumbs rolled onto surface… They are attractive mysterious objects, feeling at once earthy (mushrooms, cactuses, muddy/sandy), and simultaneously industrial like beautiful weathered painted concrete.
Daisy Sheff (born 1996 in Greenbrae, USA) lives and works in Los Angeles.
She received her BFA from UCLA in 2018.
Solo exhibitions of her work have been held at C L E A R I N G Brussels and Los Angeles; Ratio 3, San Francisco; South Willard, Los Angeles; and White Columns, New York.
Her work has been included in group exhibitions at C L E A R I N G New York and Beverly Hills; Gordon Robichaux, New York; Ratio 3 DTLA, Los Angeles; Grimm Gallery, New York; and February, Austin.
In 2024 she will have a solo exhibition at C L E A R I N G New York.
This exhibition is the twenty-sixth in a series of online exhibitions curated exclusively from White Columns’ Curated Artist Registry.
Jennifer Quinones, Joan of Arc and her Unicorn, 2021. Colored pencil on paper, 18 × 24 in. Courtesy of the artist. (A colorful drawing depicting a medieval landscape teeming with mythical creatures and personified animals. In the foreground is a gray cat wearing yellow knight armor and riding a unicorn. The cat’s gaze meets the viewer while holding a red flag with a written message. The cat is accompanied by five mice, also wearing armor, as well as a mouse fairy princess. In the background are two distant castles across a grassy plain, the sun peering just behind the castle to the right.)
Alex Crocker, Red Cat, 2021. Pigment and rabbit skin glue on canvas, 211 × 172 cm. Courtesy of the artist. (A large painting of two figures standing against a washy green and blue background. The human-like figure to the left is wearing all black, the head is a faceless circle with a yellow design. To the right of the figure is a red cat with eyes glaring at the viewer; the cat is just as big as the black figure.)
R. Blair Sullivan, Harbinger (Chimney Sweep), 2022. Cold porcelain with spirulina and giemsa dye, 10 1/2 × 7 inches. Courtesy of the artist. (A porcelain sculpture of a chimney sweeper wearing a top hat and carrying a ladder with rope over his shoulder is posed sideways, walking to the right. On the figure’s shoulder is a little wasp.)
Oswald Newman Saenz, Silly Peeking Pluto!, 2023. Colored pencil on paper, 20 × 16 inches. Courtesy of the artist. (A colored pencil drawing depicts three cartoonish figures, one in the foreground and two in the back. To the top left corner is a branch full of different colored leaves. The figure closest to the viewer, colored in blue yellow and magenta, smokes from a pipe while watching the couple in the background in a voyeuristic manner. The two figures toward the back are colored in green black and yellow, seemingly engaged in intercourse.)
Ali Bonfils, Wide-Eyed 1, 2023. Acrylic and colored pencil on inkjet printed canvas, 44 × 40 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Mery Gates (A dynamic and geometric piece filled with a variety of objects and designs. Framing the majority of the piece is a splattered paint effect of muted colors. Within the many lines are connected circles and rectangles, along with a well shaded fish tail. Inside the circles are even more intricate designs, as well as miscellaneous arrows, DNA stands, and reflective marbles.)
chandni amira dhanoa, Cassette, 2021. Stoneware from Laguna, glaze, dried mushrooms from an open cabinet in Topanga, the valley tight with seamist, 6 × 4 in. Courtesy of the artist. (A sculpture viewed from multiple different angles. The base of the glazed ceramic sculpture is colorful and has a rough, stone-like texture that seems to be cut in half. Within the sculpture are multiple holes of different sizes which hold dry mushrooms.)
Ward Schumaker, Bludar, 2023. Unglazed ceramic, 5 × 5 × 6.5 inches. Courtesy of Jack Fischer. (A coarsely textured, ceramic sculpture with a blue cylinder base holds three rust-colored disks, two of which intersect. Smaller red pieces sprout from the top of the blue cylinder, giving the appearance that they are growing out of the base, and one another, like mushrooms.)
