Summer in America means road trips, evoking notions of freedom and adventure, of spectacular landscapes and expansive skies. The work in “Summer Road Trip” at Rena Bransten Projects doesn’t show that kind of road trip. Taking a cue from John Water’s hitchhiking journey from Baltimore to San Francisco, chronicled in his recent book Carsick, our summer group exhibition explores the off-putting, humorously mundane, and potentially creepy sides to hitting the road.

Instead of feeling the freedom of an open road, Doug Hall’s lens points to the very construction of the open road experience and its mind-numbing monotony while Tracey Snelling’s sculptural amalgamation of strip malls reminds us of the claustrophobic mundanity of road-side rest stops. Henry Wessel, Tracey Moffatt, and Len Jenshel train their eyes on those ordinary moments at intersections, lengths of road, and motels that become strange - if not outright eerie - when framed so exactingly and Martin Mull’s painting of farm pastiche brings a wry perspective to the endless fields of the Midwest.

Meanwhile, on the project space’s back wall, Marci Washington brings the dark interiors of her gothic-inspired paintings to life with hand-made black poppy wallpaper. We will host a book-signing with the artist to celebrate the release of The Art of Marci Washington: Selected Works 2005-2013 on Saturday, July 19th from 1pm-3pm.

Rena Bransten Gallery

77 Geary Street
San Francisco (CA) 94108 United States
Tel. +1 (415) 9823292
info@renabranstengallery.com
www.renabranstengallery.com

Opening hours

Tuesday - Friday from 10:30am to 5:30pm
Saturday from 11:00am to 5:00pm

Related images
  1. Tracey Moffatt - Up in the Sky, 4, 1997, Offset lithograph, 32 x 42 inches framed, Edition of 60
  2. Tracey Snelling - Strip Mall (Los Angeles), 2007, Wood, metal plastic, paint, fake concrete, printed images, lights, cold cathode tubes, LCD screens, media players, speakers, transformers, 55 1/2 x 48 x 48 inches
  3. Doug Hall - Highway 178, Death Valley #1, 1998, R-print, 50 x 72 1/4 inches, Edition of 6
  4. Len Jenshel - Best Western Mammoth Hot Springs, Gardiner, MT, 1990-1991, Ektacolor photo, 20 x 24 inches, Edition of 25
  5. Martin Mull - The Importance of a Strong Dairy, Constitution, 1999, Oil on linen, 72 x 60 inches
  6. Len Jenshel - The Mittens, Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, AZ, 1985, Ektacolor photo, 20 x 24 inches, Edition of 25