The Grass Grows Over 2019

Shredded documents, linen, plaster, cardboard, powdered graphite, steel, stoneware

Ian Hersko’s The Grass Grows Over explores the poetics of domestic encounters as representational forms become an exercise in recollection and meaning-making. With deceptive simplicity, objects incite a confrontational void that present both lived histories and the current stasis of what remains. It is within abstract dimensions that memory and materiality coexist, creating a symbiotic narrative where artist and viewer simultaneously contribute to shaping the body of work. Intentionally flawed, the works present visual indicators of mark-making that move away from the immaculate modes of production generally associated with the white cube. This subversive act paired with subtly humorous forms declare an unapologetic irreverence towards craftsmanship and the misguided elitism that often transpire within the realm of high art. Remnants of “what once was” revert to the basic condition of feeling, which allude to a deep sentimentality that verges on superstition as meaning, memory, and loss pervade.

—Sso-Rha Kang