I dig an experimental burrow, naturally at a good distance from the real entrance, a burrow just as long as myself, and seal it also with a covering of moss. I creep into my hole, close it after me, wait patiently, keep vigil for long or short spells, and at various hours of the day, then fling off the moss, issue from my hole, and summarize my observations. (Franz Kafka, The Burrow)
Gallery 16 is excited to welcome back Rebeca Bollinger for her second solo exhibition with the gallery. The Burrow will include a wide range of sculptural works and wall pieces made from framed cork boards, cast and poured aluminum, ceramic and glass. The series of pictures and objects are part of a continuous inventory or props restaged to create new meaning in visual narratives. The exhibition will be on view through March 28, 2019 with an opening reception on Friday, February 1st from 6 to 9pm.
The title of Bollinger’s exhibition derives from Kafka's short story, The Burrow, and reflects the artist's interest in observation and experiences which re-contextualize fragments of everyday reality. Working within a generative practice, the work also stems from the artist's experience witnessing a loved one's cognitive decline.
The Burrow is part of Catalog of Stains, Bollinger's ongoing writing and visual art project which is a container and space of inquiry the artist works within, creating abstract and representational objects which are assembled together to reveal patterns, rhythms, and repetitions. "Stains are incidents, markers of time, material, immaterial, psychic or psychological. When these stains are in disarray, objects and environments take on new meanings and can underscore the vulnerability of perception." Working with the materiality of poured aluminum, Bollinger gives form to her own stains and seepages while shaping the place where the material and immaterial, visible and invisible, psychic and physical impressions collide.
Bollinger has exhibited nationally and internationally. Her work has been featured in exhibitions such as Art in the Anchorage, New York; the California Biennial, Orange County Museum of Art; SECA Electronic Media Award exhibition, SFMOMA and Bay Area Now, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. She has had solo exhibitions at Henry Art Gallery, Seattle; Feigen Contemporary, New York; Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco; and Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Angeles, and has participated in group exhibitions at Ballroom Marfa, Asian Art Museum, San Jose Museum of Art, the de Young Museum, Museum Fridericianum, Hunter College, Krannert Art Museum, SFMOMA, and Pacific Film Archive, among others. Bollinger is a recipient of a SECA Award from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the James D. Phelan Award in Video, and a Eureka Fellowship from the Fleishhacker Foundation.