CHARLES GAINES

NUMBERS AND TREES: THE ARIZONA WATERCOLORS

1 – 30 July 2023

SOUTHAMPTON

Hauser & Wirth Southampton presents a focused exhibition of twelve new watercolors by Charles Gaines. Inspired by cottonwood trees he photographed on a 2022 trip to Arizona, ‘Numbers and Trees: The Arizona Watercolors’ provides an intimate encounter with the systems and processes through which the celebrated conceptual artist develops his constantly evolving ‘Numbers and Trees’ series. The trees Gaines photographed during this trip will form the basis of a new series of Plexiglas works that the artist will debut in his forthcoming solo exhibition at the Phoenix Art Museum, from 10 November 2024 through 16 February 2025.

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Whereas Gaines has previously produced series depicting London oak trees, palm trees and pecan trees, among other species, the Southampton watercolors are his first to represent cottonwood trees. Taking their titles from local rivers, creeks, washes and arroyos, these paintings mirror the critical nature of such waterways in creating an ecosystem where these distinctive trees can thrive. Cottonwoods, which the artist observed along the San Pedro River outside Sierra Vista AZ, generally only grow near a body of water, and are particularly noticeable in Arizona’s arid climate.

The artist’s systems, which highlight the differences between these trees, induce the viewer to assign a meaning to these differences—a meaning that is arbitrarily determined because the differences themselves are arbitrary. These works thereby call attention to our tendency to impose categories based on subjective values and suggest the arbitrary nature of other manufactured systems in our society.

Trees have been a central motif in Gaines’s distinguished practice since he first began his ‘Walnut Tree Orchard’ series in the 1970s. His methodical examination of their forms continues in this latest series, as the artist plots each cottonwood tree by assigning it a specific color and a numbered grid that reflects the full form of the tree. For each successive work, Gaines overlays the forms of trees one at a time and in progression, following his systematic sequencing process.

In Conversation: Charles Gaines & Olga Viso

To celebrate the opening of ‘Numbers and Trees: The Arizona Watercolors’ on 1 July, Hauser & Wirth Southampton will host a special conversation between Gaines and Phoenix Art Museum Chief Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs and Engagement, Olga Viso.

On view in Southampton

‘Charles Gaines. Numbers and Trees: The Arizona Watercolors’ is now on view now through 30 July 2023 at Hauser & Wirth Southampton.

About the Artist

Charles Gaines

Figura clau en l’àmbit de l’art conceptual, el conjunt d’obra de Charles Gaines treballa amb fórmules i sistemes que interroguen les relacions entre els àmbits objectiu i subjectiu. Mitjançant un enfocament generatiu per crear sèries d’obres en diversos mitjans, Gaines ha construït un pont entre els primers artistes conceptuals de les dècades de 1960 i 1970 i les generacions posteriors que avui porten els límits del conceptualisme més enllà.

Nascut el 1944 a Charleston, Carolina del Sud, Gaines va començar la seva trajectòria com a pintor, obtenint el M.F.A. a la School of Art and Design del Rochester Institute of Technology el 1967. Durant la dècada de 1970, la seva obra va experimentar un gir dramàtic com a resposta al que ell mateix més tard anomenaria ‘l’espurna de l’epifania’. Aquesta revelació es va materialitzar en la sèrie ‘Regression’ (1973 – 1974), en la qual va explorar l’ús de sistemes matemàtics i numèrics per crear marques suaus numerades amb tinta sobre una quadrícula, amb cada dibuix construït a partir dels càlculs de l’anterior. Aquest enfocament metòdic va marcar el recorregut de l’artista durant les dècades següents.

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