Los Angeles

"Later in Life" at Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA /  by Sabrina Gschwandtner

My new piece “Later in Life” is now on view at Skirball Cultural Center through next spring, 2025.

“Later in Life,” 2024
8 channel 4K video, 33:21 min, color, sound.

ABOUT: Visual artist and filmmaker Sabrina Gschwandtner’s multi-screen video installation presents six Los Angeles adults who reflect upon their B’nai Mitzvah. “Later in Life” asks what it means to embark upon a Jewish coming of age ritual - traditionally performed at age 13 - as an adult.
Gschwandtner, who is both one of the subjects featured in the work and its director, composed the 8 channel video from personal stories and footage of local Los Angeles synagogue architecture and design, revealing the diverse nature of contemporary Jewish experience.

Featuring: Ya’akov Ronnie Britton, Sabrina Gschwandtner, Geoff Martin, Shanti Reinhardt, Joyce Rubin, and Joey Soloway.

Director: Sabrina Gschwandtner
Producers: Sabrina Gschwandtner, Jason Spingarn-Koff
Editor: Kevin Jones
Director of Photography: Jenni Morello
Assistant Editor: Talia Mindich
Assistant Camera: Lea Salanon
Sound: Omar Barraza
Gaffer: Trey Betts
PA: Gabi Marler
Hair & makeup: Nichole Servin
Colorist: Jamie LeJeune
Sound mix: IMRSV

Archival footage and photography: Liz Collins, Sabrina Gschwandtner, Shanti Reinhardt, Joey Soloway, Wilshire Boulevard Temple Los Angeles

Additional participants: Debra Azar, Rabbi Mari Chernow, Rabbi Calvin Dox-DaCosta, Sally Dworsky, Rina Etkes, Cantorial Soloist Shelly Fox, Rabbi Susan Goldberg, Cantor Don Gurney, Ari Herstand, Jul Vann Levine, Rabbi Susan Nanus, Duvid Swirsky

Special thanks: Erin Wright

"Implicit Explicit" at Hauser & Wirth Feb 27 - April 7, 2024 /  by Sabrina Gschwandtner

Hauser & Wirth is pleased to mark the sixth anniversary of its UK-based contemporary craft gallery Make Hauser & Wirth with ‘Implicit Explicit,’ its first Los Angeles presentation, on view at the gallery’s Downtown Arts District complex from 27 February through 7 April 2024.

This exhibition will showcase works by four American artists whose practices encourage thoughtful consideration of our perceptions of and assumptions about craft. The participating artists—Joe Feddersen, Keiko Fukazawa, Sabrina Gschwandtner and Shari Mendelson—share a predilection for combining materials and imagery in ways that overtly challenge some of the established hierarchies of materials and processes most often associated with the handmade. For example, in ‘Untitled (Arts and Crafts Hands at Work)’ (2017), Sabrina Gschwandtner physically stitches together archival film footage using traditional quilt patterns. The result is an exquisite—and quite literal—tapestry of Gschwandtner’s exploratory approach to filmmaking. In Joe Feddersen’s work, the artist intricately weaves contemporary symbols of urban life, such as traffic signs and high voltage towers, into waxed linen baskets or uses them as motifs on his blown glass vessels. This seamless integration of techniques and imagery from both the past and the present adds depth to his work, introducing an unexpected dynamism to traditional practice.

As the title alludes, the territory between implied notions and explicit expressions of craft is rich for investigation. Each of the four artists in ‘Implicit Explicit’ cleaves to the inherent characteristics of craft by engaging with a traditionally craft-associated technique or material. Equally, each artist uses his or her work to focus upon both the historical application of a craft practice or medium, and the wider context of contemporary artmaking, culture and imagery. The resulting dialogues that exist within and among the works on view will underscore Make Hauser & Wirth’s commitment to showcasing the achievements of exceptional makers and activating critical thinking about how craft is defined and how it impacts our world.

‘Implicit Explicit’ was conceived and curated by Meaghan Roddy, in collaboration with Make Hauser & Wirth.