IN THE ANNEX: JUNE 2022
June 1-26, 2022
Sarah Hulsey, David Leitch, Nilou Moochhala
SoWa First Friday Art Walk: June 3, 2022 | 5:00–8:00PM
Fountain Street Gallery is please to exhibit the work of Sarah Hulsey, David Leitch and Nilou Moochhala. All three artist were the recipients of the juror’s choice awards from Fountain Street’s 2022 international call-for-art, “Beyond Words,” juried by Gabriel Sosa. The work by these artists each embodies the most salient concern of how language can encompass wide-ranging notions of touch, mark-making, and repetition by closely investigating––in radically different ways––how language can be conveyed and absorbed without words as they are traditionally understood.
The ANNEX is a section of the Gallery where we spotlight new work by regional artists.
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Sarah Hulsey
Sarah Hulsey’s work is concerned with the hidden, structural beauty of language. Language is a deeply human trait that we use in every aspect of our lives, though its workings are largely mysterious to us as speakers. Hulsey’s work draws attention to those patterns deep in our minds and the rich, varied beauty they contain. Hulsey explores the systems of language that we use so effortlessly—phonetics, syntax, semantics, etc.—through prints, drawings, and artist books. Each piece isolates an aspect of a language or a text and creates a visual correlate of its structure, generating imagery from the linguistics of the text itself.
“I am drawn to printmaking because its iterative, serial processes are conceptually related to the content of my work. Throughout all areas of language, the notion of smaller units combined into larger structures is central: sounds into syllables, syllables into roots/affixes, roots/affixes into words, words into phrases, phrases into sentences, sentences into discourses. Iteration, recursion, combination via rules, variations on patterns—these concepts are foundational to the way our minds process language. Representing these processes through printmaking, with its inherent iteration, sequence, and serial variation, gives a tangible analogy to the complex beauty of our linguistic knowledge.” – Sarah Hulsey
David Leitch
David Leitch is a contemporary artisan in Los Angeles. He grew up in Rochester, New York, and moved to California to attend Berkeley in 1972. In 1990 he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in fine art and developed into a woodworker. His work consists of functional and fine art.
Leitch’s creative method has several approaches. At times he uses the remains of the commissioned furniture pieces to suggest or even inspire sculptural solutions. Instead of staring at a blank slab of wood for hours, an odd shaped leftover pares down the possibilities. He is forced to find solutions that fit the problem presented. At other times, he will focus on a single shape, such as a 30°, 60°, 90° degree triangle and see what develops.
“Creating is my job. I work for others to be involved in, and connected to their lives. I work on my own ideas for growth and satisfaction. Sometimes, I listen to people, and try to transform their ideas into practical home, office, or food items, and artwork. These are the pieces that I make to fill needs and make others happy. This work determines my function in the community. I also produce what no-one would think of asking for. These pieces are based on the materials I am drawn to and the input that creates feelings in me that causes a desire for a type of communication that words do not express.” – David Leitch
Nilou Moochhala
Nilou Moochhala’s visual practice (art & design) has been channeled into examining issues of cross-cultural change and transformation through collaging and assemblage techniques. Originally from Mumbai, she has been inspired to juxtapose found objects, memorabilia, and use of language to create social and political narratives, be it in public street spaces or private art galleries.
Moochhala has been interested in exploring the space “in-between” - the shift in narrative that we experience as we cross between different ‘real’ or ‘imagined’ spaces: whether it is our country, our culture, our sense of identity, or ourselves. By crossing over these ‘landscapes’, the artist attempts to create visual interpretations – and to convey the fleeting sensations of loss, love, confusion, happiness, grief, transcendence, solitude, and many more.
Moochhala has been an award recipient of grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and New England Foundation for the Arts. Her work has appeared in the Boston Globe, WBUR, Artscope, & Art Outdoors, among others. Moochhala received her MFA in Graphic Design from the Yale University School of Art, and her BA in Studio Art from Mount Holyoke College.
“As a multimedia artist, I am intrigued by the ‘gap’. Whether it is a physical space between divided communities; whether it is a dialogue between two cultures; or the creative opposition of designer and artist. Through collage and assemblage, I seek to find moments that allow me to explore the contradictions, confluences, and overlaps that occur when these dualities are brought together. These visual instances can provide a unique perspective on what connects or divides us as individuals, as a society, and beyond - and provide a view into how we can further understand the human condition. I create to make the invisible ‘visible’.” – Nilou Moochhala