JAMES HERMAN
Ibid Gallery Los Angeles +1 (323) 395 8914 la@ibidgallery.com London +44 (0) 207 637 8773 info@ibidgallery.com www.ibidgallery.com JAMES HERMAN (b.1985, USA) James Herman s work deals with the ways in which we inhabit space and the natural environment. His multi-disciplinary practice utilizes nature-play, formalism, and the assemblage of found materials to create architecture, sculpture, and design. Hidden in a fruit grove situated on a hillside in Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles, Herman lives in a house that he built himself, thoughtfully placed into the existing environment. With his nearby studio made primarily out of an antique mail-order car-port found on site, the compound, named Glass Island Studio, further alludes to his dependence on locally sourced material. In this way, Herman s processes, materials, and language become applicable to both the worlds of sculptural art and of formal architectural design. His reliance on found materials and living inside of his work contribute to the notion of being in the world that allows him to experiment on and reconfigure his space over time, becoming a sculpture in itself. The ease and accessability of the material processes and ways of building he employs, not only openly drawing from vernacular building techniques but also modernism, propogate this transformative and investigative way of existing that manifests both through living and working on and in a space. Herman s comission for the Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego, made primarily of found materials in the area, responds heavily to its natural environment. Located in a penninsula that is the only place in the park where the sunset and sunrise are both visible to the viewer, the monument references both an existing monument on the site to the conquestador Juan Cabrillo and also the white crests of the waves, boats, and gulls of the sea; the perspective of the piece further suggesting the ambiguous historical moment in time that the piece could inhabit. His work results in a reconceptualization of the viewer s experience with space, time, and the elements which make them up. James Herman was born in Denver, Colorado in 1985. He lives and works in Los Angeles, California. Herman attended the Yale Norfolk Summer School of Art in 2010. His book Driftwood Forts of the Oregon Coast was published by Nestucca Spit Press in April, 2014. Recent exhibitions include Aaron Wrinkle 1978, Night Gallery, Los Angeles; On Landscape #2, Matéria, Rome; Convergence, Cabrillo National Monument, Point Loma, CA; Aged Aquarius, The Henry Ford Museum, Detroit, Michigan; and A Call to Place: The first five years of the Frontier Fellowship, Rio Gallery, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Ottowah, 2017, acrylic on panel, 77 1/2 x 49 1/2 in
Glass Island Studio, 2015
Glass Island Studio, 2015
Cape Kiwanda, 2016, acrylic on panel, 49 x 32 1/2 in
Glass Island Studio, 2015, details
Crow House, 2015, Hayfork, California
Yellow, White, or Gray, 2013, detail
Yellow, White, or Gray, 2013, detail
Cripple Creek, 2016, acrylic on panel, 67 1/2 x 48 1/2 in
Installation view of Yellow, White, or Gray, 2013, at Ditch Projects, Springfield, Oregon
Yellow, White, or Gray, 2013, detail
Dorena Lake, 2016, acrylic on panel, 62 1/2 x 47 3/4 in
Eco-rafter Sundial Inc., 2012, prayer flags made from reusable shopping bags, driftwood, poncho, BPA free water jug, mylar sundial, bookshelf made to hold National Geographic magazines, blue tarp, lumber and dip painted wood board
Burnout Shower, 2016, Redwood decking, shower hardware and plumbing, burnt out old growth redwood stump
Burnout Shower, 2016 (detail)
Burnout Shower, 2016 (detail)
Shower Tower, 2017, mixed media, dimensions variable
Shower Tower, 2017 (detail)
Klamath, 2017, acrylic on panel, 40 x 12 1/4 in
James C. Herman jamescarlherman.com BIOGRAPHY 1985 Born Lives and works in Los Angeles, California Ibid Gallery, Los Angeles 670 S Anderson Street Los Angeles, CA 90023, USA +1 (323) 395 8914 la@ibidgallery.com Ibid Gallery, London 27 Margaret Street London W1W 8RY, UK +44 (0) 207 637 8773 info@ibidgallery.com www.ibidgallery.com EDUCATION 2011 University of Oregon, BFA 2010 Yale Norfolk Summer School of Art SELECTED EXHIBITIONS 2016 A Call to Place: The first five years of the Frontier Fellowship, Rio Gallery, Salt Lake City, Utah 2015 Hay Nap, Secret Recipe, Los Angeles, California AARON WRINKLE 1978, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, California On Landscape #2, Matéria, Rome CONVERGENCE, Cabrillo National Monument, Point Loma, California 2014 Aged Aquarius, The Henry Ford Museum, Detroit, Michigan A Gathering in the Redwoods, Summer House, California 2013 Yellow, White, or Grey, Ditch Projects, Springfield, Oregon The Object Salon, Roberts and Tilton, Los Angeles, California 2012 The 100 Show, Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Oregon Psycho Pomp, Ship in the Woods, Del Mar, California Eye on Eye, Washington State University Vancouver Library, Vancouver, Washington FELLOWSHIPS / RESIDENCIES 2015 Artist in Residence, Salmon Creek Farm, Albion, California 2012 Artist in Residence, Ship In The Woods, Del Mar, California Artist in Residence, Coast Time, Lincoln City, Oregon Fellow, Epicenter Frontier Fellowship, Green River, Utah 2010 Ellen Battel Stoeckel Fellowship, Norfolk, Connecticut PUBLICATIONS 2014 Driftwood Forts of the Oregon Coast, Published by Nestucca Spit Press