#stayhome: re-visit “Made in LA” 2014 at the Hammer Museum

Made in L.A. 2014 was organized by Hammer chief curator Connie Butler and independent curator Michael Ned Holte.

When we initiated this series focused on L.A. we knew each incarnation would be uniquely different and that the vast and varied artist community in this city could absolutely sustain a large-scale ongoing biennial,” says Hammer Museum director Annie Philbin. “Like the curators in 2012, Michael and Connie have visited hundreds of studios and will tell you they have only scratched the surface—there is so much going on here. We are committed to supporting this extraordinary creative community and helping to foster its continued growth and success.

One of the artists was Channing Hansen:

In Hansen’s “paintings”—hand-knitted constructions stretched on wooden frames—loops of yarn give form to a painterly abstraction or assert its uncertainty. Hansen picked up knitting almost a decade ago to preoccupy his restless mind and has been making paintings that way since 2010.Hansen is meticulously involved in every step of the process from start to finish. He dyes and spins different fiber blends—silk, alpaca, mohair, and wool, sometimes with holographic polymer threads added in—and then knits the strands on wooden needles. The slightly improvisatory appearance of his work is actually predetermined by a decision-making computer algorithm. His ongoing series of Quantum Paintings (2012– ), knit with yarns in finer gauges and stretched to their limits, are netlike fields that reveal the supports underneath.

Hansen’s work delves into questions of math and physics, both reflected in the time and manner that he devotes to making his paintings. As Hansen has said, “craft solves questions; art asks them,” and in this sense, his paintings remain portals of possibility.