(pow!) Bwógh! Bwick! (sticky sound) BBBBB! (Horse lips)

NIAD Art Center is pleased to present James Heartsill's first solo exhibition, (pow!) Bwógh! Bwick! (sticky sound) BBBBB! (Horse lips), on view from July 11 - August 15. Heartsill (b. 1952) began working at NIAD Art Center in 1989. 

Installed as tabletop architectural models, in shades of burnt umber and Golden Gate Bridge red, and assembled with an intentionally rough yet caring hand, these raw, tactile works carry a distinctly American sensibility. While some of Heartsill’s arrangements read as dust-strewn Goldrush-era single-room dwellings, others imply the stacked modern metropolis. Though their specific points of reference remain elusive, Heartsill’s work teeters between the language of adolescence, recalling Lincoln logs or scholastic toy blocks, and something more psychologically charged. Edges split and splinter, suggesting the urgency of their making.

Northern California has long been associated with powerful cultural stories, from the Western expansion and self-reliance to utopian experimentation and architectural ingenuity. Heartsill’s pieces not only bridge past and present, but build upon a myth-making lineage specific to the Bay Area.

This exhibition of 14 collected wooden constructions showcases the range of Heartsill’s three-dimensional output, and invites the mind to wander through these miniature architectural abstractions.

Just as the Golden Gate Bridge is continuously painted and patched as a neverending effort to protect it from corrosion caused by salt air, moisture, and wind, maintenance is also a key feature of Heartsill's work. His sculptures bear the mark of repeated reworking, embodying a state of perpetual re-invention. 

The simplicity, primary palette, and modular nature of Heartsill’s maquettes share qualities associated with minimalism or modernist design, but the visceral hand-built imperfections of his works push against that sleek rationalism -  breathing warmth, responsivness, and even humor into otherwise austere forms. As objects, these frontier-esque models expose the expressive potential of modestly built environments and reveal an emotional register often associated more with painting than with sculpture.

James Heartsill (b. 1952) is an artist who has worked at NIAD Art Center since 1989. His work references real and imagined architecture, and he has spent many years constructing, redesigning, and maintaining miniature wooden environments. 

Heartsill’s work has been featured in group exhibitions at Et al. Gallery, San Francisco, CA; 120710 Gallery, Berkeley, CA; Studio Route 29, Frenchtown, NJ; SAIC Wellness Center, Chicago, IL; and Art Et Marges Museum, Brussels, Belgium.