Taymour Grahne Projects is pleased to present Cycles, a solo exhibition by LA-based artist Jen Hitchings, opening on April 15 between 5-7pm at the Holland Park space (10 Portland Road) as part of a joint opening across our 3 spaces.

Jen Hitchings' first physical solo show at Taymour Grahne Projects continues the artist’s ongoing self-reflective investigation of the psyche, relationships, erotic desire, and cosmic forces. In this body of work, Jen Hitchings explores various versions of cycles in the human and natural experience: lunar, solar, seasonal, menstrual, reproductive, weather, and plant life. Referencing traditions of Japanese landscape painting, the Hudson River School painters, as well as science fiction film posters and spiritualist archetypes, these monochromatic landscapes are the crux of Hitchings’ practice.

Painted with vivid colours, Jen Hitchings’ works capture the beauty and vastness of nature transformed into otherworldly landscapes. Dreamy valleys and mesmerising lakes emit a serene sense of stillness, cloud formations encircle mountaintops in embrace, and waterfalls undulate in rhythmic suggestive patterns. Objects in the foreground serendipitously align with elements in the distance In the sky, the viewer witnesses reflections of mystical moons, suns and stars in rising, setting, and traversing phases. All elements seem to be part of an eternal uninterrupted flow. The sites depicted primarily represent internal psychological spaces, yet are based on real emotionally significant places, layering nature atop the artist’s inner self. Sometimes they refer to the American northeast where Hitchings grew up in, but this show focuses on Hitchings’ recent experience living in drought-ridden southern California valley.

Uncanny symmetries, mirroring and repetition have always been integral to the construction of Hitchings’ images as they illuminate the simultaneous beauty and mystery of nature. In this show, the element of duality references the two American coasts, east and west, as well as the respective flora, light and colours one might encounter in each area. Multiple versions of Hitchings’ iconographies exist in the image at once, whether celestial bodies, suns and moons, mountain ranges, or desert and rivers. The surreal effects put truth into question, ultimately resulting in an investigation of perception. Hitchings points out the connection between natural and psychological space, reflecting both physiological symmetries in human bodies and contradicting desires and behaviours that humans–especially herself–experience.

The exhibition features five small paintings on the upper gallery floor which begin a new project. Here, the artist sources images of mountains, rivers, lakes and waterfalls from friends and acquaintances. Within the sky of each is the Western zodiac constellation of the contributor (Aries, Taurus, Gemini etc.) Each series of twelve depicts the sun corresponding to an hour on an analog clock, and a colour spectrum. These are fast, intuitive, gestural paintings made from rough sketches of the original image, investigating new methods of employing transparencies and exploring compositions and colour relationships.

Hitchings’ approach to landscape painting was greatly influenced by a month-long residency at Studio Kura in rural Itoshima, Japan. The artist mentions how the Eastern philosophies and art have greatly contributed to her appreciation for nature, solitude, and other beings — and consequently partly shaped her artistic identity. Since her 2014 trip to Japan, the work has always depicted the tenuous relationship between humankind and nature, and the dangers and potential of this symbiosis. Mountains, the great protagonists of many of her compositions, used to be seen as sacred locations by ancient religions and philosophies due to their proximity to the sky. Highlighting them as central figures in many of the works is an attempt to rekindle this sacred admiration and trust in nature to guide humankind, which has largely dissipated from contemporary Western life. Hitchings describes her landscapes as post-anthropocentric, depicting a version of Earth without any human presence. The unnatural neon colours make one wonder if they are the result of human intervention or whether they may signify danger, potentially a toxic or radioactive environment. This delicate, uncanny wavering between serenity and sorrow, isolation and unity, day and night is the emotive response the works strive to elicit–where two opposites meet at the beginning and end of a cycle.

Jen Hitchings (B. 1988, New Jersey) holds a BFA in Painting & Drawing from SUNY Purchase College, a Certificate of Completion of Sotheby’s online certificate Art as a Global Business, and a certificate in Small Business & Entrepreneurship from CUNY Hunter College. She has attended residencies at DNA (Provincetown, MA), the Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT), Studio Kura (Itoshima, Japan), and Highly Authorized (Ellenville, NY). She has had solo shows at Taymour Grahne Projects (online), One River School (NJ), MEN Gallery (NYC), PROTO (NJ), and Ideal Glass (NYC) which was accompanied by a 16 x 30’ outdoor mural. In 2021, she completed two large-scale outdoor murals at The Wassaic Project, on view through 2023. Recent group exhibitions have taken place at Anat Ebgi (LA), Taymour Grahne Projects (London), Ana Mas Projects (Barcelona), Cindy Rucker, Pierogi, Ideal Glass (NYC), The Wassaic Project (NY), Geoffrey Young Gallery (MA), and Newark International Liberty Airport (NJ). She was a recipient of the Queens Council on the Arts’ New Works Grant in 2018. Between 2013–2020, Hitchings co-directed Transmitter and Associated Gallery in Brooklyn, NY, and is the founder of Studio Associate, an artist-focused consulting agency. She lives and works in Burbank, CA.