volumes 1-7, landscape book and primary book 22x26 2004
STACKS+SPILLS
new photographs by JAMES HENKEL
James Henkel, once called "a minimalist magician" by the Village Voice, will be showing a new group of photographs titled STACKS+SPILLS. In 2004, Henkel was one of seven artists included in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts Lightbound: photographers regard the book exhibition. In this beautiful solo exhibition at Gallery Co Henkel continues to use simple objects to surprise the viewer.
Many of the photographs in STACKS+SPILLS continue Henkel's work with books, creating new and imaginary volumes from parts of found and discarded texts. Using a band saw to cut books into parts he is able to isolate fragments of title, image or color, which are then recombined (stacked) into new texts. Some images explore the internal structure of text and form while others explore purely imaginative titles.
Drawing is often at the heart of these photographs, though the materials are not usual. Single lines are drawn across space through bamboo stalks suspended in water, or dirt stacked in vases, or a tower of roses, or hammers stacked in a tool shed. The SPILLS pictures use milk to draw their own vessels, humorously exploring ideas about the container and the contained. Salt, sugar, wine, water, and milk all serve as Henkel's drawn marks.
More of James Henkel's work can be seen at jameshenkel.com.