I believe matter begets life, life becomes single cells, single cells become strings, strings become chains, chains network. And this is the paradigm that we see throughout the universe.
—Dr. Paul Stamets
Marc Selwyn Fine Art is pleased to announce Entanglements, an exhibition of new work by Los Angeles-based artist Channing Hansen.
Channing Hansen’s intricately knitted works reveal a commitment to process. The artist is intimately involved with each step of their creation, preparing and dyeing the raw fleece, then spinning the fiber into yarn. To compose the work, Hansen uses algorithms to generate patterns which are then knitted and stretched over a frame.
In this body of work, in addition to employing a range of knitted stitches and forms, Hansen has incorporated weaving and felting techniques. Typically, fiber and textile-based art takes its form from a singular process, such as weaving, knitting, or felting. Hansen is interested in combining media and methodology, informed by his Fluxus background, which began with his participation in his grandfather Al Hansen’s Happenings.
The algorithm for Entanglements is drawn from systems found in both nature and the cosmos, transforming them into a network of loops and knots of yarn. As the artist explains “This series is based on growth patterns that structure fungus, neurons, and the distribution of galaxies.”
Hansen continues, “This summer I watched a nearly 100-old eucalyptus tree get cut down, leaving exposed a huge stump threaded with white fungus. I began reading about the way these mycelial networks function, taking in and redistributing nutrients and information to nearby vegetation in ways that seem to anticipate the internet. (Some articles even jokingly called it the Wood Wide Web). These mycelium visually resemble neural networks, as well as models of the universe. They transfer data at the quantum level, via neurotransmitters made up of tiny particles. Quantum entanglement therefore can be said to be the basis of all communication.”
As renowned mycologist Paul Stamets asserts, the invention of the internet can be seen as an inevitable consequence of such biological networks. And in the current global environmental crisis, we in turn use the internet to more effectively redistribute resources to support the original biological network that served as its model. Social media has also heightened awareness of the crisis while facilitating collective action to reduce climate change. As Stamets says, “The earth invented the computer internet for its own benefit, and we, now, being the top organism on this planet, [are] trying to allocate resources in order to protect the biosphere.”
Channing Hansen (born 1972, Los Angeles) is included in the collections of the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Frederick R. Weisman Foundation, Los Angeles; and the Ahmanson Foundation, Los Angeles, among others. Hansen has also been featured in group exhibitions including Made in LA 2014, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (catalogue); Thread, Long Beach Museum of Art; Inherent Structure, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio; Alan Shields Project, Van Doren Waxter, New York; Textile Abstraction, Casas Riegner, Bogota Columbia (catalogue); 99 cents or less, Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit; Knowledges, Mount Wilson Observatory, Los Angeles; Intertwined, The Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. Hansen lives and works in Los Angeles.