With the use of elastic bands, tape, and balance, broken pieces of the vessel are rearranged to reveal caverns, depth, and surfaces untrue to the original form. Without the need for function, the objects Henkel has chosen to reconfigure lean into the realm of the uncanny, going so far as rendering an object entirely unusable. Lids are stacked high atop a single cup, bulbous forms knocked out and inverted, tension on the single band holding together a Frankestein-esque vase.
— From the exhibition text accompanying James Henkel’s “Table Arrangements”
James Henkel’s solo exhibition “Table Arrangements” is on view at Tracey Morgan Gallery in Asheville, NC, through February 16.
James Henkel is Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota. He has exhibited in over one hundred national and international venues, including St. Petersburg, Russia, the Teheran Museum of Contemporary Art, Iran, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Minneapolis Institute of Art, among others. His works is in the collections of The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Walker Art Center, SFMoMA, and many others.
