UNCERTAIN ALLIES
February 24 -April 30, 2021
A virtual exhibition presented by Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum
California State University, Long Beach, CA
Curated by Kristina Newhouse
Screening
Four Videos with Rocks
Premiere screening of Charge
Wednesday, March 17, 2021 at 6pm PDT on Zoom
Conversation
Earthly Matters—Artist in conversation with curator
Wednesday, April 7, 2021 at 6pm PDT on Zoom
Archived online here.
WORKS IN EXHIBITION
INTRODUCTION
Enchanted by raw stone, Neha Choksi draws attention to time in this monographic exhibition, Uncertain Allies. In her new wall works and a recent floor-based sculpture, mineral extraction encounters its origin; that is, pigment confronts rock, within the same spatiotemporal frame. Chronologies are literally embedded into fabric and boulder: there is the time taken by the artist to attack the fabric with rocks or daub it with paint. Psychic and material energy comingle.
A confounding burst of energy is revealed in Choksi's new video, Charge (2017-2021). Choksi asked friends, in Los Angeles and in Bombay, to choose a stone that fit into their hand and throw it directly at the camera. To the artist, each successive throw of stone conjures the idiosyncratic legacy of our species on this planet. After all, rock is the stuff of planets and the matter in hand at the same time. It also reminds us of the fragility and instability of human legacies.
With Uncertain Allies, Neha Choksi continues her inquiry in three questions that have motivated many of her recent artistic efforts: Who am I? Who are we? and How do we sustain existence as a species? Rock is the primal impetus to address the last.
—Kristina Newhouse
CURATOR’S FULL ESSAY here.
PRESS RELEASE TEXT here.
RELATED WORKS
Stone Breath Mountain Dust, 2016
Dust to Mountain, 2016
Liberty Matter, 2017 (featuring Insurrection, 2017 and A Stone’s Throw, 2017)
Ahimsa series, 2020
Porous Earth, 2024
and more
Photography courtesy of the artist and Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum of California State University, Long Beach. Photography © Fredrik Nilsen Studio. Photography of single rocks in ‘The Weight of the Cave’ © Brica Wilcox
