Don’t Touch My Circles, is a group exhibition of work across media by Kim Beck, Kevin Cooley, Nicki Green, Bill Jacobson, Jana Sophia Nolle, Stephanie Syjuco, and Marie Watt. The exhibition’s title references a quote attributed to Greek mathematician and astronomer Archimedes (287 – 212 BCE) who, upon confrontation with a Roman soldier during the conquest of Syracuse, pointed to geometric figures drawn in the sand and entreated Noli turbare circulos meos (“Do not disturb my circles”) before he was stabbed to death. While the authenticity of the quote is uncertain, the metaphors it invokes are especially salient in our political moment, as we consider how artists and creative practitioners stand up for their beliefs and ideas through their practice. In that vein, the works on view explore how familiar forms and motifs from art history – such as landscape and abstraction – can be invested with, and activated through, deep commitment to critique and political action.

The exhibition is accompanied by a viewing room presentation of The Truth Be Told (2019) by LigoranoReese, a new video and photograph derived from the artists’ most recent ice sculpture: a 2,500 pound sculpture of the word “Truth,” installed on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in front of the Capitol Building. Compiled from over eight hours of footage, the time lapse video depicts the sculpture as it melts and breaks. With a soundtrack that includes recorded statements from Donald Trump about the ongoing investigations of the 2016 presidential election, the video underlines the increasingly precarious relationship to systems of belief – both political and ontological – in our contemporary moment.

Don’t Touch My Circles: Kim Beck, Kevin Cooley, Nicki Green, Bill Jacobson, Jana Sophia Nolle, Stephanie Syjuco, and Marie Watt
Plus, a Viewing Presentation of The Truth Be Told by LigoranoReese
Exhibition Dates: June 29 – August 31, 2019
Opening Reception: Saturday, June 29, 2019 from 2 – 4pm; artist talks at 3pm

CATHARINE CLARK GALLERY
248 Utah Street
San Francisco, CA 94103