Schlomer Haus Gallery is pleased to present James Cherry’s San Francisco debut, Listening. The solo exhibition is a collection of driftwood carvings alongside his buoyant lamps, creating a juxtaposition of light and earthly materials that become innate symbols of the human experience.
Listening tells the stories of driftwood Cherry has found along Highway 1 since he moved to the West Coast four years ago. The show is an organic amalgamation of representations of friends, relationships, and loneliness, each embedded in the wood. As Cherry explains, “Making this work has really been about listening to the driftwood. I try to respect the idiosyncrasies that originally drew me to each stick, while also trying to dig out a self-imposed or transmitted mystery.”
Bending both physical elements and light to his will, Listening also features a collection of the lamps that Cherry has become widely known for. Cherry’s lamps, which have garnered attention from art and design collectors, are made of complex manipulations and recycled materials. With salvaged fabric mesh stretched across unique shapes–whether bulbous, amorphous, or angular–and coated in resin, Cherry creates work that has the power to change its surroundings, playing with light and tone to shift an entire room.
The captivating pieces possess a striking ability to mold perception, not only thanks to the soft, warm glow of the light, but in physicality. With shapes that appear delicate and balloon-like alongside pieces that appear to be pushing outside of their shades, Cherry transcends the properties of his materials to create something whimsical and fun.
With each piece exhibited in Listening, Cherry strikes a shocking balance between the pristinely refined and delicately handmade, fragility and strength side by side. The lamps illuminate the driftwood sculptures and, in turn, the sculptures ground the lamps, drawing the light and the eye.
Listening opens March 1, 2024 at Schlomer Haus Gallery.
