WOOLGATHER

Featuring Eric Oglander and Kiah Celeste

June 24th - August 12th 2023

Swivel Gallery is thrilled to announce “Woolgather,” a collaborative exhibition showcasing the works of two remarkable artists, Kiah Celeste and Eric Oglander. Set in a forum of sculpture and installation, the exhibition poses a daring dialectic between the two artists and their approaches to three-dimensional craftsmanship. By ingeniously manipulating the remnants of both urban and natural landscapes, Celeste and Oglander contemplate a maker’s capacity to deploy creative and inventive means to re-imagine their surroundings.

One cannot help but be struck by the palpable materiality of the objects on display. Each artist has embarked on a unique journey in sourcing their components, resulting in a striking divergence of moods. Oglander's small and intimate compositions exhibit elements derived from the earth itself, with sticks displaying commonplace ruptures, blemishes, and nodes; cross-sections of trees showcasing annual rings; and the intricate textures of bark. These scraps seem to originate from a serene expanse of woods, offering viewers a glimpse into the natural terrains of the artist’s surroundings. On the other hand, Celeste incorporates primarily man-made materials into her pieces. The synthetic amalgamation of discarded chair frames, cue balls, and fluorescent light bulbs evokes memories of spaces once inhabited by humans, or the everyday litter found in bustling city streets.

By straddling the divide between these two contrasting atmospheres, Celeste and Oglander also invite a dreamy sense of nostalgia into their techniques. Their artworks bear traces of a timeless human desire: the tactile impulse to tamper with the objects that surround us. Oglander's shaving and weaving methods evoke a sentimental connection to pre-civilization times when early humans tinkered with wood and fabric. Celeste, on the other hand, immerses us in the industrial age, tending to the shiny objects of modern invention. Channeling different epochs, these artists acknowledge the instrumentality of objects and explore the sometimes tender, sometimes fraught relationship between things and people.

Both Celeste and Oglander subvert the utilities of everyday objects: in their process, they manifest senseless daydreaming, indulging in aimless absentmindedness in their clever constructions. While the constituents of each piece are extracted from natural and man-made systems, these artists imagine new narratives that restore balance to the objects—an opportunity for them to fit in and function once again. Remarkably, complex hardware is rarely employed in their compositions. Instead, the inherent nature of the materials is relied upon to hold the works together. Through their intuitive and industrious processes, Celeste and Oglander demonstrate their sensitivity to the precious and poetic aspects of the everyday world. In “Woolgather,” trash is effortlessly transformed into treasure, and objects are not only found but also sheltered.

Kiah Celeste (b.1994, Brooklyn, NY) is a multi-dimensional artist whose work for the last four years has transcended fitting into one category or medium. Living a peripatetic life since leaving her native Brooklyn, Celeste moved from her university background in photography into three-dimensional production. Kiah spent her time completing artist residencies in Barcelona, Vienna, and Frankfort (KY), as well as solo exhibitions in Chicago, New York and Louisville. She has worked and exhibited internationally from Brooklyn, Abu Dhabi, Berlin, Hong Kong and Basel to Louisville. In 2021, Celeste received the inaugural 21C Artadia Award in Louisville. Her newly acquired works by the Speed Museum in Louisville are currently on view through August while she prepares for a solo exhibition in Lisbon, a two person exhibition in Brooklyn and several art fairs including expo Chicago and NADA Miami.

Eric Oglander  (b. 1987, Nashville, TN) is a self-taught sculptor whose practice is informed formally, structurally, and materially by his multifarious interests. Growing up fishing and hunting for arrowheads in the woods outside Nashville, his work stems from a relationship with collecting, found objects, and primitive skill sets with a focus on minimal forms.

Oglander’s work has been exhibited at NADA NY, Deli Gallery, Patrick Parrish Gallery, Swivel Gallery, New Release Gallery, The Shed Space, and The Castle in New York; Poem 88 in Atlanta, GA; The Fine Art Museum at Western Carolina University; Institute 193 in Lexington, KY; Soho Revue Gallery and Cob Gallery in London, UK; NADA x Foreland in Catskill, NY. Oglander has also worked as an assistant to American sculptor Robert Gober for several years.