Sean Raspet

Inspired by technology and consumer society, Sean Raspet’s work extends beyond the sphere of art to intervene in the fields of science, food production, and finance. A number of his projects focus on how systems mutate and change material form, resulting in an approach to abstraction that involves working with intangible elements such as chemical compounds, currency valuation and financialization, legal administration, and data processing. Raspet became a self-taught chemist in order to produce compounds such as artificial flavors and fragrance formulations, cleaning products, new food prototypes, and a synthetic DNA tracking gel among others. His works do not merely circulate within the context of the exhibition space, but instead are “metabolized” both inside and outside of the art context—and sometimes quite literally within the human body. ...

Various Small Fires (Los Angeles /Dallas /Seoul) began as a series of conversations with artists and curators in Esther Kim Varet’s Venice Beach kitchen while working on her doctoral dissertation. VSF debuted in Hollywood as an official gallery in 2015 with a roster of artists and its current Johnston MarkLee Architects-designed building. The Hollywood gallery contains three exhibition spaces, a unique sound corridor, and an outdoor gallery. VSF’s exhibition program explores several curatorial lines: climate, equality, and an international conversation. The gallery is known for offering artists debut shows, creating intergenerational conversations among the artists on its roster, and solidifying artists’ legacies within art history. In 2019, VSF opened a second location in the Hannam neighbourhood of Seoul, South Korea, followed recently this Spring by VSFs third outpost in Dallas, Texas. While Varet has very personal connections to both locations, they are also superlative art communities. These expansions emphasise the gallery’s commitment to innovation and global dialogue in the twenty-first century. In 2021, VSF became a member of the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA). ...