This contemporary artwork features a striking visual composition centered around a spherical glass object suspended within a pair of cupped, rustic hands sculpted in a warm, earthy tone. The contrasting textures and materials create a captivating interplay, with the smooth, transparent orb floating delicately amidst the rough, organic forms. The inclusion of a small, vibrant red object within the glass sphere adds a touch of mysterious intrigue, inviting the viewer to ponder its symbolic significance. The artist's deft handling of form, material, and the interplay between the natural and the manufactured elements suggests an exploration of themes related to the fragility and interconnectedness of the human experience. ...
Sula Bermúdez-Silverman’s work interrogates the systems that shape social life, engaging with economic, racial, religious, and gendered structures of power. Her recent sculptures address the origins of global trade, early forms of commodification, and the hierarchies embedded within these exchanges, using materials that reference various forms of transaction—from the spread of disease to the circulation of folktales that have shaped regional identities. Working primarily in sculpture, Bermúdez-Silverman employs diverse media including sugar, salt, glass, resin, found objects, and human hair, occasionally extending her practice into video. Her works often remain intentionally open-ended, allowing viewers to determine what aspects resonate with their own experiences. This openness is coupled with rigorous research into mythological and historical narratives, which she translates into material form. Motifs such as the “ball and claw” are transformed through shifts in scale, color, and translucency, while objects like peepholes—cast in uranium or tinted glass—serve as contained spaces for cultural lore tied to viruses, symbolic animals, or trade routes. The responsive qualities of these materials, such as glass that changes color under different lighting, acknowledge both the histories of resource extraction and the desirability of rare elements. Across her practice, thresholds—windows, staircases, saddles—function as connectors between disparate systems of knowledge, revealing how history embeds itself into the subconscious. ...
Hannah Hoffman, Los Angeles opened in May 2013. The gallery maintains a program of international contemporary artists alongside historical exhibitions with a particular focus on feminist and conceptual practices.
