John Wentz - "Navigation Unknown"

Hashimoto Contemporary SF is pleased to present “Navigation Unknown”, a solo exhibition by John Wentz. The show will introduce a new series of mixed media paintings examining the transitory space of the urban environment.

“Navigation Unknown” expands the artist’s ongoing exploration of portraiture through process and mark making. Wentz’s expressive style delicately balances loose and defined detail, creating human likeness within gestural abstraction. Influenced by his recent time spent in New York, the work is a direct response to the physical textures of the city. Wentz collages advertisements, spray paint and other media to construct dimensional portraits, physically unifying the paintings to their references. 

“Navigation Unknown” offers a dynamic observation of the passerby by focusing on the encounters of individuals converging in spaces of transience. The exhibition is twofold, featuring micro and macro perspectives. Dynamic narrative scenes are paired with stripped down portraits of individual passengers. Each piece employs the viewer’s own projection onto the subjects, allowing an emotive recognition to exude from the figures. Wentz elaborates, “I think it’s a really vulnerable state to be in when you’re neither here nor there, so to speak. People in transit are unrooted… We are in a constant flux going from point A to point B. I’m interested in the area between those two points.”

Please join us for “Navigation Unknown”, opening Saturday, August 5 with an evening reception from 6pm - 9pm, where the artist will be in attendance. This exhibition will be on view through Saturday, August 26. For more information, additional images, or exclusive content, please email us at info@hashimotocontemporary.com.