Tell Them About Me: Elizabeth Glaessner, Caleb Hahne, and Judd Schiffman

Curated by Madeline Ehrlich

Exhibition Opening: Sunday, September 13 @ 11am - 8pm

Exhibition Dates: September 13 - October 25, 2020

Tell Them About Me is a three-person exhibition consisting of selected paintings, wall-mounted sculpture and works on paper by Elizabeth Glaessner, Caleb Hahne, and Judd Schiffman. These artists’ works have strong allegorical visual depictions that illustrate human existence through symbols and the retelling of personal histories.

Each artist has developed their own symbolic language to tell an autobiographical narrative. Heavily influenced by experiences of their youth, each exude motifs of innocence, gender and sexuality. These allegorical devices include mythological creatures and ritualistic imagery such as bones, feathers, and horses. The allegorical narratives created by these artists feel similar to recalling a dream and therefore exist in liminal time and space. Memory is never a linear narrative, but instead a splintering of truths that distort with individual perceptions. Through sensory observations, transformation and retrieval, the reconstitution of these details creates illusions of reality where there are no truths but instead varying shades of interpretation. 

Elizabeth Glaessner’s works examine the oral and visual traditions of storytelling through the use of myth and allegory. These devices give way to her narrative-based works, exploring themes of memory and ritual which can appear as a sadistic representation, such as Crawling, which depicts a body bent crawling on the ground that is littered with bones and other visual depictions of death, decay, and isolation. A bird sits peaking at the figure’s hand until bloody. Glaessner’s figures exist in an ethereal, liminal space, drawing from both real and imagined experiences. There is still a softness in the works, however- the sherbert hues suggesting that the relationship we have with our past is full of potential.

Caleb Hahne’s paintings and works on paper illustrate the artist’s memory and lived experience. His work depicts a life of growing up as a Jewish Latin American in rural Colorado and exploring the natural world around him. His vast familial history can be seen through small details, such as a Star of David necklace that his grandfather made matching pairs for them, each spelling out the word “love” through careful breaks in the metalsmithing, and more straightforward illustrations of horseback riding. Caleb transforms these symbols into his own language through use of bright colors and hazy atmospheres, creating dreamlike conditions. The works included in Tell Them About Me strongly reference his time in quarantine due to the COVID-19 crisis. Like gazing down upon a passerby from a bedroom window or receiving distressing news over the phone, these events are often remembered as being experienced alone. 

Judd Schiffman works in ceramic, wall-mounted sculpture. These sculptures begin as small individual pieces inspired by his Jewish family heirlooms, personal mementos, and historic artifacts. His work includes symbols such snakes, fire, and moths, each telling their own allegorical tale. These pieces are then assembled within a framed outline to tell an elaborate narrative. As a new father to his daughter, Franny, Schiffman’s works sometimes grapple with the construct of masculinity and his own complicated relationship with a gender that inherently participates in a patriarchal society. The titles of his sculptures sometimes directly inform the story, such as Birthing Room, but often the final interpretation of the narrative is left up to the viewer. 

These three artists are examining how we envision and relate to our past experiences. Even though the recording of events is not objective, memory is somehow absorbed and reconstituted as personal history and cultural identity. By critically examining the relationships we have to our memories, traumas, and ancestral inheritance, we can begin to better understand ourselves and the world in which we interact. 

Elizabeth Glaessner was born in Palo Alto, CA in 1984 and grew up in Houston, Texas. After receiving her BA from Trinity University in 2006, she moved to New York and completed her MFA at the New York Academy of Art in 2013. She currently lives and works in Brooklyn. She was awarded a postgraduate fellowship at the New York Academy of Art in 2013, a residency at GlogauAIR Berlin in 2013 and a residency at the Leipzig International Art Programme in 2012, and a recipient of the Galveston Island Art Residency 2019-2020. She has been included in exhibitions in New York, Texas, and Germany.      

Caleb Hahne received a BFA in Fine Arts from Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design in 2014 and currently lives and works in CO. He was an artist in residence at ShowPen from September 2013 to August 2014 and is currently in residency at RedLine Contemporary Art Center, both located in Denver. He recently completed a traveling artist residency with Southwest American Bullet (SWAB). His art has been included in multiple solo and group exhibitions in Denver, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Portland, Montreal, Berlin, and the United Kingdom and recently at MCA Denver as well as the New Museum, NY in collaboration with Adidas. Hahne has been featured in Juxtapoz, Hi-Fructose, and Booooooom.com. Denver Westword named Hahne one of the 100 Colorado Creatives of 2014 and one of the Top 10 Artists to watch in 2015. He is listed as one of the top 10 contemporary artists under 40 by Wide Walls.

Judd Schiffman (b. 1982) is a Providence, Rhode Island based artist working primarily in ceramics. He has lectured at Harvard University Ceramics and Brown University, and participated in residencies at the Zentrum Fur Keramiks in Berlin, Germany and Arch Contemporary in Tiverton, Rhode Island. Schiffman received his MFA from the University of Colorado in 2015, and his BA from Prescott College in 2007. Schiffman’s work has been exhibited in New York City, Los Angeles, CA, Portland, OR, Boulder, CO, Beacon, NY, Providence, RI, Fall River, MA, and Berlin, Germany. In 2016, he received an emerging artists award from the National Council for the Education of Ceramic Arts. Schiffman is currently the Visiting Assistant Professor of Ceramics at Providence College. 

For sales inquiries, please contact: 

Quang Bao (quang@1969gallery.com)

Madeline Ehrlich (madeline@1969gallery.com)