Heidi Vaughan Fine Art presents Electrically by Hillerbrand+Magsamen
Electrically, an exhibition by collaborative team, Hillerbrand+Magsamen opens Saturday at HEIDI VAUGHAN FINE ART, on September 10th and runs through October 15th, 2022, at the gallery, located at 3510 Lake Street at Colquitt in the Upper Kirby Galleries. For the opening on September 10th, the gallery hours will be from 11 to 5 pm and 5 to 8 pm for the reception. Additionally, there will be an artist talk on Wednesday, September 28th, from 6-8 pm, with cocktails and conversation hosted at the gallery.
Inspired by “Live Better Electrically,” a mid-century corporate advertising slogan, Electrically is an exhibition of photographs and sculptures by Hillerbrand+Magsamen.
A bronze medallion, embedded in the brick next to the front door of Hillerbrand+Magsamen’s 1960s house, is emblazoned with the charge to “Live Better Electrically.” The medallion was part of one of the most successful post-war mass marketing home advertising campaigns in US history by General Electric and Westinghouse. The corporate “certification” on how to live is current and foreboding. Hillerbrand+Magsamen have harnessed and repurposed its power as inspiration for their exhibition Electrically.
After a tumultuous couple of years, Hillerbrand+Magsamen want to live better too, and reconnect. Through a dynamic and dangerous process of destruction and renewal, the artists translate electricity into a system of abstract visual language as they draw with electricity in an unpredictable method that creates one of a kind works as the electricity fuses with the image.
By using Lichtenberg burning (fractal burning) to discharge electricity through their artwork, Hillerbrand+Magsamen give a nod to the Surrealist’s process of “automatic drawing.” Fractal burning was discovered by a German Experimental Physicist, George Lichtenberg (1742 –1799) who also authored The Waste Books. The performative burning technique requires a unique collaboration between the two artists and two points of electricity. As each artist holds an electric node, with nostalgia-tinged images between them, the high-voltage current seeks out its connection across the distance, marking time in the form of charred fractal patterns.
In conjunction with the FotoFest Biennial 2022, Hillerbrand+Magsamen have been nominated for Ten by Ten for their series 147 Devices for Integrated Principles, on view September 24 – November 6th, at Sawyer Yards, Houston, TX. Hillerbrand+Magsamen’s practice utilizes collaboration, process and media experimentation through video, photography, installation, sculpture and interdisciplinary performance. They explore their relationships to each other and society with an uncanny sensibility that merges the real and unreal, blurring boundaries between life and art. Stephen Hillerbrand is an Professor at the University of Houston. Mary Magsamen is an independent curator.
HEIDI VAUGHAN FINE ART represents Texas artists based in Houston. HVFA artists live in Houston but are from all over the globe. The gallery presents, embraces, and celebrates diversity with projects that support local creative communities and ideas. HVFA also represents important Houston collectors and sells secondary market art. A significant part of the gallery’s business is devoted to valuation and appraisal of works of fine art. More can be found at www.heidivaughanfineart.com and at the HVFA online gallery on Artsy, the YouTube channel, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter pages. HVFA is a member of the Houston Art Gallery Association and accepts Art Money. For more information, contact Heidi at heidi@heidivaughanfineart.com and 832.875.6477. Gallery Director, Cat Yue, can be reached at cat@heidivaughanfineart.com and at 832.438.5808