ABOUT THE ARTIST

Kerri Hoffman is an assemblage sculptor living and working in Portland, OR. She is known for combining found objects, figures and satire to reflect on experiences and wide-spread societal issues. In her most recent series, APARIGRAHA (2023) Hoffman incorporates audio visual equipment to emphasize the need to "Get Loud(er)" about issues related to mental health. She focuses on the impact of place and process in the journey to finding joy after chaos. 

Reflecting initially on fractured identity and born chaos, Hoffman's The Artist, The Constant Gardener, Played Numb and Cross My Legs & Hope to Die all examine transformation not sought. The incorporated objects such as seed packs dating back to 2013, archery arrows, fishnet clothing, Barbie doll legs, a hand-fashioned straight jacket, a turntable record player, a gas mask and survey tool all convey eventual withdrawal while enforcing the notion of imposed barriers and circumstances beyond one's control. 

Turning to rebellion in Sex Lies and Videotapes, featuring an ultra-smooth pair of brilliant yellow legs, rough cement and nails represents life's many contrasting experiences.  Several editions of Go Ahead, Play the Tapes finds Hoffman sculpting a bathtub from a Scotch Tape dispenser and placing it atop a vintage slide projector reel. Hoffman says she imagines that being the subject of continued survelliance by tech-savy "Peeping Tom's" would, over time, move the bather from anger to rebellion and eventual apathy. As in Played Numb,  Hoffman communicates the seperation from reality felt by an over-surveyed subject. Four vessel-like pieces, Place? Now That's Colescott!, No Way!, Thanks! and Catch My Fall all explore the importance of being secure in a place. The dripping "glass" on each piece represents just how difficult it can be to find footing.

The Call in Coming from Inside,Thursdays at 2 and Hold My Calls each represent a pause and the eventul transition into the process of finding joy. Along the way, the need to "pack it up" can be seen in Put It On Ice and Asked & Answered, both of which make use of vintage props such as a photodrum, camping coolers and perhaps the most important of all-- ice. Show Me with its graduation cap and large forward-looking cast resin eyes makes room for seeing with a reinvigorated sense of wonder. 

Playing with new materials in a new space Hoffman began finding fun-- and lots of it. Making refernces to the Dada Art Movement in Dada Dada, Yadda Yadda, Hoffman plays homage to Marcel Duchamp, a fellow rebel. Using a vintage cat clock and copy machine, Copycat comes alive. Reclaimed telephones plus vintage trays and message pads led to the construction of  multipule pieces remarking on the obsurd things people say. Reflecting back to a drawing of mushrooms on the floor of her prior studio, Hoffman brought those mushrooms to life-- for her daughter, Sophie, in a triptyc called Li-El. During this period, supplies and found objects began to appear outside of the studio building-- a set of piano "guts," tools, wood, storage crates and more. Connections with neighboring vendors as well as with many local and national artists and galleries led to the discovery and exploartion with new materials and methods-- all of which were instrumental in finding joy.

Reflecting back on experiences of earlier years, Hoffman began to explore play. Lisa's Guy employs a base of constructed water, vintage skis set atop of a pair of legs making reference to the fun of waterskiing and the always entertaining accidents that come with it. Bluebird at Brundage with constructed snow, snowboard and boots refers to days spent sifting through powder on a crisp mountain morning-- also with a not so suttle refernce to falling in the downy snow. Wheels Up at 7 featuring a perfect blue globe atop a bicycle tire and a large collection of rollerskates,  represents freedom to explore a new world without limits or fears. 

The series ends with a piece called Richard Prince is Tired of Chicken Art because so is Kerri Hoffman!

*The pieces in the APARIGRAHA series were all completed in 2023 with the artist changing studio locations midway through the year.