P·P·O·W is pleased to announce the co-representation of Los Angeles-based artist Ishi Glinsky with Chris Sharp Gallery, Los Angeles. Born and raised in Tucson, Arizona, Glinsky grounds his multidisciplinary practice in an exploration of the traditions of his tribe, the Tohono O’odham Nation, as well as other North American First Nations. Working in a variety of media, including painting, drawing, and sculpture, Glinsky honors Indigenous histories by creating contemporary tributes to sacred practices, subsequently integrating the past with the present. “My work is a visual retelling of the beauty and at times a horrific side of ‘history,’” states Glinsky. “Moments in time or artifacts are filtered through my work as a concept in hopes to provide a new platform for observation.”
Moving fluidly from painting to sculpture, abstraction to representation, Glinsky unifies his practice through an interest in scale, often disproportionately enlarging smaller objects to both amplify indigenous practices and stories and memorialize them in the form of monuments to survival. Utilizing a combination of oil sticks, ink, and thickly applied color, Glinsky’s painted works reimagine the labyrinthine patterns of woven baskets into vivid, blown-up abstractions, while his sculptures transform found and repurposed materials into monumental homages to craft traditions. The sheer magnitude of Glinsky’s works confronts viewers with overlooked and exploited histories, creating a space for acknowledging and celebrating Indigenous customs.
Ishi Glinsky (b. 1982) lives and works in Los Angeles, California. He has presented solo exhibitions at Chris Sharp Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Visions West, Denver, CO; These Days, Los Angeles, CA; Open Studio, Tokyo, Japan; Four Corners Gallery at Tucson Desert Art Museum, Tucson, AZ; Thvm Studios, Los Angeles, CA; and BPMW, Los Angeles, CA. In 2022, Glinsky presented his first institutional survey, Upon A Jagged Maze, curated by Gabriel Ritter, at The Art, Design & Architecture Museum at UC Santa Barbara, CA. His work is currently on view in Indian Theater: Native Performance, Art, and Self-Determination since 1969 at the Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College, Annandale-On-Hudson, NY and will be included in Made in LA, 2023: Acts of Living, opening October 1, 2023, at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA. P·P·O·W will present new work by Glinsky at Frieze London, October 11 – 15, 2023. His first solo exhibition with the gallery will open in fall 2024.