Various Small Fires proudly presents Shelter In Place, a solo exhibition of new sculptural objects by Glen Wilson at the gallery’s Texas location. The exhibition expands on the themes, methods, and visual language that have been central to Wilson’s practice in recent years, manifesting contemplations of place and home.
A long-time resident of Los Angeles’ Venice Beach neighborhood, Wilson cherishes the area for its diverse community and rich history. A public commons shared by tourists and locals alike, this beach exists as a tapestry of communities and provides access to the Pacific Ocean, whose scale and power offer a transcendent experience for the artist. Yet, Wilson is keenly aware of the stresses on Venice’s social fabric: economic gaps between Venice’s unhoused population and lavishly-housed residents widen; historically affordable housing is demolished, displacing generations of community stakeholders. It is at once a local issue, and a national historical pattern being repeated. As tempting as it is to focus exclusively on movement, migration or leaving, Wilson's work also illuminates another side of such tensions. The specter of absence cedes space to the power of presence, sheltering in place, and metaphysical notions of home.
In recurring images of water, whether in the form of crashing waves or concentric ripples on surfaces, Wilson finds spaces of contemplation and reflection. One instance can be found in And He Said He Ain’t Goin’ Back (Ruben, Shreveport), 2022, a free-standing, screen-like triptych constructed from chain link gates. Viewed in the round, one side depicts a fisherman, pole in hand, gazing across mirror-like reflections of a Louisiana waterway, while the other presents a deep-space portal into that same surreal waterscape. The chain link gates are salvaged and reclaimed from demolition sites in Wilson’s neighborhood, and they literally frame and weave images of home and community, diaspora and migration, arrival and departure.
