ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Organized by Phoenix Art Museum, Charles Gaines: Numbers and Trees (Arizona Series) debuts the complete series of the most recent body of work by renowned conceptual artist Charles Gaines, Numbers and Trees: Arizona Trees 1, 2023. The image of the tree has been central to Gaines’ practice since the 1970s, and since then, he has examined a variety of species, including California walnuts and palms to southern pecans. This new series features eight large-scale triptychs depicting cottonwoods that were photographed along the San Pedro River outside Sierra Vista, AZ. The trees were then plotted with specific colors and a numbered grid reflecting the full form before sequentially overlaying the trees.
Charles Gaines, Greenhouse, 2003-2023.Wood, metal, UV printed polycarbonate, stainless steel, electronics, polyester, software, monitors, lights. Unique. Installation dimensions variable. © Charles Gaines. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Zachary Balber
The exhibition also features monumental work Greenhouse (2003–2023), a massive 12 x 16-foot sculptural enclosure that contains three stainless steel trees at the center. These trees become enveloped with smoke as adjacent monitors track historical and real-time temperature patterns of global warming. The work represents a poignant meditation on the global climate crisis that has persisted from the 18th century to the present.
Charles Gaines: Numbers and Trees (Arizona Series) is presented in conjunction with Charles Gaines: 1992-2023 in the Museum’s Steele Gallery. These exhibitions simultaneously demonstrate Gaines’ enduring aesthetic commitment to demystifying systems of representation as well as his ongoing and indispensable contributions to the field of conceptual art.
Charles Gaines, Numbers and Trees: Arizona Series 1, Tree #3, Agua Caliente, 2023 (detail). Acrylic sheet, acrylic paint, photograph, 3 parts. Unique. Overall: 241.6 x 335.9 x 15.2 cm / 95 1/8 x 132 1/2 x 6 inches. © Charles Gaines. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Keith Lubow.
Header: Charles Gaines, Numbers and Trees: Arizona Series 1, Tree #3, Agua Caliente, 2023. Acrylic sheet, acrylic paint, photograph, 3 parts. Unique. Overall: 241.6 x 335.9 x 15.2 cm / 95 1/8 x 132 1/2 x 6 inches. © Charles Gaines. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Photo: Keith Lubow.
EXHIBITION SPONSORS
Charles Gaines: Numbers and Trees (Arizona Series) is organized by Phoenix Art Museum and curated by Olga Viso, Selig Family Chief Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs.
It is made possible through the generosity of Men’s Arts Council, Carl and Marilynn Thoma, Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust Exhibition Endowment Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, Hauser & Wirth, Ellen and Howard Katz, Jane and Mal Jozoff, Ten Figures, and Avnet.
Thank you to community members who contributed to exhibition interpretation and content: Bryan Beckon, artist and PhxArt gallery attendant; Raquel Gomez, founder of Atabey Outdoors; Ashley LaRae Sampson, image and brand consultant, business and spiritual advisor, and art advocate; Rashaad Thomas, poet, freelance journalist, scholar, activist, and genre-fluid artist; and Rashad Shabazz, Associate Professor of Geography and African American Studies, Arizona State University.
All exhibitions at Phoenix Art Museum are underwritten by the Phoenix Art Museum Exhibition Excellence Fund, founded by The Opatrny Family Foundation with additional major support provided by Joan Cremin.
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Phoenix Art Museum debuts Charles Gaines’s newest series featuring Arizona cottonwood trees
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