Gutz

ASMA and Sophronia Cook

At Et al., San Francisco, US

April 24 – June 05, 2021

Guts, from the proto-german root gheu “to pour ” becomes a point of intersection between two practices which focuses on a poetic material process of infusion, transmuting multiple elements into container objects. These experimental and intuitive constructions hint towards a visceral sensation of bodily insides and at the same time seek to obscure and protect a language of memories and affections.

Sophronia Cook’s temporal collapse works contain images remixed and flattened. Pieces fall and shrink into cast resin, detaching them from time and combining them within a fused object. This detachment allows multiple time frames to collapse into each other at once; becoming a viscerally trapped moment – contained and distorted by the opalescent, rigid material.

In the series 69 Asma presents experimental low-relief silicone paintings which explores a resistance to repetition through a juxtaposition of sculptural and painterly gestures. The image of two butterflies locked-together appear and disappear as a second image emerges from within. This presence hints at an invisible inner thought that permeates scenes from a collective memory. Accompanying the painting series are two smaller works made on syringe boxes, linked through a sense of partial containment, with an encoded drawing mimicking an ancient script or a teenager’s drawing.

Gutz, installation view.
Gutz, installation view.
Gutz, installation view.
toshio was here, 2021 cement, acrylic paint, varnish, soot, charcoal 1 x 4 cm / 0.4 x 1.6 inch
Gutz, installation view.
Gutz, installation view.
ASMA A mystery (detail)
ASMA A mystery
ASMA A mystery (detail)
ASMA I'm so self absorbed I'm acting desperately
ASMA I'm so self absorbed I'm acting desperately (detail)
ASMA I'm so self absorbed I'm acting desperately (detail)
ASMA If I don_t try harder (detail)
ASMA If I don_t try harder
ASMA If I were your owner and you a dog (detail)
ASMA If I were your owner and you a dog
ASMA My blood simulating
ASMA My blood simulating (detail)
ASMA My blood simulating (detail)
ASMA Running through you like a flood (detail)
ASMA Running through you like a flood (detail)
ASMA Running through you like a flood
Gutz, installation view.
Sophronia Cook, Jellyfish
Sophronia Cook, Algae Transfusion (detail)
Sophronia Cook, Algae Transfusion
Sophronia Cook, Alginate
Sophronia Cook, Alginate (detail)
Sophronia Cook, Jellyfish (detail)
Sophronia Cook, Jellyfish (detail)
Sophronia Cook, Paradise (metal chair)
Sophronia Cook, Rabbit (detail)
Sophronia Cook, Rabbit
Sophronia Cook, Same Time (starfish)
Sophronia Cook, Same Time (starfish) (detail)