Images: Sojourner Truth Parsons, Walking alone II (detail), 2022 © Sojourner Truth Parsons. Courtesy the Artist and Foxy Production. Photo: Thomas Barratt; Rodney Graham, Betula Pendula Fastigiata (Sous-Chef on Smoke Break) (detail), 2011 © Rodney Graham

Opening Celebrations: ‘The New Bend’ and ‘Rodney Graham. Getting it Together in the Country’

  • Sat 28 January 2023
  • 12 – 2pm

Join us to celebrate the public opening of two new exhibitions at Hauser & Wirth Somerset, ‘The New Bend’ and ‘Rodney Graham. Getting it Together in the Country.’

Roth Bar & Grill will be cooking over their signature fire pits and providing refreshments in the farmyard from 12 – 2 pm. The galleries and garden will remain open as usual from 10 am – 4 pm.

As part of our ‘Community Lab: Threads of Connection’, we will be joined by Kate Clark, co-founder of Montes and Clark and alumna of the Royal School of Needlework, who will lead a drop-in session from 12 – 2 pm to demonstrate how we can extend the life of clothing and textiles with patches, scraps and simple stitches. Taking place in the Implement Shed, she will be sharing skills to make visible mends, where the repair work is turned into a feature of the clothing. Visitors are invited to bring along items of existing clothing in need of minor repair.

Tickets to this event are free and include entry to both exhibitions, but we recommend registering your interest in advance to avoid disappointment.

About ‘The New Bend’
Curated by Legacy Russell, ‘The New Bend’ travels from Hauser & Wirth’s Downtown Los Angeles gallery to Somerset. The exhibition brings together 12 contemporary artists working in the raced, classed and gendered traditions of quilting and textile practice. Their unique visual vernacular exists in dialogue with, and in homage to, the contributions of the Gee’s Bend Alabama quilters and their enduring legacy as a radical meeting place, a prompt and as intergenerational inspiration.

About ‘Community Lab: Threads of Connection’
Coinciding with ‘The New Bend’, we are excited to present ‘Community Lab: Threads of Connection’, an interactive space that fosters social connections through artmaking. Conceived in our Downtown Los Angeles gallery, it has now traveled to Somerset.

About ‘Rodney Graham. Getting it Together in the Country’
‘Rodney Graham. Getting it Together in the Country’ celebrates the late artist’s multifaceted artistic vision, examining the complexities of Western culture with wit and authenticity. In dialogue with the rural setting, the exhibition includes Graham’s major late body of work, The Four Seasons, created between 2011 and 2013. The landmark lightbox series evolved organically and is dedicated to nature’s cycle through meticulously staged mise-en-scènes, reflecting a moment of pause and desire to step out of the daily grind.

Please be advised that photographs will be taken at this event for use on the Hauser & Wirth website, social media and in other marketing materials.