Manic Castle Hash | Kristin Posehn

In the throes of a pandemic, where near everything seems closed or suspended, what if we had an art exhibition that was open 24/7?

What if we could safely view an installation at any time of the day (or night) and socially distance – even drive-by – a perpetually open gallery exhibit?

Manic Castle Hash is an Outdoor painting installation by Kristin Posehn. Extant on a 30 ft x 9 ft cinderblock wall, Manic Castle Hash channels skyrise reflections as a vessel for commentary on cyclical and engrained financial disparity. In city finance hubs, such as DTLA, we can observe as spectators/citizens how skyscrapers reflect back on one another through their mirrored composition. This reflection can likewise be figuratively viewed in corporate bailouts, stock buybacks, and painfully discernable inequality.

The ‘Manic Castle’ can be interpreted as this never-ending (even accelerating) income inequality. The “Hash” portion of Manic Castle Hash refers to the mathematical method for compressing information. In a departure from encryption, hashed information can’t be returned to its original form. From contracts to password storage, hashing is used for a variety of tech means. The almost step-and-repeat-like form of skyscrapers reflecting on one another is a lucidly interpretable visual of the artwork. Located at 5601 W. Adams Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90016, Manic Castle Hash is available for a drive-by gallery viewing any time of day from August 15 – November 15, 2020 at Open Wall Salon.

Open wall Salon is a delightfully innovative art gallery which interrogates the very nature of how we conceive of (and perceive) art galleries (formal spaces to view artist’s works). The gallery space? A steel picket fence safeguards two mature fan palms and a lengthy thirty-foot cinder block wall. This cinder block wall is the rotating gallery which flouted traditional gallery hours long before the pandemic’s restrictions. Made possible by Stiftung NRW and support of the Open Face Food Shop, Open Wall is an open investigation into the ephemeral, and possibilities of continuous change.

Artist: 

Kristin Posehn

When: 

August 15 – November 15, 2020

Open for view at all times

Gallery: Open Wall Salon / Binomial Nomenclature

Where:

5601 W. Adams Blvd

Los Angeles, CA 90016

Raleigh Barrett Gallina
Raleigh (Barrett) Gallina from LA ART. Raleigh has been writing for the NoHo Arts District since 2015. Raleigh explores everything from large-scale commercial exhibitions to gratis solo exhibitions showcased by amateur galleries. While her preferences are ever-evolving, her favorite exhibitions include large-scale sculpture or paint, as well as artwork which holds socio-cultural underpinnings. She hopes that by capturing a large array of media and voices (including that of curators and the artists themselves), that readers are able to enjoy and voyeur out of their comfort zones.