JIM HAKE – SAY IT LOUD

ON VIEW OCTOBER 9 – NOVEMBER 16, 2014

Jim Hake’s solo exhibition SAY IT LOUD, features three bodies of work. The series Groove is inspired by Hake’s formative years spent in 1970s Baltimore and the Motown soundtrack that accompanied these years in his home and community. Rhythm and textures emerge through Hake’s unique mosaic sculpture technique, where he pieces together hundreds of shards of recycled vinyl and compact discs to reinterpret the intuitive experimentation of soul and funk in sculptures that appear to float off the wall. The exhibition also features work from the series After Party and Lost and Found. After Party introduces a group of male busts cast using different glass forms commonly found in parties and social gatherings. Colourful busts become formal explorations in abstraction playing with the vernacular of party culture (ex: solo cups and champagne flutes) and hinting to traits amplified by inebriation, to the many versions of ourselves that we play in different social milieux, or to power and influence of the crowd, the solidarity of the audience. The new works in Lost and Found, a series originally begun in 2009, continue the linguistic explorations of found gloves modeled to spell phrases in the ASL (American Sign Language) alphabet. Here the brief phrases that speak of adversity and struggle are found in iconic song titles. Like the rising and falling crescendo of a song, SAY IT LOUD taps into the unifying nature of music. From there, it grows into an anthropological investigation of consumption, excess, and the tension between individuality and social conformity. A rhythm and aesthetic singular to Jim Hake weave through After Party, suggesting a new perspective on the relationship between identity and entertainment.