IAN JAMES: UNTYING SIX ASTRAL KNOTS
MAY 28–JULY 9, 2021
Hernando’s Hideaway is pleased to present Untying Six Astral Knots, an exhibition of outdoor sculpture and photographic works by Ian James. The exhibition presents six engraved plaques, a hanging mobile, two kinetic sculptures, and a site-responsive installation on the house itself. The works continue the artist's exploration of the entanglement of spirituality and technology.
The mortal desire to simultaneously self-improve and “let go” in the hopes of ascending to a higher state of consciousness is subsumed by today’s culture of consumption. Now a product of its own industry, that human impulse exists as a product and a market for capitalist exchange, a contradiction that tethers the intangible pursuit closer to the physical world than to its otherworldly intention.
Six Astral Knots:
I / Intelligence as our intrinsic curiosity and knowing Throat chakra / Best Western
This post office is great. They sell antiquated postcards having nothing to do with Chinatown. Often they’re of Vietnam or the DWP building. A few days before Christmas I was taking hurried gifts to get into the mail moments before they closed. A woman was behind me on her phone. Her mask was pulled down below her nose and I said, “Hi, errr, your nose is hanging out.”
“Excuse me?” She said
“Your nose is hanging out”
She looked down, breathed deeply out, and emitted a long “Yupppppp….” and went back to her phone.
II / Memory, as the natural recollection of original cosmic nature – Throat chakra /Mesa Market
I was waiting in line at the bodega in the hours following the announcement that Biden won; staring off into space yet aware that the couple in front of me was taking forever. They began to finish up with the clerk and nearly walked away from the counter, when the lady of the pair turned back hurriedly and shot off demands for several lottery tickets. As I was next in the long line, she turned to me and blurted out “Sorrrrryyyyyy…..”
I was startled and mumbled back through the N95, “Oh, um, no problem.
She stared at me a long while as the clerk prepared her scratchers and her partner returned from the parking lot with the additional money for the tickets.
Turning back to her partner she said of me, “I don’t know what her damn problem is.” She then turned back to me and said, “You got a staring problem or something?” They both then looked at me for a long moment and departed. (1)
III / Meditation as a natural gift for having a clear mind – Solar plexus chakra /Lake Almanor PG&E
Our first night on the sleeping platform in the back of the Montero with the cat was rough. Sleeping with the windows cracked, Patricia’s allergies ferociously returned. Wheezing, she had to climb out through the front and laid alone atop the picnic table for several hours under the stars, waiting for her lungs to relax. In the morning, the camp hosts came around in their golf cart asking for the $33 for the site. We offered credit, debit, or check, but had no cash. They looked at us for a long time. Telepathically I heard them say, “Well, ain’t no one going nowhere then.” (2)
IV / Love as an unconditional response to the world – Crown chakra / Perfume Store Michelle
Cathay Bank is one of the longest-lived businesses in Los Angeles' New Chinatown, having acted as an anchor of the community since its founding in 1962.
It came to be when one of the neighborhood's business leaders, Phoenix Bakery owner F. Chow Chan, was unable to obtain a home loan because he was an immigrant. Deciding the local Chinese American community needed its own financial services if it were to grow and thrive, he spent the next ten years organizing backers to apply for a bank charter. (3)
V / Flowering as our natural expression of radiance – Root chakra / 5 Oceans Tours
Two words: Christina Heng - our travel agent was gracious and accommodating. Unfortunately, I never had the chance to meet her as she was on maternity-leave at the time (Sept. 2011).
So we had to deal with another agent - Ms. Heng had already booked our flight. This particular agent was very rude and condescending. My grandmother had set-up a payment plan to pay for our tickets and waited for me to arrive from Dallas. So I can pay the remainder - she's retired living on a fixed income.
I arrived and called to speak to Christina Heng. All three times we were hung up on. So I called Christina's cell and spoke to her personally she informed us she was on maternity leave. But to go to the Five Oceans Tours office on N. Broadway in the heart of China Town and pay & pick-up our tickets. Call her when we get there so she can personally speak to the hang up the phone idiot. We got there, called called Christina, Christina called idiot - paid, picked up and left.
I would've given this place 5 stars if it weren't for the hang up idiot and the horrible seats we were given. I would use this place again if I don't have to deal with the hang up idiot. Just ask for Christina Heng she's pleasant and speaks multiple languages.
VI / Purification/Healing as a natural gift of our own being – Root chakra / Hair Cut
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(1) It was shown that ultraweak photon emission from the surface of human skin was emitted into the visual and infrared spectrum and is strongly correlated to electrodermal activity. Human beings are, in some sense, fundamentally beings of light. - Wanyoung Kim, Cosmophenomenology p. 44
(2) https://www.laconservancy.org/locations/cathay-bank
(3) https://www.yelp.com/biz/five-oceans-tours-los-angeles
(4) Quick pic w/ Yee Lin's exterior. Hair would've looked better if I had time to let her wash and straighten
Ian James (b. 1981 Cincinnati, OH; lives and works in Los Angeles, CA) has presented solo exhibitions at Five Car Garage, Los Angeles; Vacancy, Los Angeles; and Self Actualization, Houston; in addition he has participated in group exhibitions at The Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, Indianapolis, Indiana; Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Roberts Projects, Los Angeles; REDCAT, Los Angeles; Holiday Forever, Jackson, WY; and at The Magic Hour, 29 Palms, CA; among others. He was an artist in residence at SÍM in Reykjavik and at The Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY. He recently released an artist book, “The 13:20 Movement” published by The Fulcrum Press and will present an upcoming solo project at The Fulcrum, Los Angeles in Fall of 2021.