New York, NY - My Pet Ram is proud to present Raw Material, an exhibition featuring works by Nanea Lum, Kainoa Gruspe, and Jan Dickey.

This exhibition explores the three artists' conscious connection with their chosen materials, a sensibility forged during a shared chapter in Hawai‘i, one of our planet’s most isolated island archipelagos. That unique geographic position foregrounded for each artist the distance that outside materials must travel—at cost to the individual and the environment—before they arrive in the studio. This reality mingled with the influence of Hawai‘i’s ever-present dialogue around the cultural agency of materials from the natural world. 

O‘ahu-based artist Nanea Lum practices cultural exploration through both material and image. Her featured works—lithographic prints on kapa, a traditional Hawaiian fabric made from plant fibers—showcase the transformation of kumu (plant stalks) of wauke (paper mulberry) into the raw strips of mo’omo’o (unfinished barkcloth) that Lum presents us with in the exhibition. Her printed images capture the kapa-making process atop the mo’omo’o itself, sharing with us key stages in the craft. Using natural materials like kukui nut dye and silk thread, Lum's prints are both a testament to her artistry in kapa-making and a symbol of cultural continuity. Deeply connected to 'āina (the land), her art pays tribute to Hawaiian heritage and its inherent bond with natural materials.

Kainoa Gruspe, having returned to Honolulu after four years in London, interweaves life's raw elements with personal experience. Gruspe draws from the physical and the philosophical—incorporating everything from local dirt to complex ideas borrowed from quantum physics and existentialism. His works, enriched by the tradition of Hawaiian quilting from his youth on O‘ahu, translate the symmetry and symbolism of quilts into the language of painting. Gruspe's art captures the essence of "real life," finding meaning in both the mundane and the profound, centered around raw materials that originate from his immediate environment.

Jan Dickey, based in New York since 2019, delves into the physical personality of paint and its interplay with light. Dickey enjoys a collaborative relationship with several media–natural glues, egg, casein, oil, homemade dyes, and very recently: acrylic. His dynamic layering process—allowing flow, fracture, and peeling—explores the fundamental nature of paint. The sunlight filtering through his studio windows also plays a pivotal role in his practice, as streams of light cast into the studio dictate the shapes he introduces onto his surfaces. That melding of the physicality of paint with the transience of light illuminates a dialogue between raw material, sunlight, and the passage of time.

Raw Material is a convergence of three artistic narratives: Lum's indigenous lineage and bond with the land, Gruspe's tangible encounters with everyday textures, and Dickey's introspection on paint's inherent qualities. The exhibition demonstrates their unified respect for raw materials within diverse creative expressions. The public is invited to experience this interplay of art and element at My Pet Ram.

Raw Material will be on view beginning Friday, November 17th through Sunday, December 10, 2023. An opening reception will be held Saturday, November 18th from 6pm to 9pm. The gallery is located at 48 Hester Street in the Lower East Side. Gallery hours are Wednesday-Sunday from 12-6pm and by appointment. For more information about this exhibition, please email info@mypetram.com.

Artist Bios