In his application, J.T. Kirkland began his statement with a quote from Jasper Johns, “Take an object. Do something to it. Do something else to it.” Kirkland himself adds, “and again, and again, and again.” Johns’s statement breaks down the physical art process to a simple description that reflects the continual renovation and manipulation of objects. And Kirkland’s addition expands on the repetitious nature of art making. For Kirkland, who has found a tree, changed it with a repetitive pattern, and then taken a photo, Once Again, Again means transformation. For others it means persevering actions, visual echoes, and reuse of past work or images.

Repetition is inherent to the human experience. From the heartbeat and breath, to the solar system that defines our days and years. Once again we sit down to a meal, take a walk, or go to sleep. Making art about repetition is a natural outgrowth of the way we live and work. It has been a valid process and subject of art production for many years, from the industrial sculptures of Donald Judd to the ethereal Agnes Martin paintings and has in Eastern cultures endured as a tool for meditation. It continues to be a rich and necessary field for artists.

For many artists repetition is an origin and a constant. Their work is defined by the demanding physical and psychological attention it requires. Although not always identifiably political or cultural, these artists make a statement with their process, exemplifying the repetition in our lives and the common need to sometimes shut down and just work. Linn Meyers, Suzi Fox, Thom Sawyer and Kay Hwang’s work reflects this practice, each artist starts with a base, for Meyers it is a line, for Bishop a folded piece of paper, for Sawyer it is nature as a living system that over several panels returns to chaos and for Hwang, a symbol. Their work grows from meditating on that component, singularly, and repeating it.

Installation artists, Jessie Lehson, Mary Early, and Kyan Bishop also follow that process and the finished art is a sculptural environment for the viewer to experience. Lehson’s obsessive collecting, including dust, provides the material for her work, while her sand paintings are based on mandalas and healing. Mary Early combines repeated shapes to create a staggered and constantly changing pattern that hints at the natural structures of other organisms. Kyan Bishop’s installation is literally a drawing in space, appealing for its materiality and tactility. In these three-dimensional works the limits of repetition and regularity create a delicate balance between the individual elements and the collective force.

Not all repetitious work must be based in meditative work ethic, for two of the artists it refers to a strictly visual experience. Cory Oberndorfer’s painting of roller girls, driven to excel beyond ordinary limits, is unified, like a Gene Davis stripe piece, by the image of legs, uniquely clad, pulsing across the surface in candy sweet colors, just barely hinting at their individual fantasies. While Joey Manlapaz presents a clean yet dense photorealistic painting that twists our minds around what we know and what we think we see. Manlapaz presents a painting that the viewer must work through like a puzzle.

Repetition can also be used as a tool. Pat Goslee uses it to hypnotize, Jose Varela to intrigue, and Jay Lee to express. Goslee’s video work is busy and ecstatic; a “ride” is both the subject and the experience. While Varela’s film is contemplative and moody. Slight differences in the repeated scene become the focus, while one imagines the artist’s monotonous actions, filming the same thing over and over. Both videos capture a slice of life with an eye that is natural, smooth, and seamless. Jay Lee’s sculpture has a serious social message about the inequalities people face. The piece is a coherent fusion of concept, materials, and poetics that highlights the “comfort women” of WWII in terms of their strength and endurance.

Ryan Hill and Linda Hesh’s work does not usually revolve around the theme or actions of repetition; they have chosen works out of their broad range of practices that relate. Conceptually focused they each define Once Again, Again as re-interpret and reuse. Ryan Hill reinterprets a Lego installation he worked on for a year with a drawing that is also visually repetitive. Linda Hesh slyly reuses her mugs that had their own life as art object and in a new context become the subject of her photograph.

The show was ultimately determined by trying to defy the term repetition and expand the theme Once Again, Again. Out of all the excellent work that was submitted, artists were chosen to represent distinct and various interpretations. This allows each piece in the show to be contemplated individually first and then considered as it relates to the theme, both as catalyst and constraint.

Thank you to all of the artists who submitted. I am especially grateful to Nancy Sausser for the concept, the enthusiasm and for every single bit of logistics. Jennifer De Palma has been integral and on top of the show throughout.

Annie Gawlak with
Jennifer DePalma