Josh Callaghan

LSS NYC

“Wormhole”

2023 October 7 to November 5

“...a wormhole is a hypothetical passageway connecting two different locations in the continuum of spacetime. Theoretically, the flat, linear plane of time could be folded, allowing two moments to connect"

Long Story Short is pleased to present Wormhole, a sculpture exhibition by Josh Callaghan on view from October 7th to November 5th at 52 Henry St, New York, NY, 10002.

Wormhole is a collection of ready-made sculptures exploring the relationship between human society, nature, and the cosmos. For Josh Callaghan, sculpture serves as a portal that connects the consciousness of both viewer and artist across space-time. Similarly, the concept of a “wormhole” may also refer to the sense of a collapse in time experienced while reading wikipedia articles, watching youtube videos, or making art.

At the heart of the exhibition is "Wormhole (Left)," a wall mounted circular arrangement of 40 left footed shoes ranging from baby to adult sizes. Each shoe has their own identity and collectively they hint at the complex life journey of an individual. At the ring's peak, the largest and smallest shoes meet, figuratively collapsing space-time into a sacred spiral.

For the sculpture "Twig Index", the artist collects oak branches from nearby Los Angeles woods, fitting them into plastic cases used for tools. Here, "wormholes" encompass beetle holes in the wood and the contemplative search for twigs with precise diameters. These "Twig Indexes" symbolize humanity's quest to grasp and control nature's vast complexity, inherently absurd in its magnitude.

"Hyperdunk" features a 9 foot pine post wedged between the gallery's floor and ceiling, with basketball shoes placed at its ends, anchoring the sculpture with their soles. The pine post donned in sneakers, a simplified representation of a figure in space, resembles a self-portrait or a hybrid creature amalgamating plant and human elements. These shoes also serve as symbols for the delicate balance between human culture, technology, and the natural world. The use of straight lodgepole pine for the post, favored in architecture for its remarkable straightness, enhances the visual connection with the shoes and hints at the possibility of a cosmic portal bridging distant spacetime points. As Callaghan states, “with these gestures of organization and recombination I hope to highlight the way these everyday materials are imbued with profound meaning, and point to conditions of human existence that locate us in the universe.”

Josh Callaghan’s practice, based in Los Angeles, consists in video, sculpture, and photography. With an MFA from UCLA and a BA in Cultural Anthropology from UNC Asheville, he's showcased his work in solo exhibitions at prominent Los Angeles galleries and internationally. His art has earned recognition in publications like Art & Object, Hyperallergic, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, Interview Magazine, LA Weekly, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Formerly a Senior Lecturer at Otis College of Art and Design, Josh Callaghan continues his artistic journey in Los Angeles.