P·P·O·W is pleased to present Duration of being known, Ishi Glinsky’s first solo exhibition with the gallery. Born and raised in Tucson, Arizona, Glinsky grounds his multidisciplinary practice in an exploration of the traditions of his tribe, the Tohono O’odham Nation, as well as other North American First Nations. Glinsky interprets the stylistic choices of basket and textile weaving techniques, a jeweler’s skilled approach, and cultural objects from the Hohokam People (predecessors to the Tohono O’odham), reflecting the technical decisions of the artisans themselves and the perceived limitations of the materials. Through a new series of paintings and sculptural works, Glinsky honors Indigenous histories with contemporary tributes to sacred practices, viewing his practice as a collaboration between the past and present.

Glinsky’s latest series of paintings depict elements of Indigenous baskets, weavings, and pottery techniques, each functioning as conceptual guidelines for zoomed-in, oversized portraits of works by previous generations of artisans and their contemporary collaborators. Utilizing a combination of ink washes, oil sticks, and thick daubs of paint, these works reimagine the meticulous patterns of woven baskets or loomed textiles into vivid, blown-up abstractions using colors that naturally exist in the desert, if one knows where to look. Among these works will be paintings depicting cross-sections of Diné weaver Tytianna Harris’s loomed textiles. In My friend Fred, 2024, Glinsky isolates and enlarges a small three-dimensional basket in the form of a cat made by Fred Cruz of the Tohono O’odham Nation. Rendering the uneven surface of the woven figure in a spectrum of olive and vivid green, navy and electric blue, gold and bright yellow, Glinsky reenacts the creation of the basket by painting the warp and weft of the piece, coil by coil. The color choices illustrate the life of a basket transitioning from bright hues of freshly harvested Beargrass, Yucca, and Devil’s claw to the aged nuance that develops over time. Surrounding the figure are pastel gradients composed through rhythmically applied palette knife strokes that convey Glinsky’s memory of a desert’s sky and land.

Alongside the paintings, Duration of being known will feature sculptures that consider the materials and formal decisions made in Indigenous production practices. In Light pink jazz V.P., 2024, Glinsky explores the artistic innovations of Veronica Poblano, an artist descended from a long line of Zuni inlay jewelers. Reimagining her bolo tie-sized Pink Panther at a heroic scale, the more than seven-foot-tall sculpture builds upon a movement in Southwestern inlay that emerged in the 1970s. Colloquially referred to as "Zuni Toons”, these pieces reimagine characters from popular culture using precious materials such as silver, turquoise, and shell. Here, Glinsky creates an oversized homage to the lapidary and silversmithing techniques expertly honed by Poblano, instead using welded aluminum and resin to mimic precious stones.

These cartoon figures are also embedded within two coiled aluminum relief sculptures that combine formal elements of inlay jewelry and Tohono O’odham basketry. Monumentalizing utilitarian O’odham bailing wire baskets that originated in the late 1800s, Glinsky weaves each sculpture at a magnified scale to illustrate the interlocking technique specific to these cultural objects. The works are adorned with inlay aluminum and resin components to reflect pictorial and patterned weaving techniques of baskets traditionally made from harvested desert plants. In Wired dust up, 2024, Glinsky chain-links over 4000-feet of wire, connecting each panel before molding them to create a weblike vessel that visually references the iconic Looney tunes fight cloud. The limbs escaping from this tumble of activity are carved from resin, each a contemporary take on Hohokam shell carvings.

In creating the works in this exhibition, Glinsky evokes lived memory, metabolizing Indigenous knowledge through references to Tohono O’odham basketry or Hohokam cultural objects. As a result, Duration of being known showcases Glinsky’s practice as a fluid collaboration with time, cultural objects, and Indigenous artists working today.

Ishi Glinsky (b. 1982) lives and works in Los Angeles, California. Last year, his work was on view in Indian Theater: Native Performance, Art, and Self-Determination since 1969 at the Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College, Annandale-On-Hudson, NY and in Made in LA, 2023: Acts of Living at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA. Glinsky has presented solo exhibitions at Chris Sharp Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Visions West, Denver, CO; These Days, Los Angeles, CA; Open Studio, Tokyo, Japan; Four Corners Gallery at Tucson Desert Art Museum, Tucson, AZ; Thvm Studios, Los Angeles, CA; and BPMW, Los Angeles, CA. In 2022, Glinsky presented his first institutional survey, Upon A Jagged Maze, curated by Gabriel Ritter, at The Art, Design & Architecture Museum at UC Santa Barbara, CA. He is co-represented by Chris Sharp Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.