Cadence and Rhythm features two large-scale sculptural installations Rachidial Digression and Don’t Stop along with new works-on-paper from the Heartbeat series and “O” a diminutive stone sculpture.
Rachidial Digression, a rarely exhibited 64-foot long serpentine sculpture, is composed of over 1100 slivers cut from a continuous piece of discarded railroad track material donated by Union Pacific for Nunn’s Erna and Arthur Salm Holocaust and Genocide Memorial and Don’t Stop a four-piece installation made of steel and 7000 individual cork stoppers.
Although distinct in material and intent–hardness and heaviness of railroad track used to transport people and goods verses the buoyancy of cork, a sustainably harvested product traditionally used by the wine industry–the unifying factor is repetition. Nunn says that the repetitive process she experienced while creating the work for Cadence and Rhythm felt akin to the energy that drives passion and sustains life.
Jann Nunn, a conceptualist particularly drawn to repurposed materials, imbues her work with a strong sense of aesthetics. Research and gut instinct–a marriage of head and heart–inform the decisions in each of her site-related site-specific situation-responsive projects. Not unlike words in a poem material selection along with scale and presentation become greater than the sum of their often-unrelated parts. Her self-proclaimed “maniacal obsession” with materials and attention to detail makes this exhibition one not to miss.
Jann Nunn who grew up an “Army Brat” considered herself a vagabond until moving to the Bay Area from London in 1990 to attend San Francisco Art Institute. She also studied art at University of Alaska Anchorage and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. Nunn began her professional career in Louisiana while still in high school. She has participated in exhibitions and residencies internationally and throughout the United States since 1987 including Germany, South Korea, England, Cuba, and Australia.
Jann Nunn has created large-scale works for Paradise Ridge Burning Man and Portland Clifftop Sculpture Quarry. Her 2009 Holocaust and Genocide Memorial is on the campus of Sonoma State University where she is Professor of Sculpture. Nunn’s studio is located at American Steel Studios in West Oakland.
Cadence and Rhythm is dedicated to the memory and spirit of sculptor Richard Berger (1944-2015) sculpture professor at San Francisco Art Institute whose unwavering support and generosity will never be forgotten.
SPECIAL EVENTS:
Reception: Saturday, July 11, 4-7 pm
Third Thursdays on 25th Street: July 16, 6-8pm with Artist Talk at 7pm
Art Murmur First Fridays: July 3 and Aug 7, 6-9pm