Channing Hansen

Susan Inglett Gallery is pleased to present Metaphotical Spectra, a solo exhibition by Channing Hansen.

Metaphotical Spectra serves as an extension of Channing Hansen’s sustained investigation of algorithmic systems that function as “scores” in the creation of his works. Drawing on research into biophotons - ultra-weak light naturally emitted by living organisms - as well as metaphysical concepts, such as emanation, structure, and containment, the work situates light as both a material phenomenon and a generative process. Through hand-spun and hand-dyed knitted works, Hansen renders these invisible processes as tangible, topological planes in which order, variation, and instantiation arise.

Hansen’s practice consistently examines how complex systems become materially legible. In Hansen’s Quantum Paintings series, he used an algorithm based on single-photon emission that ultimately guided his compositions. In this series, Hansen’s algorithm is informed by biological and metaphysical frameworks, where light functions simultaneously as information, energy, and the organizing principle. The works propose a state of decoherence between photon and code, organizing information and shaping perception, while remaining dynamic and ultimately beyond control.

The works operate not as static objects but as continuous topological surfaces unfolding through space-time. Hansen’s algorithms establish rigid frameworks that are subsequently altered through wrestling with computation and the handmade, introducing distinctly human intuition, drift, and irregularity. Fibers become conduits, analogous to neural or cellular pathways; color emerges as an interference pattern rather than the visible electromagnetic spectrum; and irregularities register as procedural, akin to growth or metabolic activity rather than compositional decision-making.

Staging light’s behavior at both the quantum and metaphysical scale, textile becomes a medium through which light’s generative and organizational capacities are slowed, dispersed, and made perceptible. The exhibition thus proposes a structure for understanding perception as a characteristic of interrelated systems spanning computation, biology, and metaphysics.

Channing Hansen (b. 1972) explores ideas of connection through his abstract knitted forms. He collects, processes, and dyes raw fleece from conservation-bred sheep. After spinning fleece into yarn, Hansen transforms the material into complex forms through knitting, weaving, and felting. Elaborate computer algorithms dictate his designs, combining craft and computation. By uniting technology with human-made and environmental concerns, Hansen’s work underscores our interconnected place in the universe, whether to the earth itself, an algorithmic world, or the cosmos, and asks us to consider what mark we should leave behind. Selected group exhibitions: Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California (2024); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California (2022); Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, California (2019); Casas Riegner, Bogotá, Colombia (2018); Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio (2018); and Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, New York (2017). Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, California, USA (2014). The artist’s work is found in permanent collections including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Rachofsky Collection, Dallas; the Art Institute of Chicago; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the San Francisco Museum of Art; and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, among others.