I. S. Kalter, Yana Tsegay

Gaëlle Choisne

Rindon Johnson

Jordan Loeppky-Kolesnik

Mountains is pleased to present the group show Corps Célestes, bringing together for the first time in one exhibition works by Paris-based Artist Gaëlle Choisne, Berlin-based artist and poet Rindon Johnson, and Los Angeles-based artist Jordan Loeppky-Kolesnik.

Corps Célestes is premiering newly commissioned work by each of the three artists continuing their individual interests and approaches that are all deeply invested in exploring issues of identity, culture, and representation.

In using a wide array of different mediums and materials — assemblage, ceramic, sculpture, instillation, galvanized steel, marble, laser, video livestream, glass, neon, sound — Choisne, Johnson, Leoppky-Kolesnik create works that are both visually striking and intellectually engaging.

Sensitive to contemporary issues Gaëlle Choisne's practice takes into account the complexity of the world and its political and cultural disorder. Her work is concerned with the vestiges of colonialism and the continuum of extractivist practices in the globalized present. Choisne's interests in the occult and vernacular make particular reference to Creole myth and culture, linking a collective history with her own personal French-Haitian genealogy.

In Corps Célestes, Choisne's Luggage Astral_crystal, 2023, a recovered suitcase with deer antlers and other materials invites the viewers to a journey into subtle, queer, feminized worlds. The artist describes this sculptural assemblage as "a memory of my body and my works that move and travel all around the world. Evocation of a spiritual journey guided by the deer totem animal. (A symbol of gentleness and heart energy ... the wisdom of the deer totem reminds you to be gentle with yourself and with others.)"

Hybrid works can be encountered as well in Choisne's new series of wall pieces called Safe space for a passing History, 2023, made in a scrapbook-style of remains of wooden crates that were part of Choisne's installation in the New Museum 2021 Triennial. Toussaint Louverture and Capois-La-Morte, heroes of the Haitian Revolution appear between glazed ceramic, gold chains, decal tattoos, coins, a.o.

Through multiple forms of expression, ranging from language to object-based artworks made of materials such as leather, wood, stone, glass, or neon, to virtual reality, Rindon Johnson explores the effects of capitalism, racism, climate, and technology on our everyday lives and social conditions.

In Corps Célestes, Johnson installs an online livestream from the Hemme Milch Uckermark dairy farm in Angermünde, 80 km close to Berlin. The work Peace Be Going, 2023, shows in real time the mechanically moving and zooming surveillance camera from the ceiling of the cowshed. The cows eat, snooze and brush themselves: interested humans can follow online how the cows in this local dairy farm (or elsewhere) spend their time around the clock. Peace Be Going, 2023, is reminiscent of Johnson's process based works with raw hide, an ongoing project since 2017, dealing with consumerism, capitalism, and animal rights.

Jordan Loeppky-Kolesnik works in video, public art, sculpture, and installation, creating experiences that tell stories about ecological survival, speculative fiction, the queer body, personal relationships, and sense of place.

Their corner piece Sleeplessness, 2023, is a dark, diamond-shaped, scifi-like object that appears out of one of the corners of the exhibition space. There is an uncanny feel about getting monitored as a visitor, especially when the built-in motion detector registers an approaching body and a red laser (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) emitting from the sculpture marks the corner space with a diagonal line on the floor.

Equally installed in a specific place in the gallery's architecture, Weir (Petrichor), 2023, looks like a pair of inverted horns which almost becomes a pair of angels wings. The work originates from a new series based on weirs – the cutting and redirection of water and moisture as a metaphor for bodily passion and desire.

The pre-occupation with material quality in both artists, Rindon Johnson and Jordan Loeppky-Kolesnik leads to their collaborative works in the show, the glass/neon pieces Wade, 2023, Interoperable Fist, 2023, and Diaphragm, 2023. Blown clear glass spheres have been cut and combined with curved neon tubes that were based on body forms. Neon is very rare in the earth's atmosphere and crust but among the most common elements in the universe, including the sun. As the artists were using 100% pure neon gas in the tubes the glass/neon objects are like having a piece of the sun in the exhibition room.

Gaëlle Choisne was born in 1985 in Cherbourg and lives and works in Paris. Her recent solo exhibitions include Blue Lights in the Basement, Nicoletti, London, UK (2022); Temple of Love – To Hide, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, DE (2022); Temple of Love – Atopos, MACVAL, Vitry-sur-Seine, FR (2021); Mondes Subtiles, Air de Paris, Romainville, FR (2021). Gaëlle Choisne has participated in the New Museum Triennial, New York, in 2021. She was awarded with the Aware Prize for Women Artists in 2021. Monographic publications on Gaëlle Choisne have been published by Kettler Verlag (2023) and Protee Publisher (2021). Works by Gaëlle Choisne are held in numerous collections such as MACVAL, CNAP, FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, FRAC Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Kadist. Gaëlle Choisne is represented by Air de Paris, Romainville, FR, and Nicoletti, London, UK.

Rindon Johnson (b. 1990) is an artist and poet. He has based his work in language. Johnson has presented solo exhibitions at Chisenhale Gallery (London), The Julia Stoschek Collection (Düsseldorf) and the SculptureCenter (Long Island City). Johnson has participated in group exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum, Kunstverein Freiburg, the Hammer Museum, the Whitney Museum, the Studio Museum in Harlem, Literaturhaus Berlin, and Haus der elektronischen Künste, Basel among others. He is the author of Ever Given (Inpatient, 2022), The Law of Large Numbers: Black Sonic Abyss (Chisenhale, Inpatient, SculptureCenter 2021), Nobody Sleeps Better Than White People (Inpatient, 2016), the VR book Meet in the Corner (PublishingHouse.Me, 2017), and Shade the King (Capricious, 2017). He was born on the unceded territories of the Ohlone people. He lives in Berlin. Rindon Johnson is represented by François Ghebaly Los Angeles/New York.

Jordan Loeppky-Kolesnik (b. 1988) is an artist from Montreal living in Los Angeles. Their recent and upcoming solo and two-person exhibitions include Sculpture Center, New York (2023); Open the Gates! Span the Mouth!, Sophie Tappeiner, Vienna, AT (2022); 536 VE, Bass & Reiner Gallery, San Francisco (2021); Florida, Egret Egress, Toronto, Canada (2021). Together with Rindon Johnson they have participated in Internationaler Lantz'scher Skulpturenpark, Düsseldorf, DE (2021). Loeppky-Kolesnik are a current fellow at Black Cube Nomadic Art Museum.