Coco Hall's Off the Wall

EN EM Art Space Presents

Coco Hall: Off the Wall
November 8 – 29, 2014

Opening Reception: Saturday, November 8, 6:00 – 9:00 pm

SACRAMENTO, CA (October 20th, 2014)—EN EM Art Space, a new gallery located at 1714 Broadway Street, is pleased to present Off the Wall, a solo exhibition of works by Joshua Tree based artist Coco Hall. Please join us on Saturday, November 8th, 6:00 – 9:00 pm for the opening reception and to meet the artist.

Off the Wall showcases Hall’s recent papier maché and fiber sculptures, toys, and paintings. Hall’s sculptures of everyday food objects, such as “Blueberry Pie” and “Moldy Toast”, follow in the tradition of Claes Oldenburg’s 1960s soft sculptures in spirit. But in works like “Drink, Drink, Drink,” “Puff, Puff, Puff,” and “Portrait of a Woman, ” the thematic message that emerges from Hall’s artworks is a critique of our consumer culture, what advertisers are selling us and what faulty cultural beliefs we as consumers are buying into and therefore perpetuating, including society’s ideas about womanhood.

A self-described “list maker,” Coco Hall’s Artist Statement reads like the listed ingredients of a recipe. What ingredients go into Coco Hall’s artworks? A healthy dose of her callings: Grocery Packer and Culture Watcher (she cites the 12-page Sunday newspaper advertising circular as prime culture-watching material, packed as they are with another listed influence: “the many forms and images of our mundane and processed culture that are beautiful, telling, and amusing”); a dash of cynicism and humor (which she describes as being “the conjoined twins of comedy/tragedy floating across a cirrus-clouded sky like Man Ray’s ‘Lips.’”); topped off with art, books and magazines.

“I try to appeal to our natural longing to pull the curtain aside to reveal what is hidden with the irresistible possibility of finding a surprise,” Hall says of her job as an artist. Hall captures that element of surprise well with her soft toys that transform as they’re turned inside out.

In addition to her twenty years of animal and environmental activism, Coco Hall’s work is also informed by her studies at San Francisco Art Institute and Bennington College, and later as founder and CEO of Freemountain Toys, a company that produced Vegimals and other plush toys.

Check out Coco Hall’s artworks for yourself at EN EM Art Space, and find yourself a surprise or two. EN EM Art Space is open Saturdays and Sundays, 1:00 pm – 7:00pm, and by appointment on weekdays.