Ochi Gallery is pleased to present a two-person exhibition with Devin Farrand and Ariel Herwitz. I blame the moon features new works by the couple, who share a studio in Los Angeles, California. The exhibition will be on view from February 13^th through April 13^th.

Ariel Herwitz begins her latest sculptures by fashioning irregular steel hoops, roughly to the dimensions of her outstretched limbs. Reminiscent of Leonardo DaVinci’s Vitruvian Man, the simple circles additionally suggest a vessel, an egg, a portal or a celestial shape. Herwitz wraps the steel structures with spun wool, contrasting soft and hard, warm and cool, and heavy and light. Creating compositions with and within the surrounding space, lines are accompanied by empty voids, intersecting and interacting with the foreground, background, and one another within the gallery.

Devin Farrand’s work pays homage to his childhood spent in Oregon among a family of skilled craftsmen, learning about cars and manufacturing processes. Using materials such as etched and sandblasted aluminum, steel plates and Carrara marble, Farrand creates unique, aesthetic objects. In contrast to the physical weight of his raw materials, his process generates reflective, light sensitive, dynamic surfaces that affect an atmospheric quality. In some instances, these active surfaces are accompanied by the suggestion of imagery; slightly varied textures imply the delineation between mountain range and sky, a perfect floating circle becomes reminiscent of the moon, or perhaps an abstracted piston from a car’s engine.

Though disparate in practice, Farrand and Herwitz’ work is tied through conversations generated daily in their joint studio space, and more visibly, through a mutual interest in craftsmanship, tactility, weight and process. Taken together, their bodies of work offer space, both physically and visually, to form a dialogue about the distinct properties and possibilities of their respective materials, and the ability of reduced forms to suggest, reflect and engage.

Ariel Herwitz (b. 1983, Atlanta, GA.) lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. She earned a B.A. in Visual Art from Bennington College in 2006, and an M.F.A. from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2011.  Her work has been exhibited throughout Los Angeles at Elevator Mondays, The Landing, O’ gallery, Marine Projects, Loudhailer Gallery, Greene Exhibitions, and Ambach and Rice. She presented a solo show, ‘A Crack, A River, A Chasm, A Sliver’ at Ochi Projects in 2016, and a recent curatorial project at Left Field Gallery in San Luis Obispo, CA. Her works explore through form, composition, color and texture, ideas of interpretation, understanding, and the subjectivity of the view or gaze.

Devin Farrand (b.1986, Salem, OR) lives and works in Los Angeles. Recent Solo exhibitions include Heft, Ibid Gallery, Los Angeles CA; Blocks on Blocks, Good Weather Gallery, North Little Rock, AR; Group exhibitions include Hidden Words at Gallery Vacancy, Shanghai, China; Slightly Undercooked, BBQLA, Los Angeles, CA; Holiday, Ibid Gallery, London, UK; Cubit, New Release Gallery, New York, NY; When I Die…, 68 Projects, Gallery Kornfeld, Berlin, Germany; Blood Red Sun of Fantastic LA, Curated by René-Julien Praz, Piasa, Paris, France. Farrand’s work can be found in the collections of: Burger Collection, Hong Kong; SoHo House, Malibu, CA; New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan; Mercedes-Benz Financial Services, Farmington Hills, MI; Nightingale Gallery, Eastern Oregon University, La Grande, OR; Sishang Art museum Beijing China; Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, MT.