OCHI is pleased to present More Permanent Than Snow, a solo exhibition of new work by Los Angeles – based artist Sam Shoemaker. This will be the Artist’s first exhibition with the Gallery. More Permanent Than Snow will be on view at OCHI, located at 3301 W Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, California from July 16 to August 27, 2022. An Artist’s Reception will be held on Saturday, July 16^th from 5:00 to 9:00 pm PST.

Drawn to objects that behave, react, change, grow, and carry rhythm, Shoemaker collects and propagates mushrooms sourced from wild urban growth in Los Angeles and myco culture libraries worldwide, supporting their fragile lifestyles in highly controlled environments of his design. Pairing Ganoderma lingzhi, or Reishi mushrooms, known for their medicinal qualities and red-varnish coloring, with hand-built ceramic vessels, blown glass, and plinths, Shoemaker develops a unique substrate formula that allows the mushrooms to grow for several months, slowly emerging from within each vessel into unique, dynamic forms. Comparable to a long exposure in photography, Shoemaker carefully moves LED lights, adjusts the temperature, changes the saturation of CO2, or moves the Reishi themselves closer or farther apart, carefully choreographing the forms.

Archiving these reactions as they grow, Shoemaker captures mushroom good moods, tantrums, and blooming advances, putting faith in the unanticipated expressions of fruiting body language. The results carry the poetics of an organic form responding to its manipulated environment, an expression of the artist as a steward of matter, and myriad ecological possibilities. Constantly developing a closer relationship to living things, each vessel forms a mutualistic connection between art and science, ushering in a new language to surround the art object. Like a roadmap of a highway, each vessel becomes the score for the mushroom to respond to their environment.

Both peculiarly unfamiliar and puzzlingly whimsical, Shoemaker balances refined design aesthetics and astute scientific research with a passion for expanding the lexicon of art history, contextualizing his artwork in the niche subculture of the mycological community and beyond. Moving seamlessly between plant and object, Shoemaker reimagines natural phenomena through environment, prompting a greater sense of awareness in the way artists engage with the mysteries and meanings behind the natural world.

Sam Shoemaker (b. 1991, Orlando, FL) earned his MFA from Yale University and his BFA from California Institute of the Arts. Shoemaker's work has been exhibited at venues including Lubov in New York, NY; the Armory Center for the Arts, Harkawik, Vielmetter, and OCHI in Los Angeles, CA; Human Interest Group in Dallas, TX; and the Kunstverein Letschebach and Espace Nalon, both in Germany. Shoemaker’s work and practice has been featured in publications including Galerie Magazine, KCRW, KPFK, Graphite, and in mycology publications across the US.