YOU BECAUSE FREE INSTANTLY NEW 2 x 2 Solos: Rhonda Holberton

2 x 2 Solos is a series of solo exhibitions featuring new work commissioned from four accomplished emerging artists based in the Oakland/Bay Area.

The works in Holberton’s 2 x 2 Solos installation represent visual iterations of her research dealing with the integration of military technologies into the intimacies of civilian life. Figurative sculptures depict the melding of human form in hand-to-hand combat, identity is camouflaged via scents distilled from multiple bodies, while a computer reads randomized texts culled from military training manuals and self-guided improvement programs. These works navigate complex phenomenological systems through a hybrid of scientific and metaphysical practices.

About the Artist: Working in sculpture, installation and photography, Rhonda Holberton reveals a magic and symbolic reading of empirical canons of belief. Rhonda has recently had solo exhibitions at MESA San Francisco and Aimee Frieberg Exhibitions. Her work has recently been included in exhibitions at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art and the San Francisco Arts Commission. In 2012 she received a Project Grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission and a SECA Grant Nomination. Holberton received her B.F.A. from the California College of Arts and Crafts, and her M.F.A from Stanford University.

About the Curators: FICTILIS is the collaborative practice of Andrea Steves and Timothy Furstnau, taking the forms of exhibition, performance, installation, and other multimedia and social practice projects. FICTILIS operated a studio/gallery storefront in downtown Seattle before recently moving to the Bay Area, where they continue to share work that is aesthetically, conceptually, socially, and technologically engaging, and to promote art as an ethical and sustainable practice.