On view: April 25 — June 1, 2025
STEP. STEP. STEP. is a new storybook and a new exhibition by Rebekah Nolan. The exhibition offers an immersive exploration of the book's narrative and visual themes and features collaborating artists Landon Caldwell, Priya Wittman, Danielle Joy Graves, and Nick Witten.
COMPANION presents
STEP. STEP. STEP. with three room-sized installations and accompanying sound compositions. Responding to the middle section of Nolan's storybook, Nick Witten and collaborator Danielle Joy Graves bring to life the empty space. An otherwise ignored middle section of the gallery is activated with a conjuring graphite and found object installation. Graphite-burnished sheet stock material encapsulates the space and ushers viewers past intimate and unfamiliar points of curiosity as they move from the front gallery to the third gallery. A haphazard collection of keys, key chains, and Graves' own small gum sculptures emerge from an early corner, suspended from above. Below, in the same corner and bathed in more shadow, sits a short, tottering stack of dried, halved lemon rinds. Dried leaves are caught in an old yellow bowl overhead, internally lit and hinting at streetlight. A large, petrified log specimen rest beneath an air vent with more halved lemon rinds. And just before exiting, two ducks sit side-by-side, one plastic and situated in light, the other an aluminum casting of the first and situated in shadow — a reference to Nolan's book illustration,
Step In.
Scattered throughout the first and third galleries are Witten's cast foam and rubberized silicone replica pairs of the red-orange Birkenstock clogs prominently featured in Nolan's book and 200+ drawings and paintings. Sherbet, primary, and neon colored casts feature tonal variations throughout and occasional, sometimes excessive flashing. Flashing is a common casting 'defect' typically caused by leakage of the material between the two surfaces of a mold along its seam caused by continuous use and mold wear. The color variations and preservation of the flash evidence the hand-colored, hand-cast nature of his reproduction process and the repeated act of making each shoe one at a time. Shoes in the book shelves are available for viewers to wear while moving between the three spaces.
The exhibition is generous, perceptive, and serves as a timely reminder to stay the course amid staggering uncertainty.
For sales and inquiries, please contact
braydee@thisiscompanion.com