Chadwick Rantanen, Fluff at Christmas, 2022, archival pigment print, 20 x 30 1/2 in (50.8 x 77.5 cm), edition 1/3
In Chadwick Rantanen’s exhibition of photographic demontages and laser-cut plywood sculptures, he modifies conventional cultural symbols to suggest other versions of a perceived reality.
In an ongoing series of photographs, Rantanen constructs a world from collected images of the cross. Drawing from every corner of the internet,–fashion, commercial products, stock photography, political stunts, craft projects, sightings and spiritual memes–Rantanen removes the cruciform’s transom or horizontal beam, reducing it to a simple column. The subtle alterations are surgical, involving the extraction of elements followed by a process of seamless grafting and stitching to restore the photograph’s cohesiveness. The new symbol, reduced to a line, often nearly disappears within the image. Unburdened by symbolic gravity, the manipulated photos still convey a mystical aesthetic. For example, in one work what appears to be a finger swipe through condensation on a window reveals a spectrum of color from burnt orange to white to a heavenly blue. Another photo portrays an array of hand-decorated plastic strips on a table, a class art project hastily captured with a flash by a schoolteacher. By showing the textures and environs of religiosity, Rantanen also draws focus to the labor that often supports symbolic power.
Informed by Rantanen’s upbringing inside the community of Jehovah’s Witnesses, the project reenvisions the religious organization’s rejection of the cross and other icons. Although the Witnesses claim that the crucifixion occurred on a stake or crux simplex, they don’t try to replace the cross with a symbol of their own but instead attempt to invert its meaning into a symbol of what they are not. In response, Rantanen’s altered photographs depict a world centered around a ‘weak symbol,’ one difficult to distinguish from other common forms, creating the potential for unexpected and uncertain spiritual encounters.
Alongside the photographs are a series of laser-cut, plywood sculptures, in which the artist extracts staircase designs from various dollhouses, toys, tabletop games and crafts. Rantanen assembles these into a morphology, cataloging the vernacular particular to these fantasy constructions. Their building methodology is unified by simple joinery. The pieces evoke architectural models, but the staircases are not just scaled-down renderings. For example, a cylindrical baluster on a staircase might translate as a simplified 2D silhouette cut out: an impression, a sign. Relegated to the realm of tchotchkes and play, the staircases convey only traces of the built world. Displayed together, they describe a medium of emulation, transition and transcendence.
Chadwick Rantanen (b. 1981, Wausau, Wisconsin) lives and works in Los Angeles, California. Solo exhibitions include Secession, Vienna, Austria; Museo Pietro Canonica, Rome, Italy; Standard (Oslo), Oslo, Norway; Essex Street, New York, New York; Overduin and Co., Los Angeles, California; Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago, Illinois. He has been included in group exhibitions at Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Detroit, Michigan; Grazer Kunstverein, Graz, Austria; Tanya Leighton, Berlin, Germany; Luhring Augustine, New York; CLEARING, Paris, France; Swiss Institute, New York; and Kunsthaus Glarus, Glarus; SculptureCenter, Long Island City, New York; and Artists Space, New York. His work is in the collections of the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; ArtNow International, San Francisco; Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota and Albright-Knox, Buffalo, New York. Rantanen’s work has been reviewed in Mousse Magazine, Frieze, Artforum, The Los Angeles Times, Art in America, New York Times, Flash Art, and CARLA.
Painting Project, 2022
archival pigment print, walnut frame
9 1/8 x 13 1/2 x 1 1/2 in (23.3 x 34.3 x 3.8 cm)
Press Fit (Ladder), 2022
laser cut plywood
5 x 1 x 1 in (12.7 x 2.5 x 2.5 cm)
Laser Cut-Out (Ladder), 2022
laser cut plywood
6 1/4 x 1 1/2 x 1/8 in (15.9 x 3.8 x .3 cm)
Press Fit (Staircase), 2022
laser cut plywood
6 3/4 x 2 x 4 in (17.1 x 5.1 x 10.2 cm)
Ripped Skin Tattoo, 2022
archival pigment print, walnut frame
9 3/4 x 20 1/2 x 1 1/2 in (24.8 x 52 x 3.8 cm)
Press Fit (Staircase), 2022
laser cut plywood
9 x 2 5/8 x 1 1/2 in (22.9 x 6.7 x 3.8 cm)
Press Fit (Staircase), 2022
laser cut plywood
1 1/2 x 4 x 1 3/4 in (3.8 x 10.2 x 4.4 cm)
Press Fit (Stairway), 2022
laser cut plywood
8 1/2 x 3 1/2 x 4 in (21.6 x 8.9 x 10.2 cm)
Press Fit (Ladder), 2022
laser cut plywood
10 x 2 x 1 1/2 in (25.4 x 5.1 x 3.8 cm)
Doorhandle, 2022
archival pigment print, walnut frame
27 1/4 x 20 1/2 in (69.1 x 52.1 cm)
Laser Cut-Out (Ladder), 2022
laser cut plywood
5 1/2 x 3/4 x 1/8 in (14 x 1.9 x 0.3 cm)
Fluff at Christmas, 2022
archival pigment print, walnut frame
20 3/8 x 30 3/8 x 1 1/2 in (51.8 x 77.2 x 3.8 cm)
Press Fit (Ladder), 2022
laser cut plywood
7 x 1 5/8 x 5/8 in (17.8 x 4.2 x 1.6 cm)
Class Crafts, 2022
archival pigment print, walnut frame
14 x 18 1/2 x 1 1/2 in (35.6 x 47 x 3.8 cm)
Sticks, 2022
archival pigment print, walnut frame
15 3/8 x 13 x 1 1/2 in (39 x 33 x 3.8 cm)
Hammered Sins, 2022
archival pigment print, walnut frame
14 x 18 1/2 x 1 1/2 in (35.6 x 47 x 3.8 cm)
Press Fit (Staircase), 2022
laser cut plywood
7 x 9 1/2 x 2 1/8 in (17.8 x 24.1 x 5.4 cm)
Press Fit (Ladder), 2022
laser cut plywood
3 3/4 x 2 x 1 in (9.5 x 5.1 x 2.5 cm)
Press Fit (Stairway), 2022
laser cut plywood
2 1/2 x 4 x 6 in (6.4 x 10.2 x 15.2 cm)
Press Fit (Staircase), 2022
laser cut plywood
8 1/2 x 2 x 1 3/4 in (21.6 x 5.1 x 4.4 cm)
Window, 2022
archival pigment print, walnut frame
7 1/4 x 10 1/2 x 1 1/2 in (18.4 x 26.7 x 3.8 cm)
Press Fit (Staircase), 2022
laser cut plywood
4 1/4 x 3 1/2 x 4 in (10.8 x 8.9 x 10.2 cm)
Press Fit (Stairway), 2022
laser cut plywood
8 1/2 x 3 1/8 x 5/8 in (21.6 x 8.8 x 1.6 cm)
Wooden Boards and Flower, 2022
archival pigment print, walnut frame
14 1/8 x 20 1/2 x 1 1/2 in (36 x 52 x 3.8 cm)
Laser Cut-Out (Ladder), 2022
laser cut plywood
5 3/4 x 1 1/2 x 1/8 in (14.6 x 3.8 x .3 cm)
Press Fit (Staircase), 2022
laser cut plywood
7 1/2 x 9 1/2 x 5 3/4 in (19 x 24.1 x 16.6 cm)
Chocolate Orange Buns, 2022
archival pigment print, walnut frame
18 1/2 x 12 1/2 x 1 1/2 in (47 x 31.7 x 3.8 cm)
Press Fit (Stairway), 2022
laser cut plywood
8 1/2 x 3/4 x 1 5/8 in (21.6 x 1.9 x 4.1 cm)
Press Fit (Ladder), 2022
laser cut plywood
2 x 1 x 1/2 in (5.1 x 2.5 x 1.3 cm)
Wooden Boards, 2022
archival pigment print, walnut frame
21 x 14 1/8 x 1 1/2 in (53.3 x 36 x 3.8 cm)
Press Fit (Ladder), 2022
laser cut plywood
5 1/2 x 5/8 x 5/8 in (1.6 x 14 x 1.6 cm)
Farmer Gene, 2022
archival pigment print, walnut frame
7 1/4 x 12 1/2 x 1 1/2 in (18.4 x 31.8 x 3.8 cm)
Ring and Bottle, 2022
archival pigment print, walnut frame
15 1/2 x 20 1/2 x 1 1/2 in (39.4 x 52 x 3.8 cm)
Press Fit (Ladder), 2022
laser cut plywood
9 1/2 x 2 1/4 x 1 1/2 in (24.1 x 5.7 x 3.8 cm)
