Exhibition Ben Venom and Alex Ziv Hashimoto Contemporary

Hashimoto Contemporary 816 Sutter Street San Francisco, CA 94109 Hashimoto Contemporary is pleased to present Wherever I May Roam, a two-person exhibition featuring new works by Ben Venom and Alex Ziv. Both artists' works are informed by a broad spectrum of influences, including folk and indigenous art, traditional craft and counter culture to create contemporary visual languages all their own. San Francisco-based Venom's repurposed textile-based works blend "aggressive counterculture components of gangs, punk/metal music and the occult with the comfort of domesticity." Comprised of remnant fabric such as denim, leather and band t-shirts, each composition unifies the seemingly disparate influences of heavy metal and motorcycle gangs with Gee's Bend quilts into unique works imbued with a deep sense of community and collective history.

Returning from a year on the road, the Northern California-based Ziv has distilled his travels through the Western United States and his personal definition of Americana into beautifully detailed, allegorical gouache on paper paintings. Each trompe l'oeil still life incorporates collected objects, graphic symbols and natural elements to "describe and classify [the artist's] surroundings, understanding and creation of self identity."