Jenkins Johnson Gallery is pleased to present Mixed Messages (Streets & Screens) AOL + Lottery, Kahlil Robert Irving’s first solo presentation in San Francisco. This exhibition revels in all the different media Irving employs within his practice, from the digital space of technology and social media to the use of materials to represent aspects of the built world around us. The artist comes from the post-industrious Midwest of Saint Louis, Missouri, a landscape that informs this installation.
Mixed Messages (Streets & Screens) AOL + Lottery takes place under a digitally rendered sky that reflects on the ground that we walk, the fences that blur the understanding of place, and the opportunities for agency in the here and the now. Oscillating between the digital and works constructed out of physical materials, Irving is constantly negotiating materials and processes within a practice that seeks to question inherited systems and meditate on the possibilities of anew.
Mixed Messages (Streets & Screens) AOL + Lottery is a continuing installation in Irving’s “Street views” series. Reflective of Irving’s interest in diverse media, this exhibition includes small and large works on paper, digital prints, a light box, small ceramic sculptures, a wallpaper edition, and flags made for this exhibition.
“Mixed messages” playfully gestures toward Irving’s diverse studio pursuits as well as the mixed messages we receive from interactions with and through digital spaces: Twitter, major news sources, memes, fake news, misunderstandings when texting to communicate, and so on.“Mixed messages” playfully gestures toward Irving’s diverse studio pursuits as well as the mixed messages we receive from interactions with and through digital spaces: Twitter, major news sources, memes, fake news, misunderstandings when texting to communicate, and so on.
Additionally, inside the Minnesota Street Project's atrium is Irving’s mourning flag installation, AT nightfall, a commemoration of Black people and those who have suffered violent acts and murder within oppressed communities across America.