Haines Gallery present State Shiftthe artist’s second solo exhibition Meghann Riepenhoff. Opening in conjunction with SF Art Week 2025, this exhibition inaugurates a body of poetic, visceral and personal works that expand Riepenhoff’s work with cyanotype and the environment.
Riepenhoff creates his cyanotypes directly in the landscape, allowing the elements to leave physical inscriptions on paper covered with photographic materials. Marking a significant advancement in his practice, State Shift sees the introduction of new pigments and gestures into Riepenhoff’s process. The inky indigos and glacial blues characteristic of his cyanotypes are transformed by vivid bursts of green, coral, magenta and shimmering metallic hues, the result of organic materials (mica, mushroom ink and gingko chlorophyll) and of manufactured pigments (a nod to the human presence in the landscape). Striking colors and patterns branch and bloom across the surface of the paper, evoking both natural forms – the movement of water, cobwebbed rivers and streams, mycelial networks, underground roots and algae blooms – as well as the gestural flourishes of sumi ink paintings.
The title State Shiftwhich gives its name to the exhibition and the series presented, is a geological term which describes the spectacular and sudden changes in ecosystems, often when critical thresholds are crossed. The artist personally experienced a form of this catalytic phenomenon in early 2024, when an extreme weather event caused significant damage to his home in the Pacific Northwest. The works in State Shift were created during this period of displacement, which Riepenhoff used as an opportunity to explore national sites heavily compromised by human intervention. These include Miami Beach, Florida, considered “ground zero” of the climate crisis, threatened by recurring storms and rising sea levels; and the ancient city of Moncton, Washington, which was completely submerged in 1915 when an ill-advised dam was built to supply Seattle with electricity and water.
In State ShiftRiepenhoff draws attention to the devastating effects of climate change. She projects pigments onto paper, uses her breath to move liquids, drapes paper over sculpted clay outlines, and presses her hands to the surfaces of her works. His actions serve as an allegory for human impacts on the landscape. They are also gestures of protest against the systems of power and policies that are at the origin of these changes, and are attempts to reconnect with the landscape itself.
“The physical nature of my work, where photography-based media comes into contact with rain, waves, wind and wintry environments, is a call for closer contact with our surroundings, in a time of profound separation between humans and our ecosystems,” Riepenhoff said. By launching this appeal, both to herself and to viewers, the artist invites us all to think about the personal and collective changes we could make to preserve our common home. State Shift is born out of difficulty and explores sites of climate devastation, but is rooted in the possibilities of transformation and hope. “Hope,” wrote author and activist Rebecca Solnit, “is the belief that what we do can matter, the understanding that the future is not yet written. »
-State Shift coincides with Second Nature: Photography in the Age of the Anthropocenea major group exhibition opening at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University in February 2025 that features Riepenhoff’s work. Originally from the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, Second Nature will travel to the museum in Anchorage, Alaska, after its presentation at the Cantor.
Meghann Riepenhoff (born 1979 in Atlanta, Georgia; lives and works in Bainbridge Island, Washington) she received the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in 2018, as well as the Fleishhacker Foundation Fellowship in 2015, and held residencies at the Headlands Center for the Arts and at the Banff Center for the Arts.
Meghann Riepenhoff : State Shift
January 21 – March 15, 2025
Haines Gallery
Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture
2 Marina Blvd Building C, First Floor
San Francisco, CA 94123
www.hainesgallery.com
