Josephine Halvorson: New Hours is on display now at James Fuentes Los Angeles. The exhibition feels like an ode to the end of summer, through sunny landscapes and outdoor settings, and how these physical things change over time. Featuring ten new paintings, and over sixty related polaroids, New Hours is Halvorson’s first solo exhibition in Los Angeles. 

Halvorson’s pieces in New Hours are a form of self narration as they capture casual yet personal settings throughout the artist’s life and within her community. As you move through the gallery it feels as though you’re on a morning walk, seeing images of broken street signs and graffitied trees, each piece representing a different personal landmark for the artist. The appreciation of simple pleasures is an active attitude within the exhibit, an emphasis on the physical world, denouncing the need for technology and electronic media.

You see this with the papers painted in ‘I Help You’ and the books in ‘Free Library,’ both of which invite physical opportunities for people within a community to come together with things like an events board or stand alone library case. Halvorson is able to capture simplistic beauty in everyday pass bys, with delicate brush strokes in her paintings and sun bathed polaroids to compliment and tell the deeper story behind each piece. 

Her paintings are primarily made out of acrylic gouache, and set in naturalistic areas. While Halvorson’s pieces seem straightforward at first glance, the intricate and lifelike details she paints have an impactful, deeper commentary about how things change overtime. Items and places never stay the same, no matter how many times you walk or drive by them. 

The artist, born in Massachusetts, is primarily a painter, though she also dabbles in sculpting and printmaking. Halvorson associates photography with the geographical environment, all of her photos taken very sporadically and in the moment without deep planning. The polaroids featured within New Hours act as a form of documentary and tell a more in depth story of each of the ten paintings.

To accompany the exhibition, Halvorson recently released a self-titled book that gives context to her pieces, the timeline in which they were made, and some of the sentimental value they hold. Produced by James Fuentes, the book has scanned images of all the paintings and photos along with personal commentary from Halvorson.

Josephine Halvorson: New Hours is on view now at James Fuentes Los Angeles through October 12.