Hadar Kleiman
PREMIUM EMPORIUM
3 February - 26 February
Opening Reception 3 February, 7-10pm

PRESS: MOMUS, KQED, Hoodline
 

R/SF projects is thrilled to present PREMIUM EMPORIUM, a solo show of new works by Israeli-born, San Francisco-based artist Hadar Kleiman. A palatial tour de force of opulent textures and glinting façades, PREMIUM EMPORIUM weaves a beguiling tale of high and low culture through the deconstructed psychological narratives of isolated imageries.

Culling influence from gilded mall lobbies and the banal yet subliminal figurations of airport flooring as much as the optically disorienting carpets of Las Vegas casinos, Kleiman cheekily gestures toward faux authenticity while spotlighting what latent (mis)information frequently underlies our urban environments. By reappropriating iconic material elements of such locales (columns, floral arrangements, even pyramids) and manipulating their particularities, Kleiman catalyzes processes of contextualization to fabricate a sort of analytical vacuum—a systemic unveiling of absurdity, probing of perception, and formalist rebirth.

Splayed across the gallery’s two levels and rendered in Kleiman’s installational proclivity, the exhibition reads like a smattering of elaborate set designs or walk-in dioramas, each their own maquette of a simulated reality. Her arsenal of unassuming media runs the gamut from nail polish and plastic laminate to silk fabric and brass trim, each employed to emulate opulence through alchemic sleights of hand. The veritable pièce de résistance of the exhibition, Mall Wall (2016), erects a monolithic faux-marble storefront spanning a whopping 8.25 x 6 x 9 feet. Encasing a faux-marble torso, Borax-concocted ‘crystal’ skull, and miscellaneous found paraphernalia, its illuminated display evokes Dutch nature morte still lifes as much as it might point to the musings of Hirst. And finally, in Terrazzo Diamond (Pink), Terrazzo Diamond (Blue), and Terrazzo Diamond (Green) (all 2017), each of three hand-crafted terrazzo wall works recall the splendor of mosaic handiwork, but also the XXX insignia of a winning slot machine gamble.

Kleiman scavenges the depths of society with a wry humor to broach even the most subversive affairs, be they rampant consumer culture or the ubiquity of artifice. In the vein of Alex da Corte, Kleiman reveals a world of calculated observations to galvanize awareness and spur the playful skeptic in us all.  

Hadar Kleiman (b. Jerusalem, Israel) has exhibited widely throughout the Bay Area including SAFEhouse Arts (San Francisco, CA), Ridge Space (Oakland, CA), and the Asian Art Museum (San Francisco, CA), and is a member of the #* Collective (San Francisco, CA). Kleiman received her Master of Fine Arts degree with a sculpture emphasis from the San Francisco Art Institute, and her Bachelor of Fine Art degree from Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. In 2015 she was a recipient of the Anne Bremer Award. Kleiman lives and works in San Francisco. This is her first solo exhibition with the gallery.