HILARY HARNISCHFEGER

Harnischfeger’s work is grounded in a sustained engagement with material transformation and the slow processes of the natural world. Drawing inspiration from specific landscapes—often mountain peaks—her works evoke geological formations shaped over vast spans of time. Rather than presenting direct representations of place, Harnischfeger constructs forms that appear weathered, stratified, and eroded, as if shaped by tectonic pressure, sedimentation, and mineral accretion rather than by human hands.

Her material vocabulary includes ceramic, pigment, paper, ink, quartz, mica, wood, and hydrostone. Among these, paper plays a particularly central and unexpected role. Painted cardstock is meticulously cut, stacked, and adhered in layers, creating dense surfaces that resemble sedimentary rock strata. These paper formations are then embedded into cast ceramic and hydrostone bodies, where they function both as structural components and as material interruptions. Compressed planes of color and texture blur distinctions between drawing, sculpture, and relief, transforming fragile materials into final forms that are weighty, durable, and geological.

In the newly scaled works presented here, this process becomes increasingly immersive. Expanded surfaces allow Harnischfeger to push her stratigraphic constructions further, building complex topographies that oscillate between abstraction and landscape. Veins of mineral material punctuate layered fields of paper and pigment, while fissures, cavities, and protrusions suggest natural forces at work beneath the surface.

Across these works, time operates as both subject and method. Harnischfeger’s practice embraces accumulation, repetition, and slow construction, mirroring the rhythms of the environments that inspire her. The resulting forms feel simultaneously ancient and immediate—objects that seem to carry the memory of the earth while remaining resolutely handmade.

Hilary Harnischfeger (b. 1972, Melbourne, Australia) earned her MFA from Columbia University, New York (2003) and her BFA from the University of Houston, Houston, TX (2001). The artist has had work included in institutional exhibitions at the Fairfield University Art Museum, Fairfield, CT (2023); Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS (2016); State University of New York at Purchase, Purchase, NY (2016); the FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY (2014); MOCA Cleveland, Cleveland, OH (2013); American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, Washington, DC (2013); the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY (2013); Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, TX (2010); Ballroom Marfa, Marfa, TX (2005); Artists Space, New York, NY (2005); and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, TX (2002); among others**.** Harnischfeger has had recent solo exhibitions at Clear Sky Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (2021); Rachel Uffner Gallery, new York, NY (2021, 2015); Halsey McKay Gallery, East Hampton, NY (2014); and Front Gallery, Houston, TX (2012).In 2007, Harnischfeger was the recipient of the Maria Walsh Sharpe Foundation Space Program Award. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH; the Nerman Museum, Overland Park, KS; the Everton Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY; and the Fairfield University Art Museum, Fairfield, CT. Harnischfeger lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.