The Matter at Hand is a two-person exhibition featuring the work of Darcie Book and Sarah Hirneisen. Both artists push the boundaries of traditional art making techniques. Through materiality and process, they manipulate the familiar into unanticipated forms. Book stretches the possibilities of painting by navigating the realms between the two- and three-dimensional, while Hirneisen uses the processes of mold-making and casting to remake everyday objects into unexpected new forms.

Book uses her studio as a laboratory to develop innovative processes that explore paint as a sculptural material. Paint protrudes off surfaces, appearing to ooze or flow as it makes its departure from the two-dimensional picture plane. While her sculptural paintings embody a sense of the otherworldly, she is interested in how the heightened physicality of the paint may generate corporeal resonance, and elicit desire or longing. Her goal is to create experiences that enhance the viewer’s awareness of being physically present while also feeling fully connected to the world around them. Book’s extensive exhibition history includes the Baltimore Museum of Art and she has been published in Sculpture Magazine and the Manifest International Painting Annual. Artist residencies include the Vermont Studio Center and the Facebook AIR Program. Darcie Book

Hirneisen uses three-dimensional materials and processes to elevate familiar and everyday objects. Her work confronts gender stereotypes and the associations society typically makes with certain consumer goods. Breaking apart these objects, she creates a series of components that combine to become hybrid versions of the originals. Transformed through both traditional and nontraditional materials and processes, the resulting works become a gender mash-up. Hirneisen holds an MFA from Mills College in Sculpture and a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design. She has exhibited extensively throughout the US as well as Hungary, Korea, and England and maintains a studio in South Austin. Sarah Hirneisen