Joshua Hagler in Conversation with Elliott Hundley
Nihil I / I Would Not Dream of the Mountainrepresents a number of firsts for Joshua Hagler: the first exhibition devoted to his Nihil works, his first solo exhibition with Nicodim, and his first solo show in Los Angeles since 2018. The artist will continue the Nihil project through his next solo exhibition with the gallery in New York in 2024.
Joshua Hagler (b. 1979, Mountain Home AFB, Idaho) is a first-generation graduate with a graphic design degree from The University of Arizona. A 2018 grant recipient of the Roswell Artist in Residence Program, Hagler has since made New Mexico his permanent home. Currently, he lives with his wife and daughter in the high desert village of Placitas at the foot of the Sandia Mountains.
In recent years, his practice has been guided by an approach he calls Nihil, a set of nine self-imposed principles that have grown out of solitary excursions throughout the state. These principles determine all aspects of the work from its imagery and process, to the media and objects comprising it. Concept and meaning, as such, naturally unfold out of synchronistic experiences occurring over time.
Recent exhibitions include: I Would Not Speak of the Mountain, Nicodim, Los Angeles (2023, solo, forthcoming); The Descendants, K11 Musea, Hong Kong (2023); MATERNITY LEAVE: NONE OF WOMEN BORN, Nicodim in collaboration with the Green Family Foundation, Dallas (2023); Joshua Hagler, Devin B. Johnson, Nicola Samorì, Hugo Wilson, Nicodim, Los Angeles (2023); DISEMBODIED, Nicodim, New York (2023); Unmatter, Secci, Milan (2022); The Living Circle Us, Unit, London (2021, solo); Witness or Pretend, Bode Projects, Berlin (2021); Drawing in the Dark, Cris Worley Fine Arts, Dallas (2021, solo); Figure as Form, Hollis Taggart Gallery, New York (2020); Love Letters to the Poorly Regarded, Roswell Museum and Art Center (2018, solo), and The River Lethe, Brand Library and Art Center, Los Angeles (2018, solo).