Hiro, Hundley, Tadáskía
Regen Projects is pleased to present an exhibition of works by Naotaka Hiro, Elliott Hundley, and Tadáskía. While diverging widely in the process, aesthetic, and intention of their works, these artists are united by an ongoing engagement with performance, particularly with the question of how performative elements can be brought into the space of two-dimensional or sculptural artworks. The exhibition includes photographs, suspended and free-standing sculpture, drawings on canvas, paintings, and video. Together, the widely diverging mediums and practices on view showcase the myriad ways in which performance can manifest in and through visual artworks.
For Naotaka Hiro, the presence of the body is inseparable from the artwork on the wall. Whether making paintings by tracing his own movements across a canvas, or even wrapping himself in the canvas itself, the artist’s body is both a catalyst for and a visible trace in the finished product.
Performance and theater have played a critical role in Elliott Hundley’s variegated practice. Hundley’s distinctive billboard collages are drawn from elaborate photo shoots in which his friends and family become the performative subjects; Hundley then incorporates paint, encaustic, collage, fabric, his iconic straight pins, found objects and other materials. Works on view from his “Palette” series bring together disparate materials in surprising, often witty sculptures.
In her multidisciplinary practice, Tadáskía brings the improvisational energy of performance into drawings, sculptures, text, and a range of other media. For her recent exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, she created drawings on the walls in situ, marking the space with the immediacy of gestures as assured as they were improvisatory. Here, Tadáskía’s large-scale drawings on unstretched canvas are paired with her photographs of family members, their faces partially hidden by her own handmade disguises – recalling the presence of not only the artist herself, but the community around her.
The works on view encompass a vast array of material, textural, chromatic, and physical interventions; take together, they emphasize each artist’s distinct approach while elevating the explorations of physicality and performativity that thread through their work.
Naotaka Hiro (b. 1972, Osaka, Japan; lives and works in Los Angeles). For the past two decades his practice, which includes drawing, painting, sculpture and video – has grappled with the limits of the body’s physical and aesthetic capabilities. His work is in the collections of MoMA, New York; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, and many more.
Elliott Hundley (b. 1975, Greensboro, NC; lives and works in Los Angeles) expands the traditional notions of collage in a multidisciplinary practice of painting, drawing, sculpture and photography that synthesizes ancient epics, futuristic narratives, and contemporary realities. Hundley will be the subject of a mid-career solo exhibition, Proscenium: Elliott Hundley, at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, on view from April 13 –August 30, 2025. Also on view is By Achilles’ Tomb: Elliott Hundley, an intervention by the artist contrasting and complementing his own works with the museum’s renowned collection of antiquities. Hundley’s work is included in significant international public collections including The Broad, Los Angeles; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Istanbul Museum of Modern Art; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas; Pérez Art Museum, Miami; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Vancouver Art Gallery; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Tadáskía's (b. 1993, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; lives and works in Rio de Janeiro) practice includes photography, works on paper, installation, and performance. Tadáskía works at the intersections of several identities and cultures: Afro-Brazilian, trans, and Black, which overlap in her work. In 2024, she presented a solo project at the Museum of Modern Art in collaboration with the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York. Tadáskía’s works are held by significant collections including MoMA; The Nevada Museum of Art, Reno; Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; and the Kadist Foundation, Paris, France. Tadáskía will be the subject of a solo exhibition opening at Musée du Chateau de Rochechouart, France in summer, 2025