The paintings of Zach Harris (b. 1976, Santa Rosa, California) are amalgams of mystical imagery, illusionistic patterning, and intricate figuration. They are among the most original objects produced under the rubric of contemporary painting. Harris develops intimate vignettes into elaborately sculpted and refined frameworks, simultaneously focusing the viewer’s attention and expanding it over a multi-dimensional plane. Recalling cosmological diagrams and visionary folk art, as well as a diversity of Eastern and Western art-historical traditions from devotional icons to Color Field, Harris’s constructions are born of the sustained attention one might associate with medieval illuminators. Each constitutes an entire cosmology, complete with recurring characters (both earthly and divine) and radical ideas about the action of gravity, light and time. As Harris has remarked, “Within a single small shape one can detect worlds within worlds where logic fields resolve and contrast endlessly with one another.”
Zach Harris has presented solo exhibitions at David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles (2019 and 2013); Perrotin (2020, New York; 2017, Paris); and Max Protetch Gallery, New York (2009). Group exhibitions include Unorthodox, Jewish Museum, New York (2016); Left Coast: Recent Acquisitions of Contemporary Art, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California (2014); Tapping the Third Realm, Ben Maltz Gallery, Otis College of Art and Design, and Laband Art Gallery, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles (2013); and Made in L.A. 2012, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles. His work is in the permanent collections of the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey; and Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California. Harris lives and works in Los Angeles.
Zach Harris
Zodiac / Golden Section, 2016 - 2021
water-based paint, ink, and graphite on linen and carved wood
64 1/2 x 45 x 1 inches
(163.8 x 114.3 x 2.5 cm)
Zach Harris
Clock Tower in 2020, 2018 - 2019
water-based paint and graphite on carved wood
47 x 27 3/8 x 1 3/4 inches
(119.4 x 69.5 x 4.4 cm)
Zach Harris
Calendar Cloud (in 2020), 2016-2017
water-based paint on carved wood
73 x 53 x 1 1/4 inches
(185.4 x 134.6 x 3.2 cm)
Zach Harris
Double Helix (in 2020), 2015 - 2017
water-based paint on carved wood
82 x 60 x 2 1/8 inches
(208.3 x 152.4 x 5.4 cm)
Zach Harris
Philosopher Stone (in 2020), 2016-2017
water-based paint on carved wood
82 x 60 x 1 7/8 inches
(208.3 x 152.4 x 4.8 cm)
Zach Harris
Rainy Daze Window, 2015-2016
water-based paint, ink, and graphite on carved wood
49 1/2 x 37 1/2 x 1 inches
(125.7 x 95.3 x 2.5 cm)
Zach Harris
Linen Last Judgement, 2014-2015
water-based paint, ink, graphite, linen on carved wood
72 x 54 1/2 x 7/8 inches
(182.9 x 138.4 x 2.2 cm)
Zach Harris
Dark Rainbow School (Orange Grove), 2013-2015
water-based paint and spray paint on Masonite and carved wood
48 x 32 3/4 x 7/8 inches
(121.9 x 83.2 x 2.2 cm)
Zach Harris
G's Early Work, 2011-2013
water-based paint on carved wood
35 1/4 x 29 1/2 x 1 3/4 inches
(89.5 x 74.9 x 4.5 cm)
Zach Harris
Blind Spot, 2011-2013
water-based paint on wood
46 1/4 x 38 x 1 inches
(117.5 x 96.5 x 2.5 cm)
Zach Harris
PinkRingMidPoint, 2011
water-based paint on carved wood
25 x 15 x 2 inches
(63.5 x 38.1 x 5.1 cm)
Zach Harris
Mozart Cover Band, 2006-2007
water-based paint on carved wood
15 x 18 x 3/4 inches
(38.1 x 45.7 x 1.9 cm)