Hauser & Wirth Gallery presents Numbers and Trees, The Tanzania Baobabs by Charles Gaines. The exhibition is accompanied by this text.
Trees have been a central motif in Gaines’ practice since the 1970s, when he first began plotting their forms through systems of numbered grids in the Walnut Tree Orchard series (1975 – 2014). By converting the tree form into a gridded geometry, Gaines devised a distinctive process for charting and comparing differences. This approach invited viewers into the gap between what things appear to be and what they mean, while also challenging the dominance of subjectivity in artistic expression. Gaines’ argument—that aesthetic experience is not transcendent but rather firmly rooted in and shaped by culture—has broadened the conversation about art history and influenced generations of artists.
Numbers and Trees, The Tanzania Baobabs
19 February – 24 May 2025
Hauser & Wirth
901 East 3rd Street
Los Angeles 90013
United States
www.hauserwirth.com
