Opening Reception: 2D · 3D · 2025 New Abstractions by Jared Abner & Andrew Hildenbrand

Susan Eley Fine Art is pleased to present an exhibition of new artworks by Jared Abner and Andrew Hildenbrand entitled 2D · 3D · 2025. Both are emerging artists who have shown at SEFA Hudson and SEFA NYC. This exhibition highlights their approaches to abstraction, visualized and materialized in the 2D and the 3D, in wood and in paint. 2D · 3D · 2025 is on view at SEFA Hudson from July 31st through September 2nd. The opening reception with the artists present is on Saturday, August 2nd from 4-7pm.

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Currently based near Boston, MA, Jared Abner is a recent graduate from Rochester Institute of Technology, NY. The Gallery is proud to have been the first major commercial space to feature his works upon his graduation, and now again showcase his sculptural production in Upstate New York. Abner works in wood, carving and combining this natural material to create sculptures that are intuitive and expressive. He is a sculptor that sources various types of wood—from bass, to walnut, to cherry— with great care and attention to their textures and colors. Thus, Abner’s sculptures are ingrained with memory in a similar way to how a tree is ingrained with rings. They are sensitive to their histories, their surroundings and their future potentials. The artist’s works reflect the essence of nature and its potential to be interpreted and transformed by the human hand.

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The exhibition 2D · 3D · 2025 highlight intimately scaled works that are posed on ledges and shelves throughout the Gallery. Works such as Rock and The Dawn twist and morph into shapes that can be read as organic and fantastical; as prehistoric and modern. The delicate and intricate carvings demonstrate Abner’s commitment to highlighting—perhaps honoring—the idiosyncratic properties of the material that passes through his hands and under his tools. Their curves and corners coalesce into shapely works. The colors of the wood vary based on the kind of tree, and their tones and richness evolve during the process of the specific treatments by Abner while in his studio. If invoking historic references, one might cite the ancient bodily figure of the Venus of Willendorf, the horses in the Caves of Lascaux dancing on the earthen walls or the angular heads of Easter Island.

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Then taking a turn toward the contemporary—Abner’s large-scale standing sculptures such as The Pillar and Haunt evoke the likes of Constantin Brâncuși or Isamu Noguchi. These sculptors were recognized for their organic materials shaped into otherworldly forms that seem to defy gravity. While paying an ode to the artists before him, Abner’s sculptures in 2D · 3D · 2025 represent an invigorated sensitivity to architecture, craft and environmentalism that is unique to him. Abner combines clean lines, spherical forms and balance to delight the eye. His ability to carve and to combine results in these visual delights. The works in the exhibition range from six to ninety-six to inches in height.

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Beginning to create as a child, Abner discovered wood to be the perfect medium for his three dimensional dreams. He states: “While marble sculpture is a process of subtraction, and clay sculpture is a process of addition—the wood medium is a special substance that allows for the breaking and the building to coexist within the same form.” With a chisel in hand, he tried out various techniques. He wanted–rather, needed—to know “what happens when you use a saw to cut through a 2 by 4 piece of lumber.” These investigations eventually led Abner to art school and to developing a practice as a sculptor and as a furniture maker. His current output bridges these formal classifications with skill and attention. The artist is also conscious about the environmental implications of his work, and he primarily favors wood that is native to New England. His abstract amalgamations are pure—simultaneously raw and precise; unpretentious and intentional.