{"id":720,"date":"2026-06-16T19:11:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T17:11:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/danielstubenvoll.com\/?page_id=720"},"modified":"2026-06-25T18:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T16:21:09","slug":"text","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/danielstubenvoll.com\/?page_id=720","title":{"rendered":"Text"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"class_list":["post-720","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"grid":"{\"colCount\":30,\"colGutter\":0.1000000000000000055511151231257827021181583404541015625,\"rowGutters\":[12,12],\"rowGutter\":0.200000000000000011102230246251565404236316680908203125,\"frameMargin\":5,\"leftFrameMargin\":50,\"rightFrameMargin\":0,\"topFrameMargin\":30,\"mus\":{\"colGutterMu\":\"%\",\"rowGutterMu\":\"%\",\"topFrameMu\":\"px\",\"bottomFrameMu\":\"px\",\"frameMu\":\"%\"},\"bottomFrameMargin\":50,\"rowAttrs\":[{\"relid\":1},{\"relid\":3},{\"relid\":5}],\"bgColor\":\"#ffffff\",\"bgImage\":null,\"cont\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"cont\":\"

WORLF

<\/span>Auf einmal stand ich in einer tr\\u00fcben Gegend. Dort hinten, direkt gegen\\u00fcber der <\/em><\/span>Rolltreppe zur U-Bahn war bisher eine grosse weisse Wand mit Werbung f\\u00fcr <\/em><\/span>ein schnelles Auto. Jetzt war dort nichts. Auch hinter mir war nichts, als ob die <\/em><\/span>Rolltreppe die ich gerade an die Oberfl\\u00e4che genommen hatte niemals da war.

<\/em><\/span>Der Protagonist in Daniel Stubenvolls englisch-deutscher Kurzgeschichte <\/span>WORLF (2024) findet sich in einer Welt wieder, die wie eine schlechte Kopie <\/span>der Echten scheint. Zun\\u00e4chst suggeriert die Beschreibung eines Einkaufscen<\/span>ter-Besuchs aus der Ich-Perspektive Normalit\\u00e4t. Der Aufenthalt in einem Caf\\u00e9, <\/span>ausgestattet mit kitschigen Kerzenst\\u00e4ndern, wei\\u00dfen Tischt\\u00fcchern, Leonardog<\/span>l\\u00e4sern und einem fotorealistischen Gem\\u00e4lde mit Goldrahmen, gepaart mit dem <\/span>Schl\\u00fcrfen eines Smoothies, bilden den Inbegriff zeitgen\\u00f6ssischer Mittelm\\u00e4\\u00dfig<\/span>keit. Die Hauptfigur versucht vergebens Kontakt zu den anderen Menschen <\/span>aufzubauen. Es folgt eine Einordnung der Erz\\u00e4hlung durch die Metaperspekti<\/span>ve, die zugleich die Geschichte weitererz\\u00e4hlt und kulturelle Vergleiche zieht. Im <\/span>letzten Teil der Geschichte verschwindet nach und nach die Infrastruktur, dann <\/span>die Architektur und schlie\\u00dflich die gesamte gewohnte Umgebung des Ich-Er<\/span>z\\u00e4hlers \\u2013 samt einiger Menschen:

<\/span>Die wenigen, die noch da waren, schienen nach etwas zu suchen. Einige <\/em><\/span>bauten Notunterk\\u00fcnfte indem sie Lagerregale zusammen schoben oder sie <\/em><\/span>lagen einfach auf dem Boden und schliefen.

<\/em><\/span>Daniel Stubenvoll arbeitet medien\\u00fcbergreifend in Fotografie, Video und Ins<\/span>tallation. Seine j\\u00fcngsten Arbeiten aus der Serie In ruins (2025) wirken zum Teil <\/span>wie Gem\\u00e4lde. Ihr Bildtr\\u00e4ger besteht aus Jute und Mesh auf Keilrahmen. Die <\/span>Werke werden mit etwas Abstand zur Wand befestigt, so erwecken sie den <\/span>Anschein, im Raum zu schweben. Die wei\\u00dfe Farbe und die minimale Bildspra<\/span>che, changierend zwischen Abstraktion und Gegenst\\u00e4ndlichkeit, unterstreichen <\/span>die entstehende Eleganz und Leichtigkeit. Dass die Bilder dennoch den Charak<\/span>ter einer Installation haben, liegt an ihrer sorgf\\u00e4ltigen Zusammenstellung und <\/span>an den abgrenzenden Elementen, mit denen der K\\u00fcnstler die meisten Werke <\/span>versehen hat. Die Gem\\u00e4lde tragen Markise, Sichtschutz und Untergestell. Bild<\/span>motive sind subtil angedeutete Tore, S\\u00e4ulen oder Fenster. Damit nehmen sie <\/span>\\u2013 wie viele von Daniel Stubenvolls Arbeiten \\u2013 sowohl im Motiv als auch in ihrer <\/span>Form Bezug auf Architekturen.

<\/span>Die Arbeiten reflektieren den \\u201equick fix\\u201c: die Handhabung schnell mit (digita<\/span>len) Hilfsmitteln eine m\\u00f6glichst gute L\\u00f6sung zu finden. Diese aus dem Silicon <\/span>Valley stammende Praxis hat sich l\\u00e4ngst auf die Architektur und den St\\u00e4dtebau <\/span>\\u00fcbertragen \\u2013 getreu dem Motto: Es gibt keine Probleme, sondern nur Heraus<\/span>forderungen, die mit leichten Anpassungen und Verbesserungen gemeistert <\/span>werden. Fehler bleiben so verborgen und das System intakt. In der Serie In <\/span>ruins \\u00fcbermalt Stubenvoll fast alle Arbeiten mit handels\\u00fcblicher Wandfarbe. <\/span>Sie \\u00fcberdeckt den gesamten Bildraum und h\\u00e4lt zugleich wie Klebemittel die <\/span>verschiedenen Materialschichten zusammen: die vorgrundierte Leinwand, Jute, <\/span>Wachspapier und Kunststoffmesh. Als Unterfl\\u00e4che oder Rahmung dient Holz, <\/span>Wellpappe oder ein Guss aus Polymercompound.

<\/span>Daniel Stubenvoll konzipiert seine Arbeiten meist in Serien, die ein Netzwerk <\/span>untereinander bilden \\u2013 jedes neue Werk erh\\u00e4lt durch die vorangegangenen <\/span>eine tiefere Dimension. Die Serie In ruins mithilfe der Erz\\u00e4hlung von WORLF <\/span>gelesen, ergibt eine erschreckende Gegenwartsdiagnose: Die wei\\u00dfe Wandfarbe <\/span>spiegelt den neoliberalen Anstrich unserer Gesellschaft, der sich zunehmend <\/span>mit dem Faschismus verbindet. Der Purismus \\u00fcbert\\u00fcncht die Architektur, ihre <\/span>Geschichte, ihre Symbolik, unsere Kultur \\u2013 und letztlich unseren Sinn. \\u201eIn <\/span>ruins\\u201c our world is becoming \\u201eWORLF\\u201c.

<\/span>Auch die Strassen waren fort. Die Laternen auch. Es schien aber, als ob deren <\/span>Lichtkegel noch sichtbar w\\u00e4ren. Ich ging vorw\\u00e4rts, ich hoffte dass sich die Lage <\/span>dadurch erkl\\u00e4ren w\\u00fcrde. Oder zumindest ver\\u00e4ndern k\\u00f6nnte.

<\/span><\/em>Muriel Meyer

<\/span>Die Zitate stammen aus WORLF (2024), Artist Zine von Daniel Stubenvoll, <\/span>erschienen in einer blauen und roten Edition.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\",\"align\":\"top\",\"row\":0,\"col\":0,\"colspan\":24,\"offsetx\":0,\"offsety\":0,\"spaceabove\":0,\"spacebelow\":0,\"yvel\":1,\"push\":0,\"relid\":2,\"absolute_position\":false},{\"type\":\"text\",\"cont\":\"

Nachbarschaftsromantik

<\/span>SOOT Gallery, 3121 W. Temple St., Ste B, Studio 8, Los Angeles, CA 90026

<\/span>In Daniel Stubenvoll\\u2019s first solo show at SOOT Gallery in Los Angeles (Sep <\/span>25 \\u2013 Oct 25, 2025), things left over from previous times, with destinations and <\/span>destinies unfixed, find themselves \\u201cfixed\\u201d anew. <\/span>In my conversation with him in the afternoon before the show opening, <\/span>Stubenvoll said something that stuck with me for the rest of the evening. He <\/span>said that coming to own anything that is as old as a hundred years or more, <\/span>whether fine art (or fine machinery, like an analog watch) comes to the same <\/span>thing: you become responsible for it. Stubenvoll wrestles with this responsibility. He sees what has lasted, and <\/span>finds ways to incorporate it into what comes next.

<\/span><\/span>Entering the small room in the corner of the gallery, one encounters on the <\/span>walls a series of soldered-brass sculptures inserted into a series of painted <\/span>white canvases. There is an aura of imperfection around these works. Regar<\/span>ding the brass, Stubenvoll has told me twice, three years apart, that he can\\u2019t <\/span>solder too often or his hand will steady beyond his desired standard of skill. <\/span>As a result, he takes a break to let time claw back his muscle memory and then <\/span>sets out to join the spindly brass scraps again. The brass is apparently vintage, <\/span>and a limited resource (a heap of salvaged scraps that sat in his studio; his <\/span>responsibility). Revived in the form of Neighbors, the scraps become vertical <\/span>blinds on windows, stairs to the basement, or air vents in the wall. Neighbors <\/span>(Quick Fix on Sunset Boulevard) sports pink clay filling some crevices like a <\/span>patch. Along with the soldering of the old brass, traces of the artists\\u2019 finger<\/span>prints in the clay make this piece, like any quick fix, a temporal palimpsest. <\/span>The matter slouches on through time with accumulated points of human <\/span>contact.

In Ruins, a series of three small paintings, exhibits a related attach<\/span>ment to the makeshift human intervention. The paintings feature pieces of jute <\/span>\\u201cpasted\\u201d to plastic mesh, and vice versa, using just white wall paint as glue. <\/span>The names of these works (Archway; Broken Gate on Sunset Boulevard) <\/span>seem to suggest, as the exhibition text relates, \\u201cimagery of landscapes faded <\/span>by prolonged exposure to strong sunlight and dry air.\\u201d Yet to me, they evoke <\/span>what is left when something has been stripped away rather suddenly. They are <\/span>like paintings whose paint has been looted, leaving only the primer and swat<\/span>ches of backing material. While these are, by all means, \\u201ccontemporary art,\\u201d I <\/span>imagine they will age well. One day, the strips will begin peeling. Corners will <\/span>turn up; paint fleck off. In ruins (Legend), especially, seems promising. One <\/span>day, its vertical strips will hang off the works and bend into the room where <\/span>the piece is hung. How old will they be, by then?

<\/span>Across from the wall of the exhibition space, alone on the floor in a drawer set <\/span>up as a makeshift display case, is an unassuming watch with a narrow leather <\/span>band and an intriguing face. This watch (also vintage) takes the concepts of <\/span>time and imperfection to a new place, with a startling foot in the door of fa<\/span>shion and luxury lifestyle. From a realm where handiwork is on full display and <\/span>imperfection is material, the watch takes us into a realm where handiwork is <\/span>blended in seamlessly, and imperfection is societal\\u2014even existential. <\/span>As Stubenvoll explains, the dial numbering contains hidden messages. From 9 <\/span>o\\u2019clock and 10 o\\u2019clock, the numbers proceed to 13 and then 12.

<\/span>1 3 1 2. Convert to letters.

<\/span>It is a message found spraypainted in perhaps every major city in America, <\/span>and many cities abroad, of disillusionment with society\\u2019s promises to protect <\/span>its citizens. Now consider the phrase \\u201cIt is five minutes to midnight,\\u201d used by <\/span>the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists to warn the world of impending global <\/span>catastrophe. On Stubenvoll\\u2019s watch, by the time we reach five to midnight, <\/span>we are already at 13 (1 o\\u2019clock); that is, five after. In other words, by the time <\/span>we realize it, the world will already have come to an end, and we will be (or <\/span>already are) in the After times.

<\/span>As a specialist of premodern Japanese literature, I can\\u2019t help but see the <\/span>watch, the titles of the white paintings, and even the crumbling letters of the <\/span>word \\u201cNachbarschafts\\u201d (Neighborhood) in the exhibition title graphic design, <\/span>through the lens of the Buddhist concept of mapp\\u014d (\\u672b\\u6cd5), popular in the <\/span>Heian period (794-1185) of Japanese history. Mapp\\u014d (the latter days of the law) <\/span>was a perspective that saw the world as having already come to the end of the <\/span>Buddhist order, when not only the great teacher Buddha was long dead but his <\/span>students as well, and the teachings had been weakened beyond efficacy, and <\/span>the chance of enlightenment was gone. <\/span>And yet\\u2014people living in these latter days had to figure out how to live nonet<\/span>heless, and new modes of philosophy and practice emerged. I have no doubtthat some of these were reviled as mere quick (and false) fixes in their time. <\/span>Yet they supported what was left of the faith as it slouched forward through <\/span>time. In altering a vintage watch to reflect a sense of hopelessness about the <\/span>current times Stubenvoll captures the predicament with unexpected simplicity: <\/span>the world has ended many times before; yet it (somehow) persists. What are <\/span>we taking into the future?

<\/span>Mary Gilstad

<\/span>(Dr. Mary Gilstad is the Terasaki postdoctoral scholar in Japanese Studies at <\/span>University of California, Los Angeles. She received her PhD in Japanese Litera<\/span>ture from Yale University in May 2025. Her research spans the classical to early <\/span>modern periods of Japanese literature, focusing on the work of anthologizat<\/span>ion in various media. A current project on the collage-like (harimaze) folding <\/span>screen took her to an exhibition of contemporary screens at the Swedish <\/span>embassy in Tokyo in 2022, where she met Daniel. She is excited to continue her <\/span>engagement with contemporary art and artists.)<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\",\"align\":\"top\",\"row\":1,\"col\":0,\"colspan\":24,\"offsetx\":0,\"offsety\":0,\"spaceabove\":0,\"spacebelow\":0,\"yvel\":1,\"push\":0,\"relid\":4,\"absolute_position\":false},{\"type\":\"text\",\"cont\":\"

UP<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\",\"align\":\"middle\",\"row\":2,\"col\":0,\"colspan\":24,\"offsetx\":0,\"offsety\":0,\"spaceabove\":0,\"spacebelow\":0,\"yvel\":1,\"push\":0,\"relid\":6,\"absolute_position\":false,\"frameOverflow\":\"\",\"isscrolltotop\":true}]}","phonegrid":"{\"colCount\":30,\"colGutter\":0.1000000000000000055511151231257827021181583404541015625,\"rowGutters\":[12,12],\"rowGutter\":0.200000000000000011102230246251565404236316680908203125,\"frameMargin\":5,\"leftFrameMargin\":\"5\",\"rightFrameMargin\":\"5\",\"topFrameMargin\":30,\"mus\":{\"colGutterMu\":\"%\",\"rowGutterMu\":\"%\",\"topFrameMu\":\"px\",\"bottomFrameMu\":\"px\",\"frameMu\":\"%\"},\"bottomFrameMargin\":50,\"rowAttrs\":[{\"relid\":1},{\"relid\":3},{\"relid\":5}],\"bgColor\":\"#ffffff\",\"bgImage\":null,\"cont\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"cont\":\"

WORLF

<\/span>Auf einmal stand ich in einer tr\\u00fcben Gegend. Dort hinten, direkt gegen\\u00fcber der <\/em><\/span>Rolltreppe zur U-Bahn war bisher eine grosse weisse Wand mit Werbung f\\u00fcr <\/em><\/span>ein schnelles Auto. Jetzt war dort nichts. Auch hinter mir war nichts, als ob die <\/em><\/span>Rolltreppe die ich gerade an die Oberfl\\u00e4che genommen hatte niemals da war.

<\/em><\/span>Der Protagonist in Daniel Stubenvolls englisch-deutscher Kurzgeschichte <\/span>WORLF (2024) findet sich in einer Welt wieder, die wie eine schlechte Kopie <\/span>der Echten scheint. Zun\\u00e4chst suggeriert die Beschreibung eines Einkaufscen<\/span>ter-Besuchs aus der Ich-Perspektive Normalit\\u00e4t. Der Aufenthalt in einem Caf\\u00e9, <\/span>ausgestattet mit kitschigen Kerzenst\\u00e4ndern, wei\\u00dfen Tischt\\u00fcchern, Leonardog<\/span>l\\u00e4sern und einem fotorealistischen Gem\\u00e4lde mit Goldrahmen, gepaart mit dem <\/span>Schl\\u00fcrfen eines Smoothies, bilden den Inbegriff zeitgen\\u00f6ssischer Mittelm\\u00e4\\u00dfig<\/span>keit. Die Hauptfigur versucht vergebens Kontakt zu den anderen Menschen <\/span>aufzubauen. Es folgt eine Einordnung der Erz\\u00e4hlung durch die Metaperspekti<\/span>ve, die zugleich die Geschichte weitererz\\u00e4hlt und kulturelle Vergleiche zieht. Im <\/span>letzten Teil der Geschichte verschwindet nach und nach die Infrastruktur, dann <\/span>die Architektur und schlie\\u00dflich die gesamte gewohnte Umgebung des Ich-Er<\/span>z\\u00e4hlers \\u2013 samt einiger Menschen:

<\/span>Die wenigen, die noch da waren, schienen nach etwas zu suchen. Einige <\/em><\/span>bauten Notunterk\\u00fcnfte indem sie Lagerregale zusammen schoben oder sie <\/em><\/span>lagen einfach auf dem Boden und schliefen.

<\/em><\/span>Daniel Stubenvoll arbeitet medien\\u00fcbergreifend in Fotografie, Video und Ins<\/span>tallation. Seine j\\u00fcngsten Arbeiten aus der Serie In ruins (2025) wirken zum Teil <\/span>wie Gem\\u00e4lde. Ihr Bildtr\\u00e4ger besteht aus Jute und Mesh auf Keilrahmen. Die <\/span>Werke werden mit etwas Abstand zur Wand befestigt, so erwecken sie den <\/span>Anschein, im Raum zu schweben. Die wei\\u00dfe Farbe und die minimale Bildspra<\/span>che, changierend zwischen Abstraktion und Gegenst\\u00e4ndlichkeit, unterstreichen <\/span>die entstehende Eleganz und Leichtigkeit. Dass die Bilder dennoch den Charak<\/span>ter einer Installation haben, liegt an ihrer sorgf\\u00e4ltigen Zusammenstellung und <\/span>an den abgrenzenden Elementen, mit denen der K\\u00fcnstler die meisten Werke <\/span>versehen hat. Die Gem\\u00e4lde tragen Markise, Sichtschutz und Untergestell. Bild<\/span>motive sind subtil angedeutete Tore, S\\u00e4ulen oder Fenster. Damit nehmen sie <\/span>\\u2013 wie viele von Daniel Stubenvolls Arbeiten \\u2013 sowohl im Motiv als auch in ihrer <\/span>Form Bezug auf Architekturen.

<\/span>Die Arbeiten reflektieren den \\u201equick fix\\u201c: die Handhabung schnell mit (digita<\/span>len) Hilfsmitteln eine m\\u00f6glichst gute L\\u00f6sung zu finden. Diese aus dem Silicon <\/span>Valley stammende Praxis hat sich l\\u00e4ngst auf die Architektur und den St\\u00e4dtebau <\/span>\\u00fcbertragen \\u2013 getreu dem Motto: Es gibt keine Probleme, sondern nur Heraus<\/span>forderungen, die mit leichten Anpassungen und Verbesserungen gemeistert <\/span>werden. Fehler bleiben so verborgen und das System intakt. In der Serie In <\/span>ruins \\u00fcbermalt Stubenvoll fast alle Arbeiten mit handels\\u00fcblicher Wandfarbe. <\/span>Sie \\u00fcberdeckt den gesamten Bildraum und h\\u00e4lt zugleich wie Klebemittel die <\/span>verschiedenen Materialschichten zusammen: die vorgrundierte Leinwand, Jute, <\/span>Wachspapier und Kunststoffmesh. Als Unterfl\\u00e4che oder Rahmung dient Holz, <\/span>Wellpappe oder ein Guss aus Polymercompound.

<\/span>Daniel Stubenvoll konzipiert seine Arbeiten meist in Serien, die ein Netzwerk <\/span>untereinander bilden \\u2013 jedes neue Werk erh\\u00e4lt durch die vorangegangenen <\/span>eine tiefere Dimension. Die Serie In ruins mithilfe der Erz\\u00e4hlung von WORLF <\/span>gelesen, ergibt eine erschreckende Gegenwartsdiagnose: Die wei\\u00dfe Wandfarbe <\/span>spiegelt den neoliberalen Anstrich unserer Gesellschaft, der sich zunehmend <\/span>mit dem Faschismus verbindet. Der Purismus \\u00fcbert\\u00fcncht die Architektur, ihre <\/span>Geschichte, ihre Symbolik, unsere Kultur \\u2013 und letztlich unseren Sinn. \\u201eIn <\/span>ruins\\u201c our world is becoming \\u201eWORLF\\u201c.

<\/span>Auch die Strassen waren fort. Die Laternen auch. Es schien aber, als ob deren <\/span>Lichtkegel noch sichtbar w\\u00e4ren. Ich ging vorw\\u00e4rts, ich hoffte dass sich die Lage <\/span>dadurch erkl\\u00e4ren w\\u00fcrde. Oder zumindest ver\\u00e4ndern k\\u00f6nnte.

<\/span><\/em>Muriel Meyer

<\/span>Die Zitate stammen aus WORLF (2024), Artist Zine von Daniel Stubenvoll, <\/span>erschienen in einer blauen und roten Edition.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\",\"align\":\"top\",\"row\":0,\"col\":0,\"colspan\":24,\"offsetx\":0,\"offsety\":0,\"spaceabove\":0,\"spacebelow\":0,\"yvel\":1,\"push\":0,\"relid\":2,\"absolute_position\":false},{\"type\":\"text\",\"cont\":\"

Nachbarschaftsromantik

<\/span>SOOT Gallery, 3121 W. Temple St., Ste B, Studio 8, Los Angeles, CA 90026

<\/span>In Daniel Stubenvoll\\u2019s first solo show at SOOT Gallery in Los Angeles (Sep <\/span>25 \\u2013 Oct 25, 2025), things left over from previous times, with destinations and <\/span>destinies unfixed, find themselves \\u201cfixed\\u201d anew. <\/span>In my conversation with him in the afternoon before the show opening, <\/span>Stubenvoll said something that stuck with me for the rest of the evening. He <\/span>said that coming to own anything that is as old as a hundred years or more, <\/span>whether fine art (or fine machinery, like an analog watch) comes to the same <\/span>thing: you become responsible for it. Stubenvoll wrestles with this responsibility. He sees what has lasted, and <\/span>finds ways to incorporate it into what comes next.

<\/span><\/span>Entering the small room in the corner of the gallery, one encounters on the <\/span>walls a series of soldered-brass sculptures inserted into a series of painted <\/span>white canvases. There is an aura of imperfection around these works. Regar<\/span>ding the brass, Stubenvoll has told me twice, three years apart, that he can\\u2019t <\/span>solder too often or his hand will steady beyond his desired standard of skill. <\/span>As a result, he takes a break to let time claw back his muscle memory and then <\/span>sets out to join the spindly brass scraps again. The brass is apparently vintage, <\/span>and a limited resource (a heap of salvaged scraps that sat in his studio; his <\/span>responsibility). Revived in the form of Neighbors, the scraps become vertical <\/span>blinds on windows, stairs to the basement, or air vents in the wall. Neighbors <\/span>(Quick Fix on Sunset Boulevard) sports pink clay filling some crevices like a <\/span>patch. Along with the soldering of the old brass, traces of the artists\\u2019 finger<\/span>prints in the clay make this piece, like any quick fix, a temporal palimpsest. <\/span>The matter slouches on through time with accumulated points of human <\/span>contact.

In Ruins, a series of three small paintings, exhibits a related attach<\/span>ment to the makeshift human intervention. The paintings feature pieces of jute <\/span>\\u201cpasted\\u201d to plastic mesh, and vice versa, using just white wall paint as glue. <\/span>The names of these works (Archway; Broken Gate on Sunset Boulevard) <\/span>seem to suggest, as the exhibition text relates, \\u201cimagery of landscapes faded <\/span>by prolonged exposure to strong sunlight and dry air.\\u201d Yet to me, they evoke <\/span>what is left when something has been stripped away rather suddenly. They are <\/span>like paintings whose paint has been looted, leaving only the primer and swat<\/span>ches of backing material. While these are, by all means, \\u201ccontemporary art,\\u201d I <\/span>imagine they will age well. One day, the strips will begin peeling. Corners will <\/span>turn up; paint fleck off. In ruins (Legend), especially, seems promising. One <\/span>day, its vertical strips will hang off the works and bend into the room where <\/span>the piece is hung. How old will they be, by then?

<\/span>Across from the wall of the exhibition space, alone on the floor in a drawer set <\/span>up as a makeshift display case, is an unassuming watch with a narrow leather <\/span>band and an intriguing face. This watch (also vintage) takes the concepts of <\/span>time and imperfection to a new place, with a startling foot in the door of fa<\/span>shion and luxury lifestyle. From a realm where handiwork is on full display and <\/span>imperfection is material, the watch takes us into a realm where handiwork is <\/span>blended in seamlessly, and imperfection is societal\\u2014even existential. <\/span>As Stubenvoll explains, the dial numbering contains hidden messages. From 9 <\/span>o\\u2019clock and 10 o\\u2019clock, the numbers proceed to 13 and then 12.

<\/span>1 3 1 2. Convert to letters.

<\/span>It is a message found spraypainted in perhaps every major city in America, <\/span>and many cities abroad, of disillusionment with society\\u2019s promises to protect <\/span>its citizens. Now consider the phrase \\u201cIt is five minutes to midnight,\\u201d used by <\/span>the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists to warn the world of impending global <\/span>catastrophe. On Stubenvoll\\u2019s watch, by the time we reach five to midnight, <\/span>we are already at 13 (1 o\\u2019clock); that is, five after. In other words, by the time <\/span>we realize it, the world will already have come to an end, and we will be (or <\/span>already are) in the After times.

<\/span>As a specialist of premodern Japanese literature, I can\\u2019t help but see the <\/span>watch, the titles of the white paintings, and even the crumbling letters of the <\/span>word \\u201cNachbarschafts\\u201d (Neighborhood) in the exhibition title graphic design, <\/span>through the lens of the Buddhist concept of mapp\\u014d (\\u672b\\u6cd5), popular in the <\/span>Heian period (794-1185) of Japanese history. Mapp\\u014d (the latter days of the law) <\/span>was a perspective that saw the world as having already come to the end of the <\/span>Buddhist order, when not only the great teacher Buddha was long dead but his <\/span>students as well, and the teachings had been weakened beyond efficacy, and <\/span>the chance of enlightenment was gone. <\/span>And yet\\u2014people living in these latter days had to figure out how to live nonet<\/span>heless, and new modes of philosophy and practice emerged. I have no doubtthat some of these were reviled as mere quick (and false) fixes in their time. <\/span>Yet they supported what was left of the faith as it slouched forward through <\/span>time. In altering a vintage watch to reflect a sense of hopelessness about the <\/span>current times Stubenvoll captures the predicament with unexpected simplicity: <\/span>the world has ended many times before; yet it (somehow) persists. What are <\/span>we taking into the future?

<\/span>Mary Gilstad

<\/span>(Dr. Mary Gilstad is the Terasaki postdoctoral scholar in Japanese Studies at <\/span>University of California, Los Angeles. She received her PhD in Japanese Litera<\/span>ture from Yale University in May 2025. Her research spans the classical to early <\/span>modern periods of Japanese literature, focusing on the work of anthologizat<\/span>ion in various media. A current project on the collage-like (harimaze) folding <\/span>screen took her to an exhibition of contemporary screens at the Swedish <\/span>embassy in Tokyo in 2022, where she met Daniel. She is excited to continue her <\/span>engagement with contemporary art and artists.)<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\",\"align\":\"top\",\"row\":1,\"col\":0,\"colspan\":24,\"offsetx\":0,\"offsety\":0,\"spaceabove\":0,\"spacebelow\":0,\"yvel\":1,\"push\":0,\"relid\":4,\"absolute_position\":false},{\"type\":\"text\",\"cont\":\"

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