Material Histories: Ruth Hardinger at Mana Contemporary

The title of Mana Contemporary’s survey of New York–based artist Ruth Hardinger, “Transcending Fields,” suggests elevation or sublimation. And yet, while the exhibition’s low lights, pools of shadow, and pilgrimage-like structure establish a quietly spiritual sense of ascent, the fifty-year practice it represents belongs much more to the profane world of dirt and gravity.
One obvious through line unites Hardinger’s varied works in plaster, concrete, cardboard,