Roksana Pirouzmand's Fragile Clay Sculptures at JOAN and OXY ARTS

Roksana Pirouzmand's dual-site exhibition 'everything was once something else' at JOAN and OXY ARTS in Los Angeles features fragile clay sculptures that erode through visitor interaction. The works, modeled on the artist's own body and her mother's and grandmother's, are mounted on flexible metal poles that cause collisions and gradual deterioration. Pirouzmand, born in Yazd, Iran in 1990 and based in Los Angeles, is the 2025–26 Wanlass Artist in Residence at Occidental College. The exhibition links the two venues: movements at OXY ARTS trigger vibrations and sounds transmitted to JOAN, where sculptures pulse and water seeps. Works include 'Wave' (2026), a cascade of clay hands; 'Horizon' (2026), a suspended figure; 'the land was the sea, the sea was the land' (2025), combining clay and bronze; 'dreaming, sifting, settling' (2025–26), a figure spilling clay dust; and 'spring' (2025–26), a figure expelling water. The exhibition embraces its multisite format, emphasizing interdependence and the impossibility of total viewership.