This February, conceptual art pioneer Charles Gaines displays his latest series, Numbers and Trees, The Tanzania Baobabs, at Hauser & Wirth West Hollywood. Following a prominent 2023–24 museum survey and celebrated public commissions, Gaines returns to Los Angeles with his most intricate iteration yet of his Numbers and Trees series. This series was originally conceived in 1987.
The exhibition will run from the 19th of February until the 24th of May, 2025.
Inspired by photographs of baobab trees taken during a trip to Tanzania in 2023, nine large-scale triptychs are featured in the exhibition, along with watercolor diptychs. In Gaines’ ongoing exploration of the relationship between perception and meaning, these trees, known as the “tree of life,” serve as a focal point. Using trees as a motif since the 1970s, Gaines has transformed them into geometric forms that challenge traditional notions of artistic subjectivity.
Gaines uses a sophisticated system of rules and procedures to assign colors and numbers to each baobab tree in this new series. As a result, a series of Plexiglas works are layered with intricate visual details. In some pieces, the back panel shows an enlarged detail of the tree crown, breaking down the image into individual cells, inviting viewers to question their perceptions.