Joshua Hagler, Golgotha, 2008

Frey Norris Gallery is pleased to present our debut solo exhibition for Bay Area artist Joshua Hagler. The 72 virgins of the title will populate a series of 14 paintings and receive varied treatment through two installations in a variety of materials. The dialogue between the three dimensional and two dimensional works engages with fetishes around purity, ritual cleansing and the cult of the virgin as it has manifested in cultures throughout history and into the present.

Hagler's artwork has exhibited in galleries in London, Toronto, New York, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Santa Rosa and the Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito. Hagler was a finalist for the 2007 Tournesol Award for Bay Area artists. He is the recipient of the Wildgift Movement Grant, which awarded the artist full financial support to produce the exhibition 72 Virgins to Die For. In the spring of 2010, Hagler will receive his European debut solo exhibition, at Galerie Raphael in Frankfurt, Germany.

A 20 page catalogue is available with essay by Ari Messer.