2nd Generation Cosmic Being at Gallery 120

Cody Henrichs exhibition • Now through Monday, February 26, 2024

2nd Generation Cosmic Being, an exhibition by Cody Henrichs, is showing now through Monday, February 26, 2024, at Gallery 120. Art shows and exhibitions are hosted at the Gallery 120 brick-and-mortar location in the atrium of the Fine Arts building on the Inver Hills Community College campus in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota.

Cody Henrichs artist bio

Cody Henrichs was born and raised in southwestern Minnesota. He received his bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University in St. Paul in Fine Art and Biblical Studies. In 2011, Henrichs was accepted into the Rhode Island School of Design MFA program for sculpture as the Presidential Scholar. He received his MFA in Sculpture in 2013.

While in graduate school, Henrichs received a national endowment for the arts grant for a large-scale public installation in Providence Rhode Island. Upon graduation, Henrichs signed with a New York gallery and was awarded an Outstanding Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture award from the International Sculpture Center.

In 2014, Henrichs and his family moved back to Minnesota, and he took a position at the University of Minnesota. During the next five years, Henrichs started a nonprofit arts exhibition and residency program (Coffey Contemporary Arts) ran and operated Lord Grizzly Gallery, taught high school and college courses, and continued an active art practice.

In July 2019, Henrichs was hired at the Washington Pavilion as the head curator and director of collections and exhibitions for The Visual Arts Center (an AAM accredited institution). During his time at the Pavilion, he curated nearly 150 exhibitions.

He has exhibited work in New York, Portland, Oregon, Boston, Providence, New Orleans, Chicago, Minneapolis, Trenton, and all over Minnesota, Iowa, and South Dakota. Henrichs currently works as a professor of sculpture and art history at the University of Sioux Falls and he is the Executive Director at Minnesota West. He and his wife, Nicole, still reside in Luverne, Minnesota, with their children, Alexis 23, Elijah 16, and Noel, 10, and two dogs, Yoko and Pecos Bill.

Education

M.F.A. in Sculpture, Rhode Island School of Design
M.B.A. in Leadership, Minnesota State University Mankato
B.A. in Fine Art, Art History, Education, Northwestern University Saint Paul

2nd Generation Cosmic Being gallery

Cody Henrichs artist statement

I thought I would have something worked out by now.
Perhaps a clear and concise answer to what you are looking at.
Something that connects you to a concept that you read somewhere or heard on a podcast.
My works are not mere artistic objects; they are mediums for the unexplainable.
Or more plainly I am searching for something miraculous.

— My sculptures serve as both physical and conceptual frameworks, offering a sanctuary amidst the chaos, a space where the subtle poetry of existence gains clarity. This journey begins the moment we form ideas, categorizing everything into definable segments, yet my goal is to transcend these confines.

Rule 1: Defy Gravity, reframe reality.

It recently came to attention that we left the Lunar Module on the moon.
This act, a blend of practical necessity and symbolic gesture, is a dichotomy of human progress: the simultaneous capacity for monumental achievements and the acceptance of their transient impact.
This seems to be both beautiful and horrible.
The final Frontier and our first gesture is destruction.
Apollo, the ancient Greek god of music, light, and knowledge, and the Apollo space missions, a monumental series of NASA-led endeavors that marked humanity’s first steps on the moon.

— Time traveler…historian…and scientist.

Rule 2: Kill your darlings.

In disrupting the linear narrative, I try to fold time and ritual into a circular continuum.
Think independently, remain curious, and nurture my ideas and fixations.
Explore identity, religion, mysticism, and history but also to challenge and reshape them.

— You are going to leave this place better than you found it, or at least try.

Rule 3: Don’t waste things.

I grapple with the implications of art in the face of potential human extinction.
My work is a meditation on our role, acknowledging our contribution to both creation and destruction. It is a pursuit to reconcile our impact while still harboring hope in the profound human need for art.
A lullaby to our spirit in the face of the impermanence of life.

WHAT: 2nd Generation Cosmic Being

WHO: Cody Henrichs

WHEN: Now thru February 26, 2024

WHERE: Gallery 120

Fine Arts Building
Inver Hills Community College
2500 80th Street East
Inver Grove Heights, MN 55076
General: 651-450-3000
Gallery 120: 651-450-3101

Learn more about 2nd Generation Cosmic Being at Gallery 120 by contacting:

Janell Hammer
Gallery 120 Coordinator
Art Department 2D Art CLA
651-450-3101
Gallery 120 on Facebook
Gallery 120 Online

Learn more about the A.F.A. in Art at Inver Hills by contacting: