FOR-SITE is honored to present Judith Selby Lang & Richard Lang At The Guardhouse, a new installation inside The Guardhouse at Fort Mason Center For Arts & Culture on view from June 24 to August 31, 2023. The installation can be viewed through the Guardhouse windows at any time.

After nearly 25 years of collaboration, local artists Judith Selby Lang and Richard Lang excavated their two-ton collection of beach-found plastic objects to showcase a sampling of “all of it” piled high so that we might see our consumer choices reflected in their materials. This assorted thermoplastic junk-treasure dating back to as early as 1948 washed in from the Pacific Ocean onto one beach, a 0.6-mile stretch of the Point Reyes National Seashore, 50 miles north of San Francisco. The Langs collect this sea debris and organize the objects by size, color, and functional use.

At The Guardhouse, playfully installed for us to find amid the toothbrushes and flip-flops — and enlarged in six new photographic prints — is a highlighted selection of toy soldiers and other action figures. For the artists, these weathered, often broken children’s toys, which are played with by many spanning generations, serve to evoke nostalgia while recalling the military history of Fort Mason, ultimately signaling concerns about an environmental battle of epic proportions.

Employing plastic as both material and subject, Judith Selby Lang and Richard Lang At The Guardhouse beckons us to confront almost 25 years worth of collected junk. With evidence of this material continuing to amass not just in coastal deposits, but inside our bodies, and in the geological record of our time on planet Earth, looking through the windows of The Guardhouse might help us reflect on “all of it” and ask ourselves — can we do with less?

The Langs’ project is the second installation from FOR-SITE’s The Guardhouse Program, which serves three artists annually, directly supporting the year-round creation, presentation, and understanding of art about place.

The installation is free and open to the public, viewable through the windows 24 hours per day. The Guardhouse is located at the main entrance to Fort Mason Center For Arts & Culture. The free opening reception took place on Saturday, June 24, 2023, 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. A free closing reception happens on Sunday, August 27, 2023, 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. The closing event features a drop-in art activity. Free Admission (reserve a spot).

FOR-SITE is offering Curator Walkthroughs by appointment on Tuesdays and Thursdays through the final day of the exhibit on August 31, 2023. Please email info@FOR-SITE.org to schedule an appointment.

Free Admission

ABOUT THE ARTISTS. For nearly 25 years, collaborating artists Judith Selby Lang and Richard Lang have walked together along Kehoe Beach at Point Reyes National Seashore in Northern California collecting plastic objects such as toothbrushes, empty containers, toy figurines, and the like, all washed in from the Pacific Ocean. The artists transform this roughly two-ton collection of thermoplastic junk into sculptures and installations that matter-of-factly showcase, with minimal artifice, the material as it is. Their artwork has been featured in more than 70 exhibitions presented by galleries, museums, and venues including the Oakland Museum of California, California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s Artist Windows, the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, CA,  Stanford University’s Cummings Gallery in Palo Alto, CA, and the United Nations Environment Programme’s World Environment Day.

Their work is collected nationally and internationally and has appeared in venues spanning the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia to the 155 rooms of the Cavallo Point Lodge in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The California Coastal Commission translated commissioned images into a series of promotional posters, placards, and bus signs, and their projects have been featured on the PBS Newshour, The Travel Channel, Wowow Tokyo, and The Today Show.

About FOR-SITE. Established in 2003, FOR-SITE is dedicated to the creation, understanding, and presentation of art about place. For more information, visit: FOR-SITE.org.

About The Guardhouse Program. The Guardhouse Program is designed to serve three artists annually, each of whom will activate the former military guard station with a temporary art installation responding to the natural and cultural significance of the site and its surrounding area.

The Guardhouse Program launched through an open call for proposals in 2023.

Judith Selby Lang & Richard Lang At The Guardhouse is presented by FOR-SITE in partnership with Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture.

The Guardhouse Program is made possible thanks to generous support from the ARB Fund.