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Mike Henderson: Chicken Fingers, 1976–1980

Past exhibition
  • Overview
  • Exhibition Views
  • Selected Works
Mike Henderson: Chicken Fingers, 1976–1980
January 14 - April 1, 2023

Mike Henderson: Chicken Fingers, 1976–1980

Past exhibition
  • Overview
  • Exhibition Views
  • Selected Works
Overview
Mike Henderson: Chicken Fingers, 1976–1980
Haines Gallery proudly presents Mike Henderson: Chicken Fingers, 1976–1980, a solo exhibition by the acclaimed Bay Area artist, filmmaker, and blues musician. Henderson's fifteenth solo exhibition with the gallery presents a selection of rarely seen abstract canvases from his early career. 
 
Born and raised in rural Marshall, Missouri, Mike Henderson (b. 1943) moved to the Bay Area to attend the San Francisco Art Institute in 1965. His early, breakthrough figurative paintings from this period reveal the spirit of protest and social justice in 1960s San Francisco, as well as the vibrant community of artists and friends that would nourish his creativity for decades to come. 
 
Leaving behind the explicitly political, figurative style that had defined the previous decade, by the mid-1970s, Henderson was conjuring ethereal, otherworldly spaces filled with promise, mystery, and hope. Chicken Fingers highlights this important moment in Henderson’s creative evolution, with a suite of mixed-media works on canvas. Named for a key work from this period, the exhibition’s title suggests a slippery world just within our grasp: Shaped, painted, and burnt pieces of canvas, fabric from vintage clothes, and even an old wallet are incorporated into fully resolved constellations in which lunar spheres often float above a distant horizon. A group of corresponding works on paper use architectural forms to evoke interstitial spaces — arched doorways and balustrades opening onto multicolored skies. 
 
Bringing together these works for the first time since their creation, Chicken Fingers offers a revelatory look at an artist at the height of his creative powers, reflecting both Henderson’s personal journey and his place in the culture at large. 
 
Chicken Fingers is one of several unprecedented opportunities to view the work of Mike Henderson in January 2023. That month will also see the opening of his first museum retrospective, Mike Henderson: Before the Fire, 1965–1985 at the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art at UC Davis; the release of his first major monograph, published by UC Press; a conversation by the artist at FOG Design + Art 2023; and a screening of his early experimental short films at The Academy Museum in Los Angeles. 
 
PRESS RELEASE (PDF) | Explore the OVR
Exhibition Views
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Installation view of Mike Henderson: Chicken Fingers, 1976-1980, January 14 - April 1, 2023 at Haines Gallery, San Francisco Photo: Robert Divers Herrick
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Installation view of Mike Henderson: Chicken Fingers, 1976-1980, January 14 - April 1, 2023 at Haines Gallery, San Francisco Photo: Robert Divers Herrick
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Installation view of Mike Henderson: Chicken Fingers, 1976-1980, January 14 - April 1, 2023 at Haines Gallery, San Francisco Photo: Robert Divers Herrick
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Installation view of Mike Henderson: Chicken Fingers, 1976-1980, January 14 - April 1, 2023 at Haines Gallery, San Francisco Photo: Robert Divers Herrick
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Installation view of Mike Henderson: Chicken Fingers, 1976-1980, January 14 - April 1, 2023 at Haines Gallery, San Francisco Photo: Robert Divers Herrick
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Installation view of Mike Henderson: Chicken Fingers, 1976-1980, January 14 - April 1, 2023 at Haines Gallery, San Francisco Photo: Robert Divers Herrick
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Installation view of Mike Henderson: Chicken Fingers, 1976-1980, January 14 - April 1, 2023 at Haines Gallery, San Francisco Photo: Robert Divers Herrick
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Installation view of Mike Henderson: Chicken Fingers, 1976-1980, January 14 - April 1, 2023 at Haines Gallery, San Francisco Photo: Robert Divers Herrick
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Installation view of Mike Henderson: Chicken Fingers, 1976-1980, January 14 - April 1, 2023 at Haines Gallery, San Francisco Photo: Robert Divers Herrick
  • Installation view of Mike Henderson: Chicken Fingers, 1976-1980, January 14 - April 1, 2023 at Haines Gallery, San Francisco
    Photo: Robert Divers Herrick
  • Installation view of Mike Henderson: Chicken Fingers, 1976-1980, January 14 - April 1, 2023 at Haines Gallery, San Francisco
    Photo: Robert Divers Herrick
  • Installation view of Mike Henderson: Chicken Fingers, 1976-1980, January 14 - April 1, 2023 at Haines Gallery, San Francisco
    Photo: Robert Divers Herrick
  • Installation view of Mike Henderson: Chicken Fingers, 1976-1980, January 14 - April 1, 2023 at Haines Gallery, San Francisco
    Photo: Robert Divers Herrick
  • Installation view of Mike Henderson: Chicken Fingers, 1976-1980, January 14 - April 1, 2023 at Haines Gallery, San Francisco
    Photo: Robert Divers Herrick
  • Installation view of Mike Henderson: Chicken Fingers, 1976-1980, January 14 - April 1, 2023 at Haines Gallery, San Francisco
    Photo: Robert Divers Herrick
  • Installation view of Mike Henderson: Chicken Fingers, 1976-1980, January 14 - April 1, 2023 at Haines Gallery, San Francisco
    Photo: Robert Divers Herrick
  • Installation view of Mike Henderson: Chicken Fingers, 1976-1980, January 14 - April 1, 2023 at Haines Gallery, San Francisco
    Photo: Robert Divers Herrick
  • Installation view of Mike Henderson: Chicken Fingers, 1976-1980, January 14 - April 1, 2023 at Haines Gallery, San Francisco
    Photo: Robert Divers Herrick
Installation view of Mike Henderson: Chicken Fingers, 1976-1980, January 14 - April 1, 2023 at Haines Gallery, San Francisco
Photo: Robert Divers Herrick
Selected Works
  • Mike Henderson Chicken Fingers, 1980 Acrylic and mixed media on canvas 73 x 50 inches
    Mike Henderson
    Chicken Fingers, 1980
    Acrylic and mixed media on canvas
    73 x 50 inches
  • Mike Henderson Cleopatra and Champ, 1980 Acrylic and mixed media on canvas 67.25 x 57.5 inches
    Mike Henderson
    Cleopatra and Champ, 1980
    Acrylic and mixed media on canvas
    67.25 x 57.5 inches
    Inquire
    %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EMike%20Henderson%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3ECleopatra%20and%20Champ%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E1980%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EAcrylic%20and%20mixed%20media%20on%20canvas%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E67.25%20x%2057.5%20inches%3C/div%3E
  • Mike Henderson Untitled, 1977 Mixed media on paper 15.5 x 21.25 inches, framed
    Mike Henderson
    Untitled, 1977
    Mixed media on paper
    15.5 x 21.25 inches, framed
    Inquire
    %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EMike%20Henderson%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EUntitled%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E1977%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EMixed%20media%20on%20paper%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E15.5%20x%2021.25%20inches%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Eframed%3C/div%3E
  • Mike Henderson Untitled, 1978 Mixed media on paper 23.5 x 32 inches, framed
    Mike Henderson
    Untitled, 1978
    Mixed media on paper
    23.5 x 32 inches, framed
    Inquire
    %3Cdiv%20class%3D%22artist%22%3EMike%20Henderson%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22title_and_year%22%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_title%22%3EUntitled%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3E%3Cspan%20class%3D%22title_and_year_year%22%3E1978%3C/span%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22medium%22%3EMixed%20media%20on%20paper%3C/div%3E%3Cdiv%20class%3D%22dimensions%22%3E23.5%20x%2032%20inches%3Cspan%20class%3D%22comma%22%3E%2C%20%3C/span%3Eframed%3C/div%3E

Related artist

  • Mike Henderson

    Mike Henderson

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