Mapping identity through trees and texts: Charles Gaines’ new Paris exhibition

Opening on June 10th, 2026, at the Paris gallery of Hauser & Wirth, Ciphering African Acacias and Supreme Court Decisions marks the first Paris exhibition by Charles Gaines. Bringing together new works from his acclaimed Numbers and Trees series and the latest chapter of Manifestos, the presentation continues Gaines’ exploration of perception, meaning, and the systems that shape how we understand the world.

For more than fifty years, artist Charles Gaines has developed a distinctive conceptual practice rooted in rule-based methods that challenge traditional ideas of authorship and interpretation. In Paris, two interconnected bodies of work examine both the natural world and the structures that govern contemporary society.

Artist Charles Gaines and the logic of looking

A highlight of the exhibition is a group of nine new Plexiglas works from Numbers and Trees, a series initiated in 1986. The pieces are based on photographs of acacia trees taken by Gaines in Tanzania in 2023.

Each tree is photographed under controlled conditions before being translated into a numbered grid. Gaines assigns a distinct colour to every tree and breaks each image into individual cells, layering the forms across transparent Plexiglas panels. The resulting works function as both landscapes and visual systems, exposing subtle differences while questioning how perception is shaped.

For this new chapter, Gaines turns his gaze upward through the acacias’ expansive canopies. Painted skies and sweeping colour gestures introduce a fresh sense of air and luminosity, while the precise grid remains constant. The works balance analytical rigor with striking visual poetry, turning ancient trees into reflections on identity, history, and memory.

Music, law, and social history

Alongside the tree works, Gaines presents Manifestos 7 (2026), the newest installment in a series begun in 2008. Developed during a residency at the gallery’s Somerset space, the project combines a musical composition, a two-channel video installation, and five drawings.

The work examines two landmark U.S. Supreme Court rulings: Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) and Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Following a self-defined system, Gaines converts legal texts into musical notation, assigning notes to letters and translating judicial language into sound. The resulting composition uncovers unexpected emotional resonance within historic documents while examining law, race, social justice, and collective memory.

The exhibition underscores Gaines’ remarkable ability to weave mathematics, language, music, and image into works that are intellectually precise yet deeply open to interpretation.

Looking ahead, Gaines will also participate in a group exhibition organized by Rashid Johnson at Hauser & Wirth Menorca in June 2026, alongside Firelei Báez and Cristina Iglesias. A collection of his writings is scheduled for publication by Hauser & Wirth Publishers in spring 2027.