The CCA Wattis Institute explores rest as a political and imaginative space in 8 Hours of Rest: SoiL Thornton
The exhibition is the second show in the Wattis’ yearlong research dedicated to the topic of labor
SoiL Thornton, pink, blue, white, 2024. Archival inkjet print, Phosphorescent Green (glow in the dark) acrylic (which has the ability to absorb and store natural and artificial light. When the light source is removed (i.e.: when the lights are turned off or the painted object is taken into a dark area), a bright, greenish glow is emitted for up to 15 minutes. The glow steadily diminishes as the stored light energy is released), and acrylic Gel Topcoats w/UVLS (thick acrylic gel mediums containing Ultra Violet Light Filters and Stabilizers (UVLS) to protect materials from fading and deterioration caused by exposure to UV radiation) on canvas. 114 x 56 inches (290 x 142 cm). Courtesy of the artist and Maxwell Graham, New York.
San Francisco, CA—January 7, 2026—CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts presents 8 Hours of Rest: SoiL Thornton, on view from January 20 to March 7, 2026, as the second exhibition in its research series focused on labor. In 8 Hours of Rest, SoiL Thornton examines rest not as retreat or inactivity, but as a condition shaped by power, access, and imagination.
This year, the Wattis reimagines its On our Minds research series around an evolving idea rather than a single artist. Across three exhibitions—8 Hours of Work, 8 Hours of Rest, and 8 Hours of What You Will—the program brings together contemporary art, archival materials, public programs, and collective inquiry to consider how labor structures time, bodies, and social life in the Bay Area and beyond.
8 Hours of Rest: SoiL Thornton
8 Hours of Rest: SoiL Thornton is the artist’s first solo institutional exhibition on the west coast. The exhibition assembles new and existing works that continue Thornton’s sustained exploration of rest as an intimate, political, and speculative state. 8 Hours of Rest transforms the experience of entering the Wattis: an inflatable sculpture obstructs the front entrance, its depth and height calibrated to the exhibition curator’s body, redirecting visitors through an alternative point of access and altering the customary flow of movement through the gallery.
Through this spatial intervention and Thornton’s use of materials and visual language, the exhibition invites viewers to reflect on notions of value, decay, residue, death, and calmness. Meaning remains purposefully unstable in Thornton’s installation, is contingent, and open to multiplicity and interpretation. Like a dream or a slip of the tongue, Thornton’s works engage the subconscious, creating a space where rest emerges not as escape, but as a site of possibility and resistance.
The opening reception for 8 Hours of Rest: SoiL Thornton is on January 20, 2026, from 5 to 7 pm.
While 8 Hours of Rest is on view, the Wattis will host public programs that offer opportunities to gather, read, and reflect on labor:
- January 29: Film screening and conversation between Josh Kline and Daisy Nam
- March 7: Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste and Evicshen perform at The Lab
- March 10: Performance by Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste at The Wattis
- March 19: Reading by Carol Becker from her new book, A Time of Radical Imagining: California 1968–1978
8 Hours of Rest: SoiL Thornton is organized by Director and Chief Curator Daisy Nam and Associate Curator Diego Villalobos.
The Wattis Institute is generously supported by Mary and Harold Zlot, Teiger Foundation, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, and San Francisco Grants for the Arts; the Wattis Leadership Circle: Jonathan Gans, Abigail Turin, and Katie and Matt Paige; and the Curators’ Forum members. Phyllis C. Wattis was the generous founding patron.
About SoiL Thornton
SoiL Thornton (b. 1990) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. They graduated from Cooper Union in 2012. Recent solo exhibitions include Secession, Vienna; Kunstverein Bielefeld, Germany; and Albright–Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo. Thornton has participated in group exhibitions at institutions including the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University; Fri Art – Kunsthalle Fribourg; SculptureCenter, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art Busan; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Thornton’s work is held in the permanent collections of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery; Birmingham Museum of Art; Carnegie Museum of Art; Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO); Dallas Museum of Art; Hammer Museum; Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University; Rubell Family Collection; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; University of Chicago Booth School of Business; and the Whitney Museum of American Art; among others.
About CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts
Founded in 1998, the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts at the California College of the Arts (CCA) is a nonprofit exhibition venue and research institute focused on contemporary art and ideas. The Wattis commissions and showcases new work by emerging and established artists from around the world. Additionally, an entire year is dedicated to exploring the work of a single artist or idea, informing exhibitions, public programs, and publications.
The Wattis galleries and gardens are part of CCA’s expanded campus designed by world-renowned architecture firm Studio Gang and completed in 2024. The newly expanded campus adds 82,300 square feet of space to teach, make, and present art in a continuous indoor-outdoor environment.