Drawing from his study of Kabbalah, Channing Hansen’s Cosmogony Geometry uses the language and motifs of his algorithmic knitted paintings to explore the journey of the of the self as a mirror of the creative act. 

A labyrinth is returning to the self made visible. It isn’t just a maze you walk. It is a cosmogony you inhabit.

It is the spiral of creation: As you move inward, closer to the center, it is returning to the point before expansion and fragmentation (the Big Bang). 

From the earthly reality of the entrance to the nothingness beyond comprehension outside space & time at the center. Walking inward mirrors the self retracting from distraction. Walking outward mirrors returning to the earthly reality with illumination. The journey is the healing. 

When you reach the center, you find stillness. Ego thins. The self becomes porous. It is a quiet. And then you walk back out, carrying that quiet.

A labyrinth is a paradoxical teacher. It says:

You are already on the path.

Your detours are not detours.

The true center is hidden in the turning.

It is geometry as devotion.

For Felix LA 2026, we are pleased to present Cosmogony Geometry, 2026, an installation custom-made for Room 1238 at the Roosevelt Hotel, alongside other works by the artist.  Conceived as “the spiral of creation,” the installation traces a journey inward—"from earthly reality at its threshold toward a still, unknowable center that evokes the moment before expansion and fragmentation, a return to the point preceding the Big Bang.” Works from the artist’s Cosmic Fabric series will also be on display in which Hansen uses NASA's 3D modeling data of cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR), (the residual heat of creation left over from the Big Bang,) to create his designs.

Channing Hansen’s artistic process is fundamentally rooted in his materials, as he immerses himself in the complex journey of transforming raw fleece into knitted yarn. He processes and blends fibers, creates custom dyes, and twists strands of wool into yarn that form the basis of his “paintings.” For Hansen, fiber achieves what paint cannot: it introduces physicality and multi-dimensionality to his compositions, allowing color and pattern to exist as both image and object. His commitment to process—meticulous, tactile, and time-intensive—reflects a deep engagement with material as both medium and meaning.

Alongside this hands-on labor, Hansen employs algorithms to generate complex digital compositions drawn from sources such as geometric topology, the writings of Alan Turing, the color black, and his own DNA. These systems enable what he describes as “purposeful randomness,” with the computer determining pattern, color, and dimension. While technology might seem to diverge from the natural world, Hansen views the convergence of science and art as a truthful lens onto both, producing a more intricate and layered understanding of the universe. Using natural materials manipulated entirely by hand, he explores the humanistic side of scientific inquiry—an approach informed by his Fluxus background and early participation in his grandfather Al Hansen’s Happenings.

Channing Hansen (b. 1972, Los Angeles) is included in the collections of the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Art Institute of Chicago; the Frederick R. Weisman Foundation, Los Angeles; Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach; the Rachofsky Collection, Dallas; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the Ahmanson Foundation, Los Angeles, among others.

Hansen lives and works in Hudson, New York.