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29/9/2002

Ezra Shales

Bulova Corporate Center, New York

Cosmic Views of Queens, An Arcade Project

Cosmic Views of Queens, an Arcade Project is Ezra Shales' interactive installation in which a take-out cup of coffee is the origin of the mundane and the fantastic.

Shales' installation plays with the comparison between the decoration printed on standard paper coffee cups - the marble statues of the disk thrower (Myron's Discobolus), and the standing female figures (Karyatids) - and the plaster replicas of the statues on long-term loan to the Queens Museum of Art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art that are installed in the lobby of the Bulova Corporate Center. In addition, Shales incorporates glassmarbles as the symbol of a game and photographic images throughout in his installation which operate as visual and literal puns. In this way, he connects the realm of the Greek mythology beyond time and space, from the printed statues on a paper cup to the plaster replicas on display, to the constellations in the sky, returning to the glass marbles that visitors can play with in this temporary arcade.

The installation first engages visitors with luminous photographs that contain glimpses of both the recognizable and mysterious. A penetrating look reveals that many unintelligible images in fact depict the same objects included in the interactive display - only enlarged and distorted. Marbles, teacups and saucers, and fragments of antique planetary photographs taken by the Prospère Brothers in the 1870s may take a moment to reveal themselves.

The interactive component of the exhibition offers visitors a chance to play old-fashioned arcade games. There is virtually no manual dexterity or sportsmanship involved in these games and no prizes to win - they are absurd. Tossing coffee cup lids; shooting marbles; and deciphering constellations in the photographs: each game deals with the idea of solids and voids, opening up to scrutiny our tendency to see blackness (space) or dots of light (stars) as organizational principles. These simple activities urge visitors to reconfigure for themselves where the line is drawn between sense and nonsense. At the same time, the installation visually addresses the proximity and remoteness of the cosmic world that allude to a romantic notion of the world.

About the Artist
Ezra Shales makes site-generated installations in which art is a collaborative activity. Shales' permanent installation, Measure to Scale (2001) adorns the façade of 92 Allen Street in New York's Lower East Side. If you visit, please bring a marker to inscribe your name and height on the rulers there. Previous public art projects include The Nominal Home (1998) on a leased lot in the Far Rockaways, A Common Denominator (1998-9) at the Eldridge Street Synagogue, and 'Til Evaporation Do Us Part (2000) on Tenth Avenue and 21st Street. His work has been shown in group exhibitions Following Mr. Fluxus, Art in General, New York, NY (2001), Our Perceptions/Urban Reality, Artists Space, New York, NY (2001), and Reflections on Space, the Amelie A. Wallace Gallery at SUNY Old Westbury, NY (2001). He has been a fellow at Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY (1998); and SmackMellon Studios, Brooklyn, NY (2001). Shales received his B.A. from Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT (1991) and an M.F.A. from Hunter College, New York, NY (1996), but mostly has learned his trade by looking at objects at flea markets and other idiosyncratic displays. He is currently working towards a Ph.D. in Design History at the Bard Graduate Center. Ezra Shales was born in 1969 in New York City where he currently resides.

Opening reception: September 30, 5-8pm

For more information, contact (718) 592 9700 ext. 147

At Bulova Corporate Center, 75-20 Astoria Blvd, Jackson Heights, Queens

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