Three exhibitions
dal 8/2/2013 al 29/3/2013
Segnalato da
8/2/2013
Three exhibitions
Connersmith., Washington
In The Network Schatz uses three video cameras to record his interviews with 89 policy makers. In New Work Kelley alters forms and fabricates structures to re-contextualize found objects. Coble&Riley fused video, performance and land art to create Watermarks.
Lincoln Schatz -The Network
CONNERSMITH is very pleased to announce Lincoln Schatz’s first solo exhibition with the gallery. Innovative
and uniquely American, “The Network” presents a composite portrait of power in Washington, D.C. in new
generative digital art, photographs, and installation.
Using three video cameras, Schatz recorded his interviews with 89 policy makers and cultural operatives to
create “The Network,” a digital conversation which was recently acquired by The National Portrait Gallery.
Drawing inspiration from Richard Avedon’s political portrait photographs, Schatz updates an art historical
continuum that began with Raphael’s sixteenth-century painting of Baldassare Castiglione as an eloquent
embodiment of the Urbino court.
Schatz blends artistry with technology, surpassing the Renaissance ideal of
portraiture as a “speaking likeness” by giving full expression to the individual stories of his high profile sitters,
who include Steve Case, Vernon Jordon, Rocco Landesman, Sandra Day O’Connor, Nancy Pelosi, John Podesta,
and Eric Cantor.
After translating the raw video footage into analog format, the artist wrote digital code that accesses metatagged topics in all 89 interviews so as to present constantly changing sequences of sitters and concepts.
Transitioning seamlessly from one speaker to another, the work continually generates a provocative nexus of
contemporary ideas. In the gallery installation, Schatz brings the original context of these performative
conversations to life, creating an immersive experience for his audience, whose personal perspectives will
generate new relational meanings of the art.
Schatz’s works are in the collections of The National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC;
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL; San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA; and Fundación Privada Sorigué,
Lleida, Spain.
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Benjamin Kelley - New work
CONNERSMITH. is pleased to present Benjamin Kelley’s first solo exhibition with the gallery. In this new body of
works the artist alters forms and fabricates structures to re-contextualize found objects, including a prison
shank and a 1971 Chrysler Newport auto body.
As Kelley deploys the historical and emotional content of his
materials in a critique of industrial America, he engages with the theme of violence expressed in Francisco
Goya’s 19th-century print series, “Disasters of War.” Kelley’s sculptures evoke the timelessness of still
moments immediately preceding or following violent encounters.
As he explains, “When confronted by an
inescapable threat, the ancient autonomic system of both humans and animals responds with immobilization. A
state of such paralysis transcends evolutionary perspectives leaving evidence in gray.”
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Coble / Riley - Watermarks
CONNERSMITH. is also pleased to present Coble/Riley Projects’ second exhibition with the gallery. Since 2009,
Mary Coble (USA/DK) and Blithe Riley (USA) have collaborated on performance-based videos that explore
tensions between site-specificity, gesture, narrative, and endurance.
In February 2012, Coble/Riley Projects was
invited to participate in a month-long Iaspis Residency in Umeå, Sweden. Working on a frozen stretch of sea,
Coble and Riley fused video, performance and land art to create “Watermarks.” Dense snow conceals the frozen
seascape underneath, acting as a canvas on which the artists make marks and draw. Opaqueness and
transparency arise from the simple actions of an unknown figure, who repeatedly uncovers layers of snow, ice,
and water to reveal surfaces with varied properties of reflection.
Opening: Saturday, February 9th from 6 - 8pm.
Connersmith.
1358 Florida Ave., Washington
Hours: Wednesday - Saturday 11-6pm and by appointment
Free Admission