I- BE AREA
I- BE AREA
Elizabeth Dee Gallery is proud to announce the debut
exhibition of new work by Ryan Trecartin, featuring the international
premier of his new movie I-BE AREA. The exhibition space will
transform and relate themes of the new movie by presenting it in two
ways. The front gallery will function as a psychological space-a relic
of Jaime's area (an important setting in the film)-combining material
situations and new sculptural installations with the feature length
piece presented on a monitor. The back gallery will serve as a
screening room for its projection. There will be a reception for the
artist on September 8th from 6:00pm to 8:00pm at the
gallery, located at 545 West 20th Street. In conjunction
with the exhibition, a special one night only theater screening of
Trecartin's I-BE AREA will be held at midnight at Anthology
Film Archives, 32 Second Avenue.
Multi-layered, multi-faceted, and exploding with a riotous
assortment of characters and visual effects, I-BE AREA relates
the intertwined stories of a series of new characters, played by
Trecartin and a cast of dozens in a visually and verbally complex
narrative. Existential quandaries abound as the characters deal with
such themes as cloning, adoption, self-mediation, life-style options,
virtual identities and the perplexities and possibilities of life in
this digi-cyber age. The centerpiece of the movie is a literal and
metaphorical space called Jaime's Area, which functions as a kind of
bedroom-classroom-drama-department-blog-space-internet-community-site
where the characters come to realize their own creative potential and
sense of empowerment.
Hailed by critics as "intuitive.rigorous and sophisticated,
grounded in his expert editing and inordinate gift for constructing
complex avant-garde narratives,"[1] Trecartin's process is founded upon a fluid yet
orchestrated interaction between the artist and a group of
collaborators-his friends, family, fellow artists, and various
acquaintances he meets on the internet. These collaborators create and
respond to a scripted variety of characters, themes, phrases,
settings, and even vocal accents provided by Trecartin, who directs,
stars in, and videotapes the resulting scenarios. Filmic segments then
serve as raw material that the artist meticulously arranges and edits
by digitally manipulating each frame and by intercutting and layering
an assortment of synthetic imagery. The final work articulates a
next-generation vision of contemporary culture and collaboration that
collapses video, internet, television, performance, digital technology
and sound into one unique manifestation, culminating in an entirely
new mode of the medium.
This is Ryan Trecartin's first solo show in New York and his
third exhibition in partnership with Elizabeth Dee. His seminal
video A Family Finds Entertainment was the breakout sensation
of the 2006 Whitney Biennial, Day for Night, curated by
Chrissie Iles and Philippe Vergne, and The 2005 Underground Film
Festival. It has been presented at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis;
the Getty Center, Los Angeles; Schindler House, Los Angeles, curated
by Doug Aitken; and The Moore Space, Miami, curated by Silvia Karman
Cubina, among other venues internationally. Current and upcoming
exhibitions include USA Today, Works for the Saatchi
Collection, Hermitage Museum, Moscow (catalog), Between Two
Deaths, ZKM, Karlsruhe (catalog) and Lustwarande
08-Wanderland, Tilburg, The Netherlands.
[1] Dennis Cooper, "First Take, Dennis Cooper on Ryan Trecartin,"
Artforum, January, 2006.
Opening Reception: Saturday September 8, 6-8 pm
Premier Screening of I-BE AREA: September 8 at
Midnight
Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Avenue, New York, NY
10003
Elizabeth Dee Gallery
545 West 20th Street New York, NY 10011
Regular hours: Tuesday - Saturday 10-6pm