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9/7/2003

The Trespassers

Lyons Wier, New York

curated by Bill Previdi

The Trespassers brings together the work of 7 emerging artists whose projects require that they infringe upon the personal and private spaces of others. Sometimes the invasion is consensual, but more often than not the acts occur without permission and without the knowledge of the subject. The exhibition includes photography, video, and sculpture that combine conceptual practice with documentary style.

Maria Alos targets the major institutions and cannons of the art world and surreptitiously breaks down the traditional ways an artist has their work shown and seen. Her project is simple: whether invited to the home of a major collector or walking in to a museum, she courageously hangs her work (tiny self-portrait dolls) on the wall alongside some of the greatest names in art history. She then mails an official letter acknowledging them of her 'charitable' gift. In the majority of cases, and as you might expect, the gift is denied and returned with an accompanying letter. The letters tend to be a mix of horror on the part of the institution and hilarity on the part of the artist whose only aim is to elicit that very response. Her projects always necessitate the use of kindness and hospitality as a form of art to gain access into the hallowed and guarded spaces of the art world.

Sean Bluechel slips inside a morgue and exchanges his own decorative bed sheets for the ones that cover the corpses.

Maxi Cohen has been watching her neighbors for years. From her Soho loft she can see directly into their apartment through two adjacent windows. Without their knowledge or permission, she has been photographing them at nighttime. Her pictures are a semi diarist journal of this couples' life: their feuds, their lovemaking, their banal day-to-day activities and their devastating downward spirals. She doesn't know them, has never met them and doesn't want to. The space between she and them is as much physical as it is psychological, and she is adamant about keeping it unemotional, disassociated and removed.

Brock Enright is a kidnapper. He is paid by the very wealthy to set up incredibly surreal and sometimes very violent consensual kidnappings. Each is documented via video and results in a series of sculptures that are leftover "equipment" from each event. The videos are incredibly raw, emotional and sometimes difficult to watch. They test the endurance and boundaries of both the subject as well as the viewer and call into question consensual and contractual agreements.

Lilah Freedland's sprawling wall installation" Pictures of Myself in other People's Houses, 1999" is a grid of 64 Polaroid photographs of the artist hiding and playing with objects in and from her friends' homes. Creepy and irreverent, they portray the artist as a potential threat and troublemaker.

Coke O'Neal captures the interiors of people¹s medicine cabinets, prints them life-size and displays them without permission. The resulting photographs, with all of their false space and sharp detail, are wonderful trompe l'oeils as well as telling portraits. The act itself is taboo and its product incredibly psychological.

Bridget O'Neil has been documenting West Coast estate sales. These aren't the kind of estate sales that are managed by Sothebys or Christies. Instead, they are the necessary liquidations required by creditors to pay off debts accrued by the deceased. Her project pictures these homes as tragic sites of disrespect and transgression. Closets are dumped out and picked over. Every pot, pan and plate covers every square inch of a kitchen. An enormous pile of dirty stuffed animals sits in a pyramid on shag carpeting. And in the margins of the photos, O'Neil captures the arms, legs, shoes and hands of the greedy lot that comes to pore over the last holdings of the deceased's dignity.

Artists Reception: Thursday, July 10, 6-9PM

Gallery hours: Tues - Sat 11-6

Forthcoming exhibition September 4th: Patti Loper

lyonswiergallery
511 W 25 St #205 NYC 10001
212.242.6220 f:212.242.6238

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