Art needs an operation
dal 25/6/2004 al 30/7/2004
Segnalato da
25/6/2004
Art needs an operation
Casey Kaplan Gallery, New York
A group show that presents new work by five emerging artists from Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Hamburg. The invited group of artists represents a selection of contemporary work that will be exhibited for the first time in New York.
For our summer exhibition, Casey Kaplan is pleased to announce, ART NEEDS AN
OPERATION, a group show that presents new work by five emerging artists from
Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Hamburg. The invited group of artists represents a
selection of contemporary work that will be exhibited for the first time in
New York.
Are You Meaning Company creates a floor installation of vibrantly-colored
miniature architectural models that have been appropriated from actual homes
in Japan. Adhering to the artist's pursuit to create artistic works that are
Å’oriented to action,' the arrangement of houses is contingent upon the
gallery space. In this way, the installation becomes an interactive piece
that invites the viewer to inhabit the intimate social space rendered by the
display of houses. The artist lives and works in Tokyo.
Chris Beas presents a series of water-colored drawings depicting mushroom
clouds of atomic bomb detonations from test sites in the Pacific Atolls. The
images are at once explosive and dramatic as the glowing embers from the
uranium clouds collide into the dark sky. In a separate work, the artist
creates a plaster scale-model of the Cinerama Dome, a circular auditorium
built in 1963 in Los Angeles. Although adhering to the architectural
structure of the real-life geodesic structure, the artist subtly modifies
it, applying the mushroom cloud motif atop of the dome. Both works, as
images of transformation and metamorphosis, reference the artist¹s hometown
of Los Angeles‹a city notarized as being the most destroyed in print and
film. The artist lives and works in Los Angeles.
Emilie Halpern renders sentimental and ethereal themes of love, longing, and
relationships with extreme complexity. In White Nights, a thin white paper
cone hangs from the ceiling with monofilament and doubles as a telescope.
Stars have been silk-screened with phosphorescent ink on the inside of the
diaphanous cone so that in the daylight, a soft, glowing endless space can
be seen by the viewer, as though he were standing in a cloud facing towards
the sun. Conversely, in the darkness, the viewer is able to see millions of
stars, evoking the wonder of a planetarium. Through a similar juxtaposition
and visual paradox, in Stars To Rain, Everything Is The Same, a two-part
sculpture gleams with intensity from afar; however, up close, its reflective
surface proves deceptive, and as elusive as the stars it appears to emulate.
In a third work, the artist presents a dreamlike photograph of a young woman
on the beach kissing the morning sun. The artist lives and works in Los
Angeles.
Annette Kelm presents five photographic images-three photographs from her
Fireworks series alongside two additional photographs. The bright sparks of
the fireworks shift and swirl in a hypnotic pattern, lending an almost
sculptural quality to the images which is offset by the quietude of the two
still-life photographs. The small scale of the five works and their detailed
content illustrate the artist's ability to transform seemingly subtle and
banal subjects into beautiful fragments of a story - parts of a whole - in
which the ordinary becomes extraordinary. The artist lives and works in
Hamburg.
Mark Roeder creates a site-specific installation comprised of a standard
collapsible work-table, a traditional ziggurat-shaped podium, and a small
step-ladder‹its design inspired by an episode of the sci-fi classic, The
Twillight Zone. Hanging on the backside of the podium is a digital
reproduction of an Anarchist flag used in the U.S. Labor Movement, an emblem
of activism and revolution. Culled from popular culture, politics, and
history, the artist forms an alternative system that pushes the boundaries
of sculpture. The work is supplemented by two found-image photographs,
combining seemingly unrelated forms into an altogether original and unknown
system that may mean something or nothing at all. The artist lives and works
in Los Angeles.
ART NEEDS AN OPERATION brings together young artists involved in a renewal
of the seemingly somnambulant state of contemporary art. The title of the
show is taken from the Dada Manifesto 1918 written in Zurich by the Romanian
poet, Tristsan Tzara. The manifesto aimed to challenge the conventional
concept of artistic production, skill, and aesthetic value in the early
twentieth century. The iconoclastic vision of Dada embodies the spirit of
this show in its adherence to not only challenge the boundaries of
contemporary art and representation, but also to examine the ongoing
relationship between the works displayed and the gallery space. By using
different structures, methods of presentation, and a variety of artistic
media, the participating artists individually reflect a shared resistance to
the role of the contemporary art gallery as a passive reflector of mass
culture, in favor of one that encourages an uncoerced exchange between the
gallery space, the viewer, and the works themselves.
OPENING: SATURDAY, JUNE 26, 6 Â 8 PM
EXHIBITION DATES: JUNE 26Â JULY 30, 2004
SUMMER GALLERY HOURS: MONDAY Â FRIDAY, 10 Â 6 PM
FOR FURTHER EXHIBITION INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT THE GALLERY AT:
TEL. 212 645 7335 FAX. 212 645 7835
NEXT EXHIBITION: JOHANNES WOHNSEIFER SEPTEMBER 10- OCTOBER 9,
2004
AMY ADLER, JEFF BURTON, NATHAN CARTER, MILES COOLIDGE, JASON DODGE, TRISHA
DONNELLY, CEAL FLOYER, PAMELA FRASER, ANNA GASKELL, LIAM GILLICK, ANNIKA VON
HAUSSWOLFF, CARSTEN HÖLLER, JONATHAN MONK, DIEGO PERRONE, SIMON STARLING,
ANNIKA STRÖM, JOHANNES WOHNSEIFER
Casey Kaplan
416 West 14th Street
New York