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12/10/2000

Jason Rhoades

David Zwirner, New York

Perfect World.

This will be the artist's fourth solo show at David Zwirner, following his 1998 collaboration with Paul McCarthy entitled, Propposition. Jason Rhoades calls his new exhibition of perfect world and aligns his new work with a project that he completed throughout 1999 and which culminated in the exhibition Perfect World, shown at the Deichtorhallen in Hamburg from November 10, 1999 to March 5, 2000.

Perfect World, arguably one of the largest sculptures ever built, filled the 2,100 square meter (22,000 sq. foot) Deichtorhallen with a single massive structure. This structure, a scaffolding made of highly polished aluminum split the 16.5 meter (52 foot) verticality of the Deichtorhallen into an above and below. The above, a wooden platform with gaps and holes, was reserved exclusively for the artist.

Here he worked throughout the duration of the exhibition on a large collage made out of digitally printed photographs of his father's vegetable garden. The below was open to the gallery viewers, who were granted occasional glimpses through the scaffold to the platform above. In Perfect World the artist created an elaborate modular system of materials, actions and mythologies, that when seen together in a 'live choreography' create a moment when the creative act is seen as absolute and continuous.

For of perfect world, Jason Rhoades reuses the polished aluminum tubes and other Perfect World materials to create a ''Sutter's Mill". John A. Sutter (1803-1880) was the quintessential American pioneer. Arriving in America from Switzerland, he went west and set up a mill to produce building materials for the homesteaders. Soon Sutter found gold in the tail-race of the mill and single-handedly started the California Gold Rush-an event of great importance for the settling of the west, and one which the artist sees as a great American sculpture.

Subsequently the gold discovery led to the deconstruction of the mill and the loss of Sutter's fortune and empire. During the exhibition, Sutter's Mill will be shown in the two main galleries. However, it will be in a constant state of flux. Every other day, one mill will be deconstructed while the other one will be constructed. A single assistant, according to a set choreography, will execute the constant building and rebuilding. The theme of motion and continuity will be underlined by a group of framed flat screen monitors, "photographs" that are actually hard drive image banks, feeding the gallery viewer with an almost endless stream of slowly-changing images.

The images presented on these "photographs" show the production of perfect world and the erection of Sutter's Mill as reenacted by the artist and family members in Northern California. Whereas Perfect World takes the idea of his sculpture to an extreme, via its scale, of perfect world becomes a metaphor for sculpture itself as the work constantly rebuilds itself. The figure of Sutter and the way his commercial endeavor was changed from wood to gold and back into nothing by mere chance is an analogy for the creative process.

The artist is trying to see a glimpse of the "golden moment" during the act of construction and/or deconstruction. For him, "Sutter's Mill acts as a metaphor for this idea where an accident can change the direction and ultimate point where we arrive." As with all works by Jason Rhoades, layers of meaning are piled upon each other to create a continuous narrative that is both literal and philosophical.

The catalogue Perfect World will be available at the gallery.

Hours:
the gallery is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday, from 10 AM to 6 PM only during scheduled exhibitions.

David Zwirner - 43 Greene St. (between Grand and Broome) - New York, NY 10013 - Tel: 2129669074 - Fax: 2129664952

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