"at hand". Hamilton’s exhibition is comprised of a site-specific installation in the main gallery, which was conceived on her first visit to the new gallery a year ago, before the space was renovated. Also on exhibit in gallery two are a group of new photographic works from an ongoing series made using a small pin hole camera designed by the artist which she places in her mouth.
Sean Kelly Gallery is pleased to announce an
exhibition of new works by Ann Hamilton. This
is Hamilton’s first solo exhibition in New York
since she represented the United States at the
48th Venice Biennale in 1999. The opening of
the exhibition will take place on Saturday
October 27th from 6pm until 8pm. The artist
will be present.
Hamilton’s exhibition is comprised of a
site-specific installation in the main gallery,
which was conceived on her first visit to the
new gallery a year ago, before the space was
renovated. Also on exhibit in gallery two are a
group of new photographic works from an
ongoing series made using a small pin hole
camera designed by the artist which she places
in her mouth. These fascinating works pursue
and extend Hamilton’s preoccupation with the
mouth, the source of communication and
language, and strongly evoke the performative
aspect of the making of the photographs. They
also make powerful allusions to the spectral
presence and absence of "sitters" whom have
been a consistent preoccupation in Hamilton’s
installations over the last twenty years. In the
project room a video, untitled
(lumen-hand/ring), depicts someone using a
mechanical wooden hand with which they
attempt to grasp an elusive ring floating in
front of them.
Ann Hamilton was born in Lima, Ohio in 1956
and received a Masters of Fine Arts from the
Yale School of Art in 1985. She has created
major museum installations for The Museum of
Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Hirshhorn
Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington
D.C.; Dia Center for the Arts, New York; The
Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate Gallery,
Liverpool, England; the Institute of
Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; The Art
Institute of Chicago; Wexner Center for the
Visual Art, Columbus, Ohio; The Stedelijk Van
Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands;
Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; Le
Musee d’art Contemporain, Lyon, France; and
Miami Art Museum, Miami, Florida.
Hamilton’s work is included in many major public
collections worldwide including: Solomon R.
Guggenheim Museum, New York; The
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Miami
Art Museum, Miami, Florida; Musée d'Art
Contemporain, Lyon, France; Musée d'Art
Contemporain de Montréal, Montréal, Canada;
The Museum of Modern Art, New York; National
Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia; Tate
Gallery, London, England; Whitney Museum of
American Art, New York. Commissioned projects
have included Mess Hall, Headlands Center for
the Arts, Sausalito, California; San Francisco
Public Library Commission, The Arts Commission
of San Francisco, San Francisco, California;
Pittsburgh River Front Park, The Pittsburgh
Cultural Trust, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania;
Teardrop Park, Battery Park City Commission,
New York, New York.
In 1991 Ann Hamilton represented the United
States at the Sao Paulo Bienal. She has
received Guggenheim, Louis Comfort Tiffany
and National Endowment for the Arts
Fellowships and a Wexner Center for the Arts
Residency. In 1993, she received the
prestigious John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation award. She was the recipient of
the Aldrich Award for 1997 and was the
subject of a solo exhibition at the Aldrich
Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield,
Connecticut in 1999.
Hamilton has forthcoming museum projects in
America, Ireland, Sweden and Japan. She was
selected to work with Dutch architect Rem
Koolhas on a large public library project in
Seattle. This spring Harry N. Abrams, Inc. will
publish a comprehensive monograph on
Hamilton by Joan Simon.
Please contact Amy Gotzler at the gallery
(212.239.1181) or e-mail for more
information.
photo: Ann Hamilton, Untitled, 2000. (detail) Black and white photograph. 16 x 16 inches framed. Edition of 15.
Sean Kelly Gallery 528 West 29th Street NYC 10001
Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 11am until 6pm.