Month: April 2007

Conditions of Display

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I would like to apologize for not posting this before Saturday. I am participating in this exhibition, Conditions of Display, curated by Gean Moreno.

Conditions of Display

Invitation with a view of the Moore space.

Conditions of Display

Invitation with a view of Locust Projects.

PRESS RELEASE

In their first collaborative project, The Moore Space and Locust Projects are pleased to present the two-venue exhibition Conditions of Display, curated by Gean Moreno. This exhibition will open to the public at both locations on SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 2007 FROM 7-10PM and will include the following 23 artists: Shahin Afrassiabi, Tobias Buche, Gardar Einar Einarsson, Eugenio Espinoza, Andrea Fraser, Gaylen Gerber, Adler Guerrier, Swetlana Heger, Gareth James, Sergej Jensen, Michael Krebber, Michaela Meise, Paulina Olowska, Elena Pankova, Sean Paul, Kristen Pieroth, Seth Price, Blake Rayne, Michael S. Riedel, Josh Smith, Christopher Williams, Johannes Wohnseifer, and Kevin Zucker.

In recent years there has been a renewed interest among younger artists to produce work that rescues some of the critical gestures of past generations. Conditions of Display sets out to showcase and explore the meaning of this refocusing on display strategies, presentational contexts, and the myriad ways in which artworks are framed and distributed. Stemming from the preoccupations of early conceptual artists that first turned toward a rigorous investigation of site, the concerns of these younger artists engage not only the immediate physical locale where the work is exhibited but the systems of distribution and display in which they function. Beyond this, the exhibition will explore how the critical gestures fare in our contemporary socio-cultural situation.

The work of five artists that first emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s—Andrea Fraser, Christopher Williams, Michael Krebber, Eugenio Espinoza and Gaylen Geber—made theirs the tradition of institutional critique and context-specific production. Against these, the work of the younger artists in Conditions of Display will be presented. Relying on different media—from digital videos to banners to paintings—these younger artists have revived certain critical and self-reflexive gestures, renewing an interrogation of site and the systems that frame the art object while remaining keenly aware of the socio-cultural situation in which the function.

Along with pre-existing objects, a number of the artists will be producing projects specifically for this exhibition. Gaylen Gerber will participate with a new Backdrop painting made specifically for The Moore Space. Berlin-based artist Tobias Buche will build a new, large-scaled display unit. Shahin Afrassiabi has shot a new video that focuses on educational spaces. Miami-based artists Adler Guerrier and Eugenio Espinoza will both make new work. Guerrier’s will involve, among other things, a psycho-geography of the increasingly-gentrified neighborhood of Wynwood and Espinoza will be rehabilitating part of the installation that he produced for Locust Projects in 2005. Sean Paul and Michael S Riedel are both working on context-specific reactions to the sites in which this exhibition will take place. Gardar Einar Einarsson and Blake Rayne will also be participating with new work.

This exhibition runs through the end of June at both locations. The Moore Space is a non-profit art space in the Design District in Miami. Founded in 2001, its mission is to present international contemporary art forms. It will achieve this through an experimental program of cross-disciplinary exhibitions, performances, artists and curators residencies and public programs which reflect the state of contemporary art today: new forms, new voices and new thought. The Moore Space is located at 4040 NE 2nd Avenue, 2nd floor in the Design District.

Locust Projects is an alternative, not for profit, Miami based exhibition space dedicated to providing contemporary visual artists the freedom to experiment with new ideas and methods without the pressures of gallery sales or other limitations of conventional exhibition spaces. Artists are encouraged to create site-specific installations as an extension of their representative work; Locust Projects offers them a vibrant Miami experience to develop their ideas and methods. Locust Projects is committed to offering an approachable and inviting venue for the Miami and international art community to experience the work and meet the artist. Locust Projects is located at 105 NW 23rd Street in Wynwood.

My Backyard

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Adler Guerrier, Niko Lomashvili, Koka Ramishvili and Michael Stickrod

April 5 – May 5, 2007

Newman Popiashvili Gallery is pleased to present a group exhibition with work by Adler Guerrier, Niko Lomashvili, Koka Ramishvili and Michael Stickrod. My Backyard comprises works that address the notion of conflict that no one would want to have in his or her own backyard – “not in my backyard!” Sharing a site of production, these works were all filmed or photographed at the artists’ homes.

The exhibition is proud to showcase the work of two Georgian artists: Koka Ramishvili and Niko Lomashvili.

War From My Window is a set a twelve black-and-white photos shot from Koka Ramishvili’s window during the twelve-day civil war in Tbilisi, Georgia in December 1991. In these photographs, one finds a wintry cityscape and smoke from bombings subtly captured from within the landscape and through the natural frame of a window. The anonymity of this landscape and the relevance of the subject to images of various wars happening simultaneously in distant places underscore the ongoing relevancy of this sixteen-year-old series. Koka Ramishvili lives and works in Geneva, Switzerland, and, most recently, his work was shown at Post Soviet Photography at the Tate Modern in London and at the Moscow Biennale.

Niko Lomashvili, also Georgian, creates series of digital prints on paper over which he then draws with a pencil, thus mimicking the look of Soviet-era classical illustration art. His series Number of Shots, also taken during the civil war in Tbilisi, Georgia in 1991-92, depict beautiful young girls (some of them in dancers’ tutus) with guns in their hands and a wall with bullet marks on them. Number of Shots simultaneously shock and attract the viewer drawn to their beauty and startled by the traces of their violence. These powerful images were featured prominently in “”After the Wall: Art and culture in post-Communist Europe” traveling exhibition that originated at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm in 1999.

Haitian born and Miami based artist Adler Guerrier groups together color photographs in order to map out his nocturnal wanderings through deserted downtown Miami. These compelling trajectories of cityscapes, night skies and the lonely artist before a high-walled fence invite reflection on racial solitude within the confining spaces of urban America. His art follows the Taoist axiom: “You can see the whole universe from your window.” Guerrier simultaneously indulges in and demystifies the stereotype of the flâneur as he renegotiates how to imagine that Baudelairian wandering dandy. Adler Guerrier’s work was included in 2001 Freestyle exhibition at the Studio Museum in Harlem as well as in 10 Floridians at the Miami Art Central, among others.

Michael Stickrod is a recent graduate of Yale University School of Art. In his eleven-minute video After the War, the artist travels to his parents’ backyard to witness and record his father’s experience during the Vietnam War. Once again, a 35-year-old story retold to a son resonates uncannily with today’s world events.

For further information or visuals, please contact the gallery.

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday 11am – 6pm.

504 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011 // T. 212.274.9166 F. 917.464.3734

Optic Nerve

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Jason Hedges, “hardcore epicurean, master mixologist, novist sommelier, ” posted this on myspace. I could not find it on MoCA‘s website.

CALL TO ARTISTS:
MOCA SEEKING FILM AND VIDEO SUBMISSIONS
FOR UPCOMING OPTIC NERVE IX SHOWCASE

Deadline: June 22, 2007
Screening: July 28, 2207

(North Miami) – The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) is seeking film and video submissions for the ninth annual Optic Nerve, the museum’s popular film and video showcase featuring the work of emerging South Florida artists and filmmakers.
Rules: Submissions must be on VHS or DVD, no more than 6 minutes in length, contain original material and has been made within the last 2 years. All applicants must include the artist’s resume, contact information, a brief description of the work, a biographical statement, price of work and number of edition. Submissions must also include a $10 entry fee for MOCA members, $20 for non-members, payable in check or money order to Museum of Contemporary Art. Entries are limited to two submissions per person. A separate entry fee applies to each submission. Films will be selected by a jury of film and art professionals, and will be screened at MOCA during Optic Nerve on Saturday, July 28, 2007 at 7PM. One of the films will be purchased for MOCA’s Permanent Collection.

Deadline: Submissions must be postmarked no later than June 22, 2007. Only those submissions accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope will be returned.
All artists will be notified early July via mail if their work has or has not been selected for the July 28th screening.

Optic Nerve is sponsored by Starbucks Coffee Company.

“Optic Nerve has become a wonderful way to discover new South Florida artists. It has also inspired artists to create new works for submission to the jury,” said MOCA Executive Director Bonnie Clearwater.