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books
books
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$66.00
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Summary:
''Lost Days, Endless Nights'' tells a history from below—an account of the lives of the forgotten and dispossessed of Los Angeles: the unemployed, the precariously employed, the evicted, the alienated, the unhoused, the anxious, the exhausted. Through an analysis of abandoned archival works, experimental films, and other projects, Andrew Witt offers an expansive account(...)
$66.00
(available in store)
Summary:
''Lost Days, Endless Nights'' tells a history from below—an account of the lives of the forgotten and dispossessed of Los Angeles: the unemployed, the precariously employed, the evicted, the alienated, the unhoused, the anxious, the exhausted. Through an analysis of abandoned archival works, experimental films, and other projects, Andrew Witt offers an expansive account(...)
Title:
Lost days, endless nights: Photography and film from Los Angeles
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Summary:
''Lost Days, Endless Nights'' tells a history from below—an account of the lives of the forgotten and dispossessed of Los Angeles: the unemployed, the precariously employed, the evicted, the alienated, the unhoused, the anxious, the exhausted. Through an analysis of abandoned archival works, experimental films, and other projects, Andrew Witt offers an expansive account of the artists who have lived or worked in Los Angeles, delving into the region's history and geography, highlighting its racial, gender, and class conflicts. Presented as a series of nine case studies, Witt explores how artists as diverse as Agnès Varda, Dana Lixenberg, Allan Sekula, Catherine Opie, John Divola, Gregory Halpern, Paul Sepuya, and Guadalupe Rosales have reimagined and reshaped our understanding of contemporary Los Angeles. The book features portraits of those who struggle and attempt to get by in the city: dock workers, students, bus riders, petty criminals, office workers, immigrants, queer and trans activists. Set against the landscape of economic turmoil and environmental crises that shadowed the 1970s, Witt highlights the urgent need for a historical perspective of cultural retrieval and counternarrative. Extending into the present, ''Lost Days, Endless Nights'' advocates for an approach that actively embraces the works and projects that have been overlooked and evicted from the historical imaginary
Lost days, endless nights: Photography and film from Los Angeles
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$66.00
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Summary:
''Lost Days, Endless Nights'' tells a history from below—an account of the lives of the forgotten and dispossessed of Los Angeles: the unemployed, the precariously employed, the evicted, the alienated, the unhoused, the anxious, the exhausted. Through an analysis of abandoned archival works, experimental films, and other projects, Andrew Witt offers an expansive account of the artists who have lived or worked in Los Angeles, delving into the region's history and geography, highlighting its racial, gender, and class conflicts. Presented as a series of nine case studies, Witt explores how artists as diverse as Agnès Varda, Dana Lixenberg, Allan Sekula, Catherine Opie, John Divola, Gregory Halpern, Paul Sepuya, and Guadalupe Rosales have reimagined and reshaped our understanding of contemporary Los Angeles. The book features portraits of those who struggle and attempt to get by in the city: dock workers, students, bus riders, petty criminals, office workers, immigrants, queer and trans activists. Set against the landscape of economic turmoil and environmental crises that shadowed the 1970s, Witt highlights the urgent need for a historical perspective of cultural retrieval and counternarrative. Extending into the present, ''Lost Days, Endless Nights'' advocates for an approach that actively embraces the works and projects that have been overlooked and evicted from the historical imaginary
Form:
books
books
Publication:
December 2024
December 2024
Subject:
Architecture and Film, Set Design
Architecture and Film, Set Design
Form:
books
books
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$104.00
(available to order)
Summary:
Take as a starting point the cover of this book; Anthony Hernandez’s wonderful photograph of square, colourful ceramic tiles could be almost anything you might imagine it to be. A Mondrian-like painting, a random pattern, a city grid, or perhaps the work of an anonymous tile setter, brightening up the facade of a government building in South Central Los Angeles. With the(...)
$104.00
(available to order)
Summary:
Take as a starting point the cover of this book; Anthony Hernandez’s wonderful photograph of square, colourful ceramic tiles could be almost anything you might imagine it to be. A Mondrian-like painting, a random pattern, a city grid, or perhaps the work of an anonymous tile setter, brightening up the facade of a government building in South Central Los Angeles. With the(...)
Subject:
Photography monographs
Photography monographs
Publication:
December 2002, Tucson
December 2002, Tucson
Title:
Anthony Hernandez : waiting for Los Angeles
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$104.00
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Take as a starting point the cover of this book; Anthony Hernandez’s wonderful photograph of square, colourful ceramic tiles could be almost anything you might imagine it to be. A Mondrian-like painting, a random pattern, a city grid, or perhaps the work of an anonymous tile setter, brightening up the facade of a government building in South Central Los Angeles. With the passage of time, these vibrant squares have been lost beneath a coat of anti-graffiti paint. Anthony Hernandez is a photographer for whom waiting has long been a theme, with his bus stop pictures in the late 1970s, and his fishing photographs in the 1980s. Hernandez’s vision is both abstract and documentary, and there is a pattern to his work in every sense of that word – whether he is focusing on an empty waiting room, a phone hanging in a booth, or random scribbles etched on a sheet of glass. Hernandez skillfully draws attention to the simple geometric beauty that can be found in even the most utilitarian fence, wall, or window. There is not a soul in sight, but there is a strong sense that someone has been here, and there is enough to grip the attention until, perhaps, they return. With an essay by photographer, writer and critic Allan Sekula.
Anthony Hernandez : waiting for Los Angeles
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$104.00
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Summary:
Take as a starting point the cover of this book; Anthony Hernandez’s wonderful photograph of square, colourful ceramic tiles could be almost anything you might imagine it to be. A Mondrian-like painting, a random pattern, a city grid, or perhaps the work of an anonymous tile setter, brightening up the facade of a government building in South Central Los Angeles. With the passage of time, these vibrant squares have been lost beneath a coat of anti-graffiti paint. Anthony Hernandez is a photographer for whom waiting has long been a theme, with his bus stop pictures in the late 1970s, and his fishing photographs in the 1980s. Hernandez’s vision is both abstract and documentary, and there is a pattern to his work in every sense of that word – whether he is focusing on an empty waiting room, a phone hanging in a booth, or random scribbles etched on a sheet of glass. Hernandez skillfully draws attention to the simple geometric beauty that can be found in even the most utilitarian fence, wall, or window. There is not a soul in sight, but there is a strong sense that someone has been here, and there is enough to grip the attention until, perhaps, they return. With an essay by photographer, writer and critic Allan Sekula.
Form:
books
books
Publication:
December 2002, Tucson
December 2002, Tucson
Subject:
Photography monographs
Photography monographs
Form:
books
books
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$77.00
(available to order)
Summary:
Inspired by Chekhov's short stories--and by his own contagious joy in the book form--photographer Paul Graham has created A Shimmer of Possibility, comprised of 12 individual books, each a photographic short story of everyday life. Some are simple and linear--a man smokes a cigarette while he waits for a bus in Las Vegas, or the camera tracks an autumn walk in Boston.(...)
$77.00
(available to order)
Summary:
Inspired by Chekhov's short stories--and by his own contagious joy in the book form--photographer Paul Graham has created A Shimmer of Possibility, comprised of 12 individual books, each a photographic short story of everyday life. Some are simple and linear--a man smokes a cigarette while he waits for a bus in Las Vegas, or the camera tracks an autumn walk in Boston.(...)
Title:
Paul Graham: a shimmer of possibility
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$77.00
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Summary:
Inspired by Chekhov's short stories--and by his own contagious joy in the book form--photographer Paul Graham has created A Shimmer of Possibility, comprised of 12 individual books, each a photographic short story of everyday life. Some are simple and linear--a man smokes a cigarette while he waits for a bus in Las Vegas, or the camera tracks an autumn walk in Boston. Some entwine two, three or four scenes--while a couple carry their shopping home in Texas, a small child dances with a plastic bag in a garden. Some watch a quiet narrative break unexpectedly into a sublime moment--as a man cuts the grass in Pittsburgh it begins to rain, until the low sun breaks through and illuminates each drop. Graham's filmic haikus shun any forceful summation or tidy packaging. Instead, they create the impression of life flowing around and past us while we stand and stare, and make it hard not to share the artist's quiet astonishment with its beauty and grace. The 12 books gathered here are identical in trim size, but vary in length from just a single photograph to 60 pages of images made at one street corner. Paul Graham's work has been widely exhibited and published for 25 years, most recently in the book American Night.
Paul Graham: a shimmer of possibility
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$77.00
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Summary:
Inspired by Chekhov's short stories--and by his own contagious joy in the book form--photographer Paul Graham has created A Shimmer of Possibility, comprised of 12 individual books, each a photographic short story of everyday life. Some are simple and linear--a man smokes a cigarette while he waits for a bus in Las Vegas, or the camera tracks an autumn walk in Boston. Some entwine two, three or four scenes--while a couple carry their shopping home in Texas, a small child dances with a plastic bag in a garden. Some watch a quiet narrative break unexpectedly into a sublime moment--as a man cuts the grass in Pittsburgh it begins to rain, until the low sun breaks through and illuminates each drop. Graham's filmic haikus shun any forceful summation or tidy packaging. Instead, they create the impression of life flowing around and past us while we stand and stare, and make it hard not to share the artist's quiet astonishment with its beauty and grace. The 12 books gathered here are identical in trim size, but vary in length from just a single photograph to 60 pages of images made at one street corner. Paul Graham's work has been widely exhibited and published for 25 years, most recently in the book American Night.
Form:
books
books
Publication:
January 2009
January 2009
Subject:
Photography monographs
Photography monographs
Form:
books
books
Title:
Boring postcards
Boring postcards
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$14.95
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Summary:
Martin Parr is a key figure in the world of photography and contemporary art. Some accuse him of cruelty, but many more appreciate the wit and irony with which he tackles such subjects as bad taste, food, the tourist, shopping and the foibles of the British. Parr has been collecting postcards for twenty years, and here is the cream of his collection – his boring(...)
$14.95
(available to order)
Summary:
Martin Parr is a key figure in the world of photography and contemporary art. Some accuse him of cruelty, but many more appreciate the wit and irony with which he tackles such subjects as bad taste, food, the tourist, shopping and the foibles of the British. Parr has been collecting postcards for twenty years, and here is the cream of his collection – his boring(...)
Title:
Boring postcards
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$14.95
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Summary:
Martin Parr is a key figure in the world of photography and contemporary art. Some accuse him of cruelty, but many more appreciate the wit and irony with which he tackles such subjects as bad taste, food, the tourist, shopping and the foibles of the British. Parr has been collecting postcards for twenty years, and here is the cream of his collection – his boring postcards. With no introduction or commentary of any kind, Parr’s boring postcards are reproduced straight: they are exactly what they say they are, namely boring picture postcards showing boring photographs of boring places … presumably for boring people to buy to send to their boring friends. All of them are shot in Britain, taking us on a boring tour of its motorways, ring roads, traffic interchanges, bus stations, pedestrian precincts, factories, housing estates, airports, caravan sites, convalescent homes and shopping centres. Some attempt to idealize their subjects, only to fail dismally. Others lack any apparent purpose or interest … but the resultant collection of photographic images is wholly compelling. Boring Postcards is multi-layered: a commentary on British architecture, social life and identity, a record of a folk photography which is today being appropriated by the most fashionable photographers (including Parr), an exercise in sublime minimalism … and, above all, a richly comic photographic entertainment
Boring postcards
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$14.95
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Summary:
Martin Parr is a key figure in the world of photography and contemporary art. Some accuse him of cruelty, but many more appreciate the wit and irony with which he tackles such subjects as bad taste, food, the tourist, shopping and the foibles of the British. Parr has been collecting postcards for twenty years, and here is the cream of his collection – his boring postcards. With no introduction or commentary of any kind, Parr’s boring postcards are reproduced straight: they are exactly what they say they are, namely boring picture postcards showing boring photographs of boring places … presumably for boring people to buy to send to their boring friends. All of them are shot in Britain, taking us on a boring tour of its motorways, ring roads, traffic interchanges, bus stations, pedestrian precincts, factories, housing estates, airports, caravan sites, convalescent homes and shopping centres. Some attempt to idealize their subjects, only to fail dismally. Others lack any apparent purpose or interest … but the resultant collection of photographic images is wholly compelling. Boring Postcards is multi-layered: a commentary on British architecture, social life and identity, a record of a folk photography which is today being appropriated by the most fashionable photographers (including Parr), an exercise in sublime minimalism … and, above all, a richly comic photographic entertainment
Form:
books
books
Publication:
February 2004, London
February 2004, London
Subject:
Theory of Photography
Theory of Photography
Form:
books
books
Title:
Overlook : exploring the internal fringes of America with the Center for land use interpretation
Overlook : exploring the internal fringes of America with the Center for land use interpretation
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$42.00
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Summary:
The Center for land use interpretation is a research-based educational organization that produces public programs about the built landscape of the United States from its sites in Los Angeles, Utah and the Mojave desert, with an upstate New York location opening in 2006. The Center’s aim is to increase and diffuse information about how the nation’s lands are apportioned,(...)
$42.00
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Summary:
The Center for land use interpretation is a research-based educational organization that produces public programs about the built landscape of the United States from its sites in Los Angeles, Utah and the Mojave desert, with an upstate New York location opening in 2006. The Center’s aim is to increase and diffuse information about how the nation’s lands are apportioned,(...)
Title:
Overlook : exploring the internal fringes of America with the Center for land use interpretation
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$42.00
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Summary:
The Center for land use interpretation is a research-based educational organization that produces public programs about the built landscape of the United States from its sites in Los Angeles, Utah and the Mojave desert, with an upstate New York location opening in 2006. The Center’s aim is to increase and diffuse information about how the nation’s lands are apportioned, utilized and perceived. Recent examples of their work include a two-day "Tour of the monuments of the great American void" by bus and the exhibit "Immersed remains: towns submerged in America". This book takes readers on a tour through the strangely unfamiliar land that Americans live in, demonstrating that we can understand ourselves by examining the clues on display all around us, often clearly visible but ignored. Each chapter explores a different topic, from an in-depth look at Ohio ("the most all-American state"); through scale shifts in model landscapes, exemplified in the three largest hydraulic models in the world; and law-enforcement training environments that "simulate" public space. Readers can dive into the hidden and enchanting world of show caves, where America is on display underground; and come up into the Great Basin, a zone covering most of Nevada, and portions of Utah, California, Oregon, Idaho and Mexico, whose network of watersheds has no outlet to the ocean. Following lines and edges, through cities, suburbs, small towns and wide-open spaces, the Center guides us upstream, toward the heart of another America - the same, but different.
Overlook : exploring the internal fringes of America with the Center for land use interpretation
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Price:
$42.00
(available to order)
Summary:
The Center for land use interpretation is a research-based educational organization that produces public programs about the built landscape of the United States from its sites in Los Angeles, Utah and the Mojave desert, with an upstate New York location opening in 2006. The Center’s aim is to increase and diffuse information about how the nation’s lands are apportioned, utilized and perceived. Recent examples of their work include a two-day "Tour of the monuments of the great American void" by bus and the exhibit "Immersed remains: towns submerged in America". This book takes readers on a tour through the strangely unfamiliar land that Americans live in, demonstrating that we can understand ourselves by examining the clues on display all around us, often clearly visible but ignored. Each chapter explores a different topic, from an in-depth look at Ohio ("the most all-American state"); through scale shifts in model landscapes, exemplified in the three largest hydraulic models in the world; and law-enforcement training environments that "simulate" public space. Readers can dive into the hidden and enchanting world of show caves, where America is on display underground; and come up into the Great Basin, a zone covering most of Nevada, and portions of Utah, California, Oregon, Idaho and Mexico, whose network of watersheds has no outlet to the ocean. Following lines and edges, through cities, suburbs, small towns and wide-open spaces, the Center guides us upstream, toward the heart of another America - the same, but different.
Form:
books
books
Publication:
June 2006, New York
June 2006, New York
Subject:
Land Art
Land Art
Form:
books
books
Title:
Phyllis Ma: Special nothing
Phyllis Ma: Special nothing
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$65.00
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Summary:
In a supermarket in Berlin, wandering through aisle after aisle of processed meats, the artist Phyllis Ma conceived of Special Nothing, a collection of travel photos that take the form of still lifes. To Ma, ''special nothings'' are those everyday objects that, on the right day, or in the right moment, are sources of pure delight: a very hairy flower; a block of head(...)
$65.00
(available to order)
Summary:
In a supermarket in Berlin, wandering through aisle after aisle of processed meats, the artist Phyllis Ma conceived of Special Nothing, a collection of travel photos that take the form of still lifes. To Ma, ''special nothings'' are those everyday objects that, on the right day, or in the right moment, are sources of pure delight: a very hairy flower; a block of head(...)
Title:
Phyllis Ma: Special nothing
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$65.00
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Summary:
In a supermarket in Berlin, wandering through aisle after aisle of processed meats, the artist Phyllis Ma conceived of Special Nothing, a collection of travel photos that take the form of still lifes. To Ma, ''special nothings'' are those everyday objects that, on the right day, or in the right moment, are sources of pure delight: a very hairy flower; a block of head cheese the size and shape of an iPhone; a gherkin that looks especially perverse. If you pay attention, you can find these special nothings in your home or on your block, but we tend to be more attuned to them when we’re in an unfamiliar place. In a new country, the most mundane sights and tasks are often fascinating, difficult, and strange: doing laundry, boarding a bus, buying groceries. But it’s in supermarkets, with their promise of familiarity — the same bright overhead lighting, neat aisles, and row of checkout counters can be found the world over — where things become most uncanny. In today’s global economy, you can visit a supermarket in any major city and find many of the same goods and brands that you would in your hometown. And yet everything isn’t the same. Refrigeration practices differ, labels confuse. You are seduced by a product’s packaging, want to buy it badly, but then realize you’re not even sure what type of food it is. This feeling of wonderment is at the heart of Ma’s fantastical aesthetic. Created in Berlin, London, Tokyo, Mexico City and New York, ''Special nothing'' is a unique travel diary, a distillation of those moments when the commonplace and the strange coalesce, turn into something magical, surreal.
Phyllis Ma: Special nothing
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$65.00
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Summary:
In a supermarket in Berlin, wandering through aisle after aisle of processed meats, the artist Phyllis Ma conceived of Special Nothing, a collection of travel photos that take the form of still lifes. To Ma, ''special nothings'' are those everyday objects that, on the right day, or in the right moment, are sources of pure delight: a very hairy flower; a block of head cheese the size and shape of an iPhone; a gherkin that looks especially perverse. If you pay attention, you can find these special nothings in your home or on your block, but we tend to be more attuned to them when we’re in an unfamiliar place. In a new country, the most mundane sights and tasks are often fascinating, difficult, and strange: doing laundry, boarding a bus, buying groceries. But it’s in supermarkets, with their promise of familiarity — the same bright overhead lighting, neat aisles, and row of checkout counters can be found the world over — where things become most uncanny. In today’s global economy, you can visit a supermarket in any major city and find many of the same goods and brands that you would in your hometown. And yet everything isn’t the same. Refrigeration practices differ, labels confuse. You are seduced by a product’s packaging, want to buy it badly, but then realize you’re not even sure what type of food it is. This feeling of wonderment is at the heart of Ma’s fantastical aesthetic. Created in Berlin, London, Tokyo, Mexico City and New York, ''Special nothing'' is a unique travel diary, a distillation of those moments when the commonplace and the strange coalesce, turn into something magical, surreal.
Form:
books
books
Publication:
October 2020
October 2020
Subject:
Photography monographs
Photography monographs
Form:
books
books
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$49.95
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Summary:
Alexander Calder is one of the most important and most popular American artists of the twentieth century. This lavishly illustrated volume accompanies an exhibit at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Dusseldorf that focuses on Calder's works of the 1930s and '40s, a period in which the sculptor experimented with a number of wildly different artistic directions. In(...)
$49.95
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Summary:
Alexander Calder is one of the most important and most popular American artists of the twentieth century. This lavishly illustrated volume accompanies an exhibit at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Dusseldorf that focuses on Calder's works of the 1930s and '40s, a period in which the sculptor experimented with a number of wildly different artistic directions. In(...)
Subject:
Contemporary Art Monographs
Contemporary Art Monographs
Publication:
October 2013
October 2013
Title:
Alexander Calder - Avant-garde in Motion
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$49.95
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Summary:
Alexander Calder is one of the most important and most popular American artists of the twentieth century. This lavishly illustrated volume accompanies an exhibit at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Dusseldorf that focuses on Calder's works of the 1930s and '40s, a period in which the sculptor experimented with a number of wildly different artistic directions. In addition to showcasing a large number of Calder's early abstract sculptures, this book also presents key works by his contemporaries, artists such as Piet Mondrian, Joan Miro, and Jean Arp. By setting Calder's work alongside that of other artists, the volume establishes not only lines of influence and differentiation, but also the larger context in which he created his sculptures. Beautiful full-page images of Calder's iconic mobiles and stabiles give a rare sense of Calder's often playful use of space, and enable readers to study his work in detail. An accompanying DVD includes historical and experimental films, avant-garde music, interviews, and a walk through the exhibition, bringing the whole of Calder's achievement to life in unprecedented fashion.
Alexander Calder - Avant-garde in Motion
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$49.95
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Summary:
Alexander Calder is one of the most important and most popular American artists of the twentieth century. This lavishly illustrated volume accompanies an exhibit at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen in Dusseldorf that focuses on Calder's works of the 1930s and '40s, a period in which the sculptor experimented with a number of wildly different artistic directions. In addition to showcasing a large number of Calder's early abstract sculptures, this book also presents key works by his contemporaries, artists such as Piet Mondrian, Joan Miro, and Jean Arp. By setting Calder's work alongside that of other artists, the volume establishes not only lines of influence and differentiation, but also the larger context in which he created his sculptures. Beautiful full-page images of Calder's iconic mobiles and stabiles give a rare sense of Calder's often playful use of space, and enable readers to study his work in detail. An accompanying DVD includes historical and experimental films, avant-garde music, interviews, and a walk through the exhibition, bringing the whole of Calder's achievement to life in unprecedented fashion.
Form:
books
books
Publication:
October 2013
October 2013
Subject:
Contemporary Art Monographs
Contemporary Art Monographs
Form:
books
books
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$68.00
(available to order)
Summary:
News becomes history as soon as it is reported. What fascinates me in talking about history is the paradoxical movement backwards while obviously propelling ahead with a story into the future. The 15-year time period covered in this show is of a recent past, a past that still unites many New Yorkers in recognition of a city at once familiar and long gone. The NYC(...)
$68.00
(available to order)
Summary:
News becomes history as soon as it is reported. What fascinates me in talking about history is the paradoxical movement backwards while obviously propelling ahead with a story into the future. The 15-year time period covered in this show is of a recent past, a past that still unites many New Yorkers in recognition of a city at once familiar and long gone. The NYC(...)
Title:
Aleksandra Mir: news room 1986-2000
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$68.00
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Summary:
News becomes history as soon as it is reported. What fascinates me in talking about history is the paradoxical movement backwards while obviously propelling ahead with a story into the future. The 15-year time period covered in this show is of a recent past, a past that still unites many New Yorkers in recognition of a city at once familiar and long gone. The NYC tabloids New York Daily News and New York Post serve as practical tools that unite the population around shared joys and fears; they help spread the city’s gossip and form its identity. Whether one buys them or not, a glance at the headlines while passing by a deli or waiting for a bus is enough to be connected to the diverse masses that make up their readership. Never mind if what is reported is mostly disaster or scandal. In retrospect, news before 9/11/2001 makes this megalopolis look like a quaint town full of petty crooks, with this accident or that occasional murder resulting in the loss of a single life. A rape in Central Park and a love triangle on Long Island were the two longest running news stories of New York in the 15 years leading up to the end of the millennium. In research for this show, three assistants and myself spent months in the Public Library copying 10,000 covers of the two tabloids – the outcome of their combined cover stories of 15 years. From these, I selected around 200 that were particularly poignant, or which formed an ongoing narrative, but most importantly, that made me smile with recognition. I lived in New York between 1989 and 2005, 15 years that roughly coincide with the time period of the show. As I never had a studio in the city, I developed a practice that relied heavily on communication instead: phone, Internet, publishing, travel, performance, ephemera, event production. This show draws on all of the above. During the two months of the duration of this show, I will create an environment that primitively simulates a newsroom of a major agency or newspaper. The material output of the agency will take the form of drawings, which for me are traces of activities such as reading, moving, talking, remembering and reporting. Together with a team of assistants, I plan to create 200 drawings inspired by the aforementioned tabloid covers and my personal references to them. The gallery will be turned into the studio I never had; at the same time, we will be producing art at a schedule more akin to a news agency than to that of an artist’s studio. Every day, there will be new art and old news on the walls.
Aleksandra Mir: news room 1986-2000
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Price:
$68.00
(available to order)
Summary:
News becomes history as soon as it is reported. What fascinates me in talking about history is the paradoxical movement backwards while obviously propelling ahead with a story into the future. The 15-year time period covered in this show is of a recent past, a past that still unites many New Yorkers in recognition of a city at once familiar and long gone. The NYC tabloids New York Daily News and New York Post serve as practical tools that unite the population around shared joys and fears; they help spread the city’s gossip and form its identity. Whether one buys them or not, a glance at the headlines while passing by a deli or waiting for a bus is enough to be connected to the diverse masses that make up their readership. Never mind if what is reported is mostly disaster or scandal. In retrospect, news before 9/11/2001 makes this megalopolis look like a quaint town full of petty crooks, with this accident or that occasional murder resulting in the loss of a single life. A rape in Central Park and a love triangle on Long Island were the two longest running news stories of New York in the 15 years leading up to the end of the millennium. In research for this show, three assistants and myself spent months in the Public Library copying 10,000 covers of the two tabloids – the outcome of their combined cover stories of 15 years. From these, I selected around 200 that were particularly poignant, or which formed an ongoing narrative, but most importantly, that made me smile with recognition. I lived in New York between 1989 and 2005, 15 years that roughly coincide with the time period of the show. As I never had a studio in the city, I developed a practice that relied heavily on communication instead: phone, Internet, publishing, travel, performance, ephemera, event production. This show draws on all of the above. During the two months of the duration of this show, I will create an environment that primitively simulates a newsroom of a major agency or newspaper. The material output of the agency will take the form of drawings, which for me are traces of activities such as reading, moving, talking, remembering and reporting. Together with a team of assistants, I plan to create 200 drawings inspired by the aforementioned tabloid covers and my personal references to them. The gallery will be turned into the studio I never had; at the same time, we will be producing art at a schedule more akin to a news agency than to that of an artist’s studio. Every day, there will be new art and old news on the walls.
Form:
books
books
Publication:
July 2008, New York
July 2008, New York
Subject:
Contemporary Art Monographs
Contemporary Art Monographs
