Friday
Nov102017

The Cave of Forgotten Dreams - the Non-mimetic Self-Portrait

 

THE CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS: THE NON-MIMETIC SELF PORTRAIT
Curated by Steven Holmes
OCT 31 - DEC 17  JOSELOFF GALLERY, Hartford, CT
What is a portrait? Is it a likeness, only? Can a portrait be a likeness, but not be ‘about’ the subject? Is a portrait about the artist, or the subject? Can a self-portrait not be about the self? Or is there a way in which all art is, in the end, about the artist – and therefore all art is self-portraiture? The self-portrait is in some senses the most fundamental of artworks. The first work of art, handprints on a cave left 50,000 years ago was – simply - a self-portrait.
I am.
I was.
In this way, the self-portrait is a trace element in the history of consciousness. The human drive – expressed often as the drive to “leave a mark” – is the drive of a human subject to be seen, pictured, or remembered in some way. Much of human creativity arcs towards the monument.
While the artists in “The Cave of Forgotten Dreams” each make their own subjectivity the subject of the work exhibited, in each case the self is depicted not through mimesis, but through surrogacy, allusion, redirection or the refraction of the notion of self from noun to verb, from subject to object, or from self to other.
Artists
Marina Abramoviç
Robert Beck
Stanley Brouwn
Thierry Delva
Tracey Emin
Spencer Finch
Kelly Mark
Magnus von Plessen
Jennifer Reifsneider
Natalie Waldburger
Martin Wilner
ARTIST RECEPTION
Thursday, November 2, 2017, 5-7 pm 
with a performance by Natalie Waldburger

THE CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS: THE NON-MIMETIC SELF PORTRAITCurated by Steven HolmesOCT 31 - DEC 17  JOSELOFF GALLERY, Hartford, CT
What is a portrait? Is it a likeness, only? Can a portrait be a likeness, but not be ‘about’ the subject? Is a portrait about the artist, or the subject? Can a self-portrait not be about the self? Or is there a way in which all art is, in the end, about the artist – and therefore all art is self-portraiture? The self-portrait is in some senses the most fundamental of artworks. The first work of art, handprints on a cave left 50,000 years ago was – simply - a self-portrait.
I am.
I was.
In this way, the self-portrait is a trace element in the history of consciousness. The human drive – expressed often as the drive to “leave a mark” – is the drive of a human subject to be seen, pictured, or remembered in some way. Much of human creativity arcs towards the monument.
While the artists in “The Cave of Forgotten Dreams” each make their own subjectivity the subject of the work exhibited, in each case the self is depicted not through mimesis, but through surrogacy, allusion, redirection or the refraction of the notion of self from noun to verb, from subject to object, or from self to other.
Artists
Marina AbramoviçRobert BeckStanley BrouwnThierry DelvaTracey EminSpencer FinchKelly MarkMagnus von PlessenJennifer ReifsneiderNatalie WaldburgerMartin Wilner

ARTIST RECEPTIONThursday, November 2, 2017, 5-7 pm 
with a performance by Natalie Waldburger

 

Friday
Nov102017

Back to the Drawing Board-August 15 – September 3, 2017

 

August 15 – September 3, 2017
Loop Gallery is pleased to present a performance and installation by 
JJ Lee, Amy Swartz and Natalie Majaba Waldburger entitled 
Back to the Drawing Board.
 
Back to the Drawing Board is an exhibition of the collaborative work of artists-educators at the intersection of process and labour.  The show features large-scale, mixed media and site-specific installation of collaborative drawings and performance.  Drawing as a visual language can bypass societal classifications including cultural, social, economic and educational barriers. As both an organizational and a decolonization strategy, the show will feature the fluidity of the medium, using a variety of drawing materials (including carbon paper, ballpoint pen, charcoal, graph paper, tape and blood) and methods (collage, photocopying). Through the use of ongoing open-ended drawing processes, the fundamental building blocks of drawing point, perspective, line, value will be the basis for the finished installation, but will also question notions of hierarchy and perceptions of power.
The artists in the exhibition are faculty and administrators at OCAD University.   This resulted in a collaborative exhibition and performance at Loop Gallery titled Back to the Drawing Board, in which the administrative, procedural protocols that are used in the formal meetings of the institution were used as a structure to shape creative activity by a fictitious group called the “Drawing Board”. We held public “meetings” where various proposals from the three board members were introduced.  Decision-making on these various creative tasks was subjected to Roger’s Rules of Engagement, including all stages of the creative process from idea (delivered as a motion), development (amendments to that motion), and completion (approve/deny the motion).  Of the three members one would function as Chair leaving the remaining two to negotiate, under the “rules”, over proposed motions.  During the two performances the public was invited to participate in the proceedings. All the installation and drawings exhibited alongside in the gallery was made collaboratively using materials evocative of office work.
“The Drawing Board” is a collective of artist-educators and collaborators, professors JJ Lee, Amy Swartz and Natalie Majaba Waldburger.

August 15 – September 3, 2017
Loop Gallery is pleased to present a performance and installation by JJ Lee, Amy Swartz and Natalie Majaba Waldburger entitled Back to the Drawing Board. Back to the Drawing Board is an exhibition of the collaborative work of artists-educators at the intersection of process and labour.  The show features large-scale, mixed media and site-specific installation of collaborative drawings and performance.  Drawing as a visual language can bypass societal classifications including cultural, social, economic and educational barriers. As both an organizational and a decolonization strategy, the show will feature the fluidity of the medium, using a variety of drawing materials (including carbon paper, ballpoint pen, charcoal, graph paper, tape and blood) and methods (collage, photocopying). Through the use of ongoing open-ended drawing processes, the fundamental building blocks of drawing point, perspective, line, value will be the basis for the finished installation, but will also question notions of hierarchy and perceptions of power.

The artists in the exhibition are faculty and administrators at OCAD University.   This resulted in a collaborative exhibition and performance at Loop Gallery titled Back to the Drawing Board, in which the administrative, procedural protocols that are used in the formal meetings of the institution were used as a structure to shape creative activity by a fictitious group called the “Drawing Board”. We held public “meetings” where various proposals from the three board members were introduced.  Decision-making on these various creative tasks was subjected to Roger’s Rules of Engagement, including all stages of the creative process from idea (delivered as a motion), development (amendments to that motion), and completion (approve/deny the motion).  Of the three members one would function as Chair leaving the remaining two to negotiate, under the “rules”, over proposed motions.  During the two performances the public was invited to participate in the proceedings. All the installation and drawings exhibited alongside in the gallery was made collaboratively using materials evocative of office work.


“The Drawing Board” is a collective of artist-educators and collaborators, professors JJ Lee, Amy Swartz and Natalie Majaba Waldburger.

 

Wednesday
Dec042013

Context, Art Miami 2013

Wednesday
Dec042013

Art Toronto 2013, Metro Toronto Convention Centre

Wednesday
Dec042013

Scope New York, 2013