Everyday Abstract - Abstract Everyday - Curated by Matthew Higgs - Exhibitions

Images

Installation view Photographer: Jason Mandella

ALEXANDRA BIRCKEN “Wärmegitter” 2011 Wool, aluminum frame 87 x 55 x 2 in. (219.7 x 139.7 x 5.1 cm)

WALEAD BESHTY 20-inch Copper (FedEx® Medium Kraft Box ©2004 FEDEX 155143 REV), Standard Overnight, Los Angeles-New York trk#798399701913, May 15-16, 2012 2012 Polished copper, accrued FedEx shipping and tracking labels 20 x 20 x 12 in. (50.8 x 50.8 x 30.5 cm)

SARAH BRAMAN Slowpoke 2012 Aluminum, paint, and Plexiglas 43 x 54 x 22 in. (109.2 x 137.2 x 55.9 cm)

WOLFGANG BREUER Untitled 2009 Leaves, tape 16 3/8 X 10 5/8 in. (41.5 X 27 cm)

TOM BURR his personal effects (white v-neck, two) 2012 Men’s v-neck t-shirt, upholstery tacks and wood 15 x 15 in. (38.1 x 38.1 cm)

ERNST CARAMELLE Untitled 1991 Paper exposed to the sun Paper: 12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.8 cm)

ANDY COOLQUITT LW4EAAEMH 2012 Metal, wire, epoxy, and light bulbs 110 X 5 X 5 in. (279.4 X 12.7 X 12.7 cm)

PAUL COWAN Untitled 2012 Canvas, fishing lure 20 x 17 in. (50.8 x 43.2 cm)

N. DASH Untitled 2012 Fiber, silver gelatin print Framed: 19 ½ x 23 ½ in. (49.5 x 59.7 cm)

TONY FEHER Painting 2007 Oil stain on plywood 17 3/8 X 11 5/8 in. (44.13 X 29.53 cm)

MICHEL FRANÇOIS Untitled 2012 Paper Approx. 8 x 12 feet (240 x 360 cm)

JOE FYFE Comme le pays 2012 Found vinyl objects and canvas, gauze, and cord 67 x 26 x 10 in. (233 x 1.7 x 26 cm)

KIM GORDON Northampton Wreath 2012 Enamel spray paint on canvas 36 X 24 in. (91.44 X 60.96 cm)

RICHARD HAWKINS Scalp 13, (Remember the wonderful days when “identity” encompassed “fluidity”?) 2012 Rubber mask, painted paper, paper clips and shoebox Mask: Dimensions variable Shoebox: 8 ½ x 10 x 3 ½ in. (22 x 25.4 x 8.9 cm)

DAVID HAMMONS KOOLAID DRAWING 2004 Koolaid and pencil on paper 43 29 in. (109.22 x 73.66 cm)

RICHARD HAWKINS Scalp 13, (Remember the wonderful days when “identity” encompassed “fluidity”?) (detail) 2012 Rubber mask, painted paper, paper clips and shoebox Mask: Dimensions variable Shoebox: 8 ½ x 10 x 3 ½ in. (22 x 25.4 x 8.9 cm)

ANN CATHRIN NOVEMBER HØIBO Untitled #06 2012 Bronze cast of instant noodles 4 x 3 ¾ x 1 ¼ in. (10 x 9.5 x 3 cm) Unique

BILL JENKINS Bed with Rope and Fence 2012 Bed with rope and fence 52 x 73 x 9 in. (132.1 x 185.4 x 22.9 cm)

BILL JENKINS Bed with Rope and Fence (detail) 2012 Bed with rope and fence 52 x 73 x 9 in. (132.1 x 185.4 x 22.9 cm)

SERGEJ JENSEN Untitled (Binary One) 2005 Money on canvas 47 ¼ x 45 ¼ inches (120 x 115 cm)

UDOMSAK KRISANAMIS Acid Rain 1996 Ink and collage on blanket 60 X 60 in. (152.4 X 152.4 cm)

JASON LOEBS Autophantography 2012 Kodak Ultra Endura Color Emulsion Paper / 30 in. x 164 ft. roll Overall: 45 x 35 x 18 in. (114.3 x 88.9 x 45.72 cm)

AGNES LUX #91-L 2012 Graphite on postcards 82 5/8 X 52 1/2 in. (210 X 133.5 cm)

DAVID MORENO Television Noise #10 2006 Silver gelatin print 20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 60.96 cm)

VIRGINIA OVERTON Untitled (Mirror) 2011 Wood, fluorescent lights, acrylic mirror 36 X 23 X 6 in. (91.44 X 58.42 X 15.24 cm)

MANFRED PERNICE diary – 04.05.04 2008 Particleboard, Formica, and oil-based enamel Double Hexagonal platform – 29 ½ x 79 x 45 in. (74.9 x 200.7 x 114.3 cm) Polygonal Platform – 16 ½ x 40 ½ x 45 in. (41.4 x 102.9 x 114.3 cm) Object – 27 5/8 x 16 ½ (diameter) in. (69.2 x 41.9 cm)

JUDITH SCOTT Untitled 2004 Mixed media 23 x 19 x 16 in. (58.4 x 48.3 x 40.6 cm)

NANCY SHAVER Fanny 2011 Scrap metal, found upholstery board, upholstery fabric, canvas, glue, paper, house paint, acrylic paint 66 x 27 x 20 in. (167.6 x 68.6 x 50.8 cm)

GEDI SIBONY The Two Simple Green Threes 2012 Dropcloth 137 X 95 in. (347.98 X 241.3 cm)

JOSH SMITH Untitled 2009 Oil on canvas 30 x 24 in. (76.2 x 60.96 cm)

MICHAEL E. SMITH Untitled 2012 Metal, plastic 19 ¼ x 3 x 15 ½ in. (48.9 x 7.6 x 39.4 cm)

SHINIQUE SMITH Bale Variant No. 0022 2012 Mixed media 90 x 30 x 30 in. (228.6 x 76.2 x 76.2 cm)

AL TAYLOR Untitled: (Rinse) 1988 Wooden broomsticks with enamel paint & metal mounted on Formica laminate with latex paint 92 x 9 ½ x 39 in. (233.7 x 24.1 x 99.1 cm)

BILL WALTON Wisteria (metal, Wisteria, Leaf Paint) n.d. Metal, Wisteria, and leaf paint 4 x 1 ¾ x 1 ¼ in. (10.2 x 4.4 x 3.2 cm)

ANDY WARHOL Oxidation Painting 1978 Copper metallic pigment mixed with mixed media on canvas - twelve panels 48 X 49 1/2 in. (121.92 X 125.73 cm)

HANNAH WILKE S.O.S. – Starification Object Series (#2) 1975 Chewing gum on rice paper, mounted on rag board 33 ¾ x 25 ½ x 2 ½ in. (85.7 x 64.8 x 6.4 cm)

PHILADELPHIA WIREMAN Untitled (wire, rubberbands, McDonald’s pin) c. 1970-5 Wire, found objects 3 ¾ x 1 ¾ x 1 ¾ in. (9.5 x 4.4 x x 4.4 cm)

B. WURTZ Untitled 2010 Collage and acrylic on paper, thread, string, plastic lid 48 x 30 ¼ in. (121.9 x 76.8 cm)

Press Release

Walead Beshty, Alexandra Bircken, Sarah Braman, Wolfgang Breuer, Tom Burr, Ernst Caramelle, Andy Coolquitt, Paul Cowan, N. Dash, Tony Feher, Michel François, Joe Fyfe, Kim Gordon, David Hammons, Richard Hawkins, Ann Cathrin November Høibo, Bill Jenkins, Sergej Jensen, Udomsak Krisanamis, Jason Loebs, Agnes Lux, David Moreno, Virginia Overton, Manfred Pernice, Judith Scott, Nancy Shaver, Gedi Sibony, Michael E. Smith, Josh Smith, Shinique Smith, Al Taylor, Bill Walton, Andy Warhol, Hannah Wilke, Philadelphia Wireman, B. Wurtz, Amy Yao

James Cohan Gallery is pleased to present Everyday Abstract – Abstract Everyday, an exhibition curated by Matthew Higgs, the Director of White Columns, New York. The exhibition will open on Friday, June 1, from 6 – 8 PM and will run through Friday, July 27, 2012.

In a statement about the exhibition Higgs has written:

Four years ago I was invited to Berlin to present a proposal for what would have been the 6th Berlin Biennale. (My proposal wasn’t accepted - the honors went to curator Kathrin Rhomberg, whose exhibition, “what is waiting out there”, eventually opened in June 2010.) The project I proposed had the working title Everyday Abstract – Abstract Everyday and sought, in its most fundamental sense, to consider the complex entanglements between non-representational art and everyday life.

This exhibition at James Cohan Gallery seeks to develop these earlier ideas around what I termed “vernacular” or “everyday” abstraction: that is artistic practices that actively privilege and operate in the grey area between an essentially non-representational image/object and the use of quotidian materials and processes.

Collectively the works in Everyday Abstract – Abstract Everyday seem most interested in the point at which the self-contained rationality of earlier modernist abstraction is ruptured. This sense of “rupture” – both physically and psychologically - is perhaps the prevailing aesthetic attitude that unites the otherwise highly idiosyncratic artists – and art works – brought together in Everyday Abstract – Abstract Everyday. In the work of all these artists traces of our material culture are transformed, or perhaps more accurately, re-purposed into something that is simultaneously familiar and strange.

For additional information, please contact Jane Cohan at jane@jamescohan.com or by telephone at 212.714.9500.