Information
the gallery selects…
Jul 6 – Jul 30, 2004
This summer, Alexander and Bonin is pleased to present a group exhibition which samples work by our gallery artists: John Ahearn, Matthew Benedict, Jennifer Bolande, Robert Bordo, Willie Cole, Eugenio Dittborn, Willie Doherty, Mona Hatoum, Neil Jenney, Stefan Kürten, Michael Landy, Paul Etienne Lincoln, Rita McBride, Ree Morton, Sylvia Plimack Mangold, Doris Salcedo, Sean Scully and Paul Thek. The exhibition is a staff collaborative project.
The ground floor will be divided into three sections:
As the weather gets hot, New Yorkers take to their streets, parks, patios and stoops, and get a better view of the urban landscape. The works by Jennifer Bolande, Rita McBride and Paul Thek focus on particular aspects of the city in summer. These works motivate us to look closer at the details of our surroundings, showing us the possibilities in architectural elements, a blurred streetlight, or the view from our window.
The works by Matthew Benedict, Willie Cole, Mona Hatoum, and Stefan Kürten share a fascination with the endearing qualities of every day objects from the home. The subject matter of these works can be viewed as a return to tradition and yet are charged with a new brand of energy, which is both refreshingly personal and narrative. These works hinge upon the idea that re-introducing what can be seen as an otherwise dated subject into a contemporary context is radically inventive in itself.
An investigation of contemporary practices applied to the tradition of painting includes work by Sylvia Plimack Mangold, Rita McBride and Eugenio Dittborn. These works are a synthesis of cultural influence, reflecting a personal rebellion to prescribed ways of picture-making despite a continued fascination with its tradition. In this selection, varying formats and unsuspecting mediums enter in as a condition of the works, challenging the vocabulary with which a painting is generally assessed. This encapsulated survey hopes to register a new visual culture in which developments are due not only to contemporary practice, but to predecessors and traditions.
Additional works by gallery artists will be installed on the second and third floors.