Project
Description

Today I Made Nothing is an exhibition in two parts, the second installment opening at Front Desk Apparatus in September. Additionally, the exhibition is accompanied by the first phase of The Library Project, presented at Elizabeth Dee by Front Desk Apparatus, an initiative that focuses on editorial creation, independent publications and the position of writing and design in contemporary practice. In a filing cabinet in the gallery's office space, a selection of readings pertaining to the exhibition, aims to employ the office context as a framework that acknowledges, uncovers and excavates the library's potential to generate concrete possibilities in the form of "living" research and knowledge production.

Curator

Tim Saltarelli

Artists

Duncan Campbell
Alejandro Cesarco
Jay Chung & Q Takeki Maeda
Tyler Coburn
Harun Farocki
Liam Gillick
Renee Green
Sam Lewitt
Jonathan Monk
Virginia Overton
Josef Strau
Mika Tajima

Links

Elizabeth Dee Gallery

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Project
Description

Every image offered our gaze is only presented, in its very obviousness, by means of the disconcerting economy of paradoxes that are always tied up with other paradoxes. Every image is offered only as a maddening, often sublime, intensity of simultaneous contradictions, a meeting of heterogeneous orders that move unhindered between thing-representations and word-representations. But in this "freedom" of imaginary associations, we have to recognize a true fact of structure, where every image becomes clear only in passing within view of all the others, however disparate or dissemblant they are among themselves.

*Georges Didi-Huberman

Curator

Front Desk Apparatus

Artists

Seth Price
Josef Strau
Quentin Curry
Gareth James
Steven Parrino
Jutta Koether
Matias Faldbakken
Andy Warhol
John Cage
Philippe Decrauzat
Amir Mogharabi
Amy Granat
Jacob Kassay

Images

Quentin Curry / Canvas 1 (primed), 2010
Andy Warhol / Oxidation Painting (a), 1978
John Cage / Dereau #20, 1982
Jesse Cohen / Untitled, 2009
Gareth James / The image provides a false balance to materials in space/time. The image provides a way to see the balance in space/time that the unbalanced spectator cannot approach. The image balances that which didn't require balance outside of that perspective., 2009
Seth Price / Untitled, 2008
Steven Parrino / Black Planet Magnetic Distortion, 2004
Jutta Koether / demonic option, 2010 series #4, 2010
Matias Faldbakken / ONE SPRAY CAN SQUEAL, 2010
Josef Strau / Breaking Words, 2006
Philippe Decrauzat / Slow Motion #1, 2008
Amir Mogharabi / Untitled (For Josef Strau), 2010
Amy Granat / Chemical Scratch (Return of the Creature), 2003
Jacob Kassay / Untitled, 2010
Installation View
Installation View
Installation View
Installation View

Links

Kantor Gallery

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Biography

Lucie Fontaine is an art employer who lives and works in Colmar, France. Describing herself as an "art employer," Lucie Fontaine avoids harnessing her practice to a specific figure of the art field, preferring to cultivate a modus operandi driven solely by her relationship with two* employees, a concept of self-generated labor similar to the Master-Slave dialectic presented by Hegel is his master-piece, Phenomenology of Spirit. Her two* art employees like to define her as the Jamie Lynn Spears of contemporary art: "pregnant and in search of easy success." Thus, Lucie Fontaine incarnates the following three assumptions: 1) the anti-hierarchical perception of the art field, where artists, curators, gallerists, collectors, editors and critics are all considered "players" in the same game; 2) the theory of expanded practice, in which the artist is not only considered the "creator" of an artwork, but also a cultural operator able to write, manage galleries, curate, collect, etc.; 3) the consideration of the entire discourse around the artwork: conception / creation / production / presentation / distribution / communication / promotion. In 2007, Lucie Fontaine opened a space in Milan, which was intended as a meeting place for the artistic community. Deliberately collaborating only with Italian artists, Lucie Fontaine and her entourage organized unconventional projects with Italian artists Valerio Carrubba, Alessandro Roma, Valerio Rocco Orlando and Mauro Vignando, as well as first time solo shows by Cleo Fariselli, Enza Galantini and Riccardo Beretta. In 2008, T293 gallery in Naples hosted Lucie Fontaine's first solo show. In 2009, she exhibited in Murcia, Spain (with Fruit and Flower Deli) and at "No Soul For Sale" at X-initiative, New York. During Performa09 in New York, she produced the last iteration of Performat, her ongoing collaboration with Italian artist and filmmaker Marcella Vanzo with the special participation of Irish contemporary music composer Jennifer Walshe. She has a forthcoming solo exhibition at The Promenade Gallery in Vlore, Albania in 2010. Lucie Fontaine is currently working on a book titled The Talismans and will be the editor of the catalogue raisonne of Swedish painter Ylva Ogland.

*L'Anti-Oedipe was written by the two of us, and since each of us was several, we were already quite a crowd." Gilles Deleuze & Felix Guattari

Images

Lucie Fontaine / Employer/Employee, 2010
Lucie Fontaine / Employer/Employee, 2010
Lucie Fontaine / Employer/Employee, 2010
Lucie Fontaine / Employees Must Wash Hands Before Returning To Work, 2010
Lucie Fontaine / Employees Must Wash Hands Before Returning To Work, 2010
Lucie Fontaine / Il Cangiante (Corrado Levi), 2009
Lucie Fontaine / Il Cangiante (Corrado Levi), 2009
Lucie Fontaine / I Cut My Mouth for Roy, 2010
Lucie Fontaine / Nonchalant #2, 2010
Lucie Fontaine / Nonchalant #2 [detail], 2010
Lucie Fontaine / Pink Cut #1, 2010
Lucie Fontaine / Pink Cut #1, 2010
Lucie Fontaine / Pink Cut #2, 2010
Lucie Fontaine / Pink Cut #2, 2010
Lucie Fontaine / Pink Cut #3, 2010
Lucie Fontaine / Pink Cut #3, 2010
Lucie Fontaine / Master/Slave, 2010
Lucie Fontaine / Master/Slave, 2010
Lucie Fontaine / I Cut My Mouth for Roy (Invitation), 2010
Lucie Fontaine / I Cut My Mouth for Roy (Invitation), 2010
Lucie Fontaine / Tabula Rasa, 2010
Lucie Fontaine / Tabula Rasa, 2010
Lucie Fontaine / Sample Covering Shape, 2010
Lucie Fontaine / Sample Covering Shape, 2010
Installation View
Installation View
Installation View
Installation View

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Project
Description

Front Desk Apparatus is pleased to present the second iteration of the "The Obstacle is Tautology," an ongoing project organized by Benoit Maire and Amir Mogharabi. Originally held in Vilnius, Lithuania, "The Obstacle is Tautology," is repeated in different forms and locations. Each iteration, takes as its organizing principle, the successive content of an overarching conversation between the two artists.

A tautology (both a symbolic statement that is true by way of deductive logic, and a superfluous statement rendered arbitrary by its repetition) poses problems pivotal for commencing a paradigm shift away from the tenets of conceptual art. Although the existence of a tautology cannot be empirically asserted in the world, it is still apprehended by reason as an idea, as an object of intellect, as pure referent repeated into being.

As such, there exists a disparity between reason and experience, whereby reason serves the imperative for what is otherwise impossible to define, impossible to objectify. And yet, we go on lying, we go on defining, we go on asking and answering why, we go on categorizing; when our responsibility may precisely b, to undermine the logic of experience, undermine the logic of love and the disambiguation of poetry. To resolve our ongoing dissatisfaction with explanation, by not asking for any more than what art has to offer as a limitless medium in itself, or beside itself.

Organizers

Benoit Maire and Amir Mogharabi

Artists

Jesse Cohen
Guy de Cointet
Lucie Fontaine
Joelle Leandre
Benoit Maire
COCO DU NOM
Jeffrey Perkins
Adrian Piper
Soma Wingelaar

Images

Installation View
COCO DU NOM / Untitled, (for Henry Flynt), 2007
Joelle Leandre / Untitled composition for contrabass, 1972
Joelle Leandre / Untitled composition for contrabass, 1972
Jesse Cohen / Untitled, 2009
Installation View
Installation View
Soma Wingelaar / Untitled, 2009
Soma Wingelaar / Untitled, 2009
Adrian Piper / Everything #2/7, 2003
Installation View
Guy de Cointet / "Espahor ledet..." 1977
Guy de Cointet / Espahor Ledet Ko Uluner!, Publication Proof, 1977
Lucie Fontaine / Untitled, 2009
Lucie Fontaine / Untitled, 2009
The Obstacle is Tautology Installation View
The Obstacle is Tautology Installation View
COCO DU NOM (for Adrian Piper), 2009
Benoit Maire / The Aesthetics of Differends, 2009
Benoit Maire / The Aesthetics of Differends, 2009 [Detail]
The Obstacle is Tautology Installation View
The Obstacle is Tautology Installation View
Jeffrey Perkins / Untitled, 1977
Jeffrey Perkins / Untitled, 1977
Guy de Cointet / Toc Tic Tic Tac, 1980
The Obstacle is Tautology Installation View
The Obstacle is Tautology Installation View

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Project
Description

"These are (J) (A) (S) men. Jacob, Amir and Sam. Though all a generation younger, I believe their work to be wise and ageless. They continue a tradition of sculpture, painting and filmmaking that keeps me hopeful and inspired... makes the future smell sweet - like a fresh bouquet of flowers. I hope you enjoy the show."

- Amy Granat, 2009

Filmmaker Amy Granat (b. 1976) curates her first exhibition in New York. Situated in the context of Front Desk Apparatus, artists are producers while works are actors; responding to, reflecting, or negating the stage within they are set.

Questioning the working methods of formal abstraction, Jacob Kassay (b. 1984) proposes alternative solutions to arriving at a painting. Priming the surface of the canvas with acrylic, followed by an electroplating process that paradoxically eradicates and sentimentalizes the gesture - Kassay's paintings are an echoed reflection of the context in which they find themselves. The monochrome surface simulates movement and enthusiastically responds to changes in light. The viewer's presence renders Kassay's paintings awake, where an element performativity enters and is in constant flux.

Amir Mogharabi (b. 1982) refutes exactitude in explanation. With an acute background in philosophy, a myriad of references hint at a disdain for indexicality and fixed definition. A gentle invitation into an open-ended discourse is brought by what appears to be analogous elements that rarely lands at an answer, but raises further question as to why. Works are composed, arranged and performed into physicality...

Sam Parker (b. 1988) collapses notions of material and time by challenging perceptions of the past and present. Oscillating between video and film, the physical surface of "Proud Mary" presents a history that is further complicated by period costumes and timeless uniforms. Through the sensitivity of film, and its strong sense of materiality, Parker suggests the importance, integrity, and ephemerality of emotion from the "performers," depicted.

Curator

Amy Granat

Artists

Jacob Kassay
Amir Mogharabi
Sam Parker

Images

Amir Mogharabi / Untitled, 2009
Amir Mogharabi / Untitled, 2009
Amir Mogharabi / Untitled, 2009
Amir Mogharabi / Untitled (Stone), 2009
Jacob Kassay / Untitled, 2009
Jacob Kassay / Untitled, 2009
Jacob Kassay / Untitled, 2009
Jacob Kassay / Untitled, 2009
Sam Parker / Proud Mary, 2009
Sam Parker / Proud Mary, 2009
Installation View
Installation View
Installation View
Installation View

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Project
Description

If Jasmine can be thought of as a quotation of a film, Plus B is the inaudible soundtrack. Performing as dialogue, sound effect and score, emotive and physical, the intimately scaled objects composing Plus B instinctually reverberate. Physically contained in what could be read as a precious display, the art object submits to a hyper-fetishized context, tenuously waiting under the head of a shower.

Found in the tenets of painting, Brandon Anschultz (b. 1972) moves into the language of sculpture to find resolution. Satisfactory form is achieved only through the in-between state and outside of either tradition. Seen as conduits of uncertainty, the pursuit of ambiguity is actualized as much through deconstruction as construction.

Directed by Google Earth/Sky, Becket Bowes (b.1976) paints "Stars over Gabrielle's head, 11.11.07, 15:42," the form and pattern based on the location and coordinates of a friend. What is traditionally understood as a romantic, sentimental, gesture of painting the night sky, becomes mechanized through the use of technology. The act bringing artist and subject closer by what otherwise may not be possible. Rather than physically sitting under the night sky side by side, it is shared through the lens of the computer screen.

Using sculpture as a device for the exploration of not knowing, Bruce Sherman (b.1942) composes and arranges form out of disparate ceramic shapes. The moment the object suggests a particular contented configuration; the form is solidified with coats of sand paint, revealing the point of satisfaction. Being present, sensitive and aware of each passing moment is seen as a practice in further understanding oneself.

Matthew Strauss (b.1972) interests lie in the inadequacy of representation to effectively communicate between artist and viewer. The intended communicative device (the image) is present, but turned away from the viewer - evoking a mental image formed as a result of the given information, namely the title. Confronted with a blank page, the content hidden on the reverse, the viewer is given the authority to create an ideal representation. Out of this, a situation is created where the full experience of the work is never granted.

Artists

Brandon Anschultz
Becket Bowes
Bruce Sherman
Matthew Strauss

Images

Installation View
Installation View
Installation View
Matthew Strauss / Jet of Water (Black and White), 2009
Brandon Anschultz / Gold Line, 2008
Bruce Sherman / Untitled [pink], 2008
Becket Bowes / Stars over Gabrielle's head, 11.11.07, 15:42, 2008

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