exhibition: Summer Reading: Francis Alÿs, Massimo Bartolini, Jimmie Durham, Fernanda Gomes
dates: 4 June – 24 July 2015
Peter Freeman, Inc., New York is pleased to present “Summer Reading,” curated by sculptor Richard Wentworth and featuring works by Francis Alÿs, Massimo Bartolini, Jimmie Durham, and Fernanda Gomes. With material economy and formal intelligence, each artist employs a keen acuity to the residue of daily life, and a poetic sensitivity to its messages. In their hands, the familiar and unexceptional shifts shape, signaling us to see anew.
Wentworth has chosen to introduce the exhibition with two photographs from Brassaï’s 1933 series "Sculptures Involontaires," first published that year in the Surrealist publication Minotaure: rare works that record the accidental animation of discarded bits, like a rolled up bus ticket, or a blob of toothpaste. These will be shown with a selection from Wentworth's own photographic series "Making Do and Getting By" (1974-ongoing).
Francis Alÿs was born in 1959, in Antwerp, Belgium; he lives and works in Mexico. His diverse work engages with everyday life and urbanity as well as social and political issues and includes video, painting, performance, drawing, and photography. His sculpture is often made of the unexpected—materials as lowly even as chewing gum, which is the starting point for his group of works on view here, among them Bandera (Flag), 1991/92.
Massimo Bartolini was born in 1962, in Cecina, Italy where he lives and works. The realization of an idea into form, the ephemeral into something concrete, and the physical record of how it is done are at the root of his installations, sculptures, performances, and photographic works. He describes his airplane drawings – one of which will be on view here alongside a selection of other works – as “technical drawings in reverse.”
Jimmie Durham was born in 1940 in Washington, Arkansas; he lives and works in Berlin. His work as an artist, activist, and poet concerns both natural and urban realms, their material and socio-political make-ups, and the intersections and oppositions between them. On view here will be several recent works, including one incorporating olive-tree trunks and another the taxidermied head of a steer.
Fernanda Gomes was born in 1960 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she lives and works. In keeping with her practice of making work on site as a continuation of her daily activity, she will make some of the pieces for "Summer Reading" while in New York. Her works seem to call into question the very nature of their presence, even as their transformation imparts power to that which, at first, seems barely there.
For reproduction requests, interviews with the artist and general inquiries, please contact the gallery at 212-966-5154 or info@peterfreemaninc.com.
dates: 4 June – 24 July 2015
Peter Freeman, Inc., New York is pleased to present “Summer Reading,” curated by sculptor Richard Wentworth and featuring works by Francis Alÿs, Massimo Bartolini, Jimmie Durham, and Fernanda Gomes. With material economy and formal intelligence, each artist employs a keen acuity to the residue of daily life, and a poetic sensitivity to its messages. In their hands, the familiar and unexceptional shifts shape, signaling us to see anew.
Wentworth has chosen to introduce the exhibition with two photographs from Brassaï’s 1933 series "Sculptures Involontaires," first published that year in the Surrealist publication Minotaure: rare works that record the accidental animation of discarded bits, like a rolled up bus ticket, or a blob of toothpaste. These will be shown with a selection from Wentworth's own photographic series "Making Do and Getting By" (1974-ongoing).
Francis Alÿs was born in 1959, in Antwerp, Belgium; he lives and works in Mexico. His diverse work engages with everyday life and urbanity as well as social and political issues and includes video, painting, performance, drawing, and photography. His sculpture is often made of the unexpected—materials as lowly even as chewing gum, which is the starting point for his group of works on view here, among them Bandera (Flag), 1991/92.
Massimo Bartolini was born in 1962, in Cecina, Italy where he lives and works. The realization of an idea into form, the ephemeral into something concrete, and the physical record of how it is done are at the root of his installations, sculptures, performances, and photographic works. He describes his airplane drawings – one of which will be on view here alongside a selection of other works – as “technical drawings in reverse.”
Jimmie Durham was born in 1940 in Washington, Arkansas; he lives and works in Berlin. His work as an artist, activist, and poet concerns both natural and urban realms, their material and socio-political make-ups, and the intersections and oppositions between them. On view here will be several recent works, including one incorporating olive-tree trunks and another the taxidermied head of a steer.
Fernanda Gomes was born in 1960 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she lives and works. In keeping with her practice of making work on site as a continuation of her daily activity, she will make some of the pieces for "Summer Reading" while in New York. Her works seem to call into question the very nature of their presence, even as their transformation imparts power to that which, at first, seems barely there.
For reproduction requests, interviews with the artist and general inquiries, please contact the gallery at 212-966-5154 or info@peterfreemaninc.com.