Richard Aldrich
08 Nov - 21 Dec 2013
© Richard Aldrich
Oh, Sister, 2013
Oil, wax, matte medium on cut linen
84 x 58 inches, 213.4 x 147.3 cm
Oh, Sister, 2013
Oil, wax, matte medium on cut linen
84 x 58 inches, 213.4 x 147.3 cm
RICHARD ALDRICH
Forget Your Dreams, All You Need is Love
The structure for Aldrich’s upcoming show is that of two distinct parts. The first, opening November 8th, will be on view for a week and a half, after which a second show will open on November 19th and run through the end of the month, and then back to the first show for the remainder of the exhibition, closing December 21st.
A Day in the Life
The 2nd show, entitled “A Day in the Life”, obliquely refers to the form of the Beatles song of the same name that features, and is perhaps mostly known for, its format of being two separate songs in one—a McCartney song plunked down in the middle of a Lennon song. The title also refers to a text* written by Aldrich in 2005 in which he describes art installations as a collection of fragments (artworks) that when combined describe, encompass a day in one’s life. Aldrich’s work is ostensibly about what happens when we see two different paintings hung next to each other, and how this forces us to reconstruct our idea of what each one would have meant seen singularly. In the exhibition, that process is expanded from two separate paintings into two separate exhibitions. The medium of meaning is in the modulation between the works—in the time and interstitial space that separates this and that.
The works in each exhibition make sometimes subtle and sometimes overt reference to works in the other show, works from previous shows, and to notions of evolution and comparative learning. While this is generally true of Aldrich’s work, in this double show context the effects are more pointed and crystallized.
2001 #1 2004
A work from Aldrich’s first show at Oliver Kamm/5BE gallery in 2004, from around the same time of the aforementioned text, will be exhibited on loan. In many ways, the viewing progression of the first exhibition echoes the narrative of the final sequence of “2001: A Space Odyssey”—the initial engagement, clashing abstraction, the acknowledgment of self, and finally the ascent of the child/past.
Zig Zag Cubism
A series of, thus far, three paintings, the first shown in 2010 at Sculpture Center, the second in 2011 at Bortolami, in which forms migrate from painting to painting.
Ken Griffey Jr.
Junior Felix
Felix Gonzalez-Torres
an unstretched painting/strips of red stripes and green
strips of red stripes and green/text concerning text piece
text concerning text piece/patty waters exposition
Zig Zag Cubism #3 features a text discussing the two dramatically different sides of the Patty Waters lp “Sings” and the swath of linen cut from “Looking With Mirror Apparatus” 2008, with notes concerning “Two Planes (With Text)“, 2007.
Stacks, 2012
Stacks is made up of components from four previously exhibited sculptures. Two were shown at Oliver Kamm/5be in 2004; one was exhibited in London in 2009; and the last was a part of a Hurray art exhibition in Long Island City in 2006. Each have a document of their original state– be that a slide, an image on a website or a reference in a review.
-Richard Aldrich and Bortolami Gallery
*The second show features the text in printed form as a drawing. The text was originally produced as an invitation card for the art fair, Art Rock, 2005.
Forget Your Dreams, All You Need is Love
The structure for Aldrich’s upcoming show is that of two distinct parts. The first, opening November 8th, will be on view for a week and a half, after which a second show will open on November 19th and run through the end of the month, and then back to the first show for the remainder of the exhibition, closing December 21st.
A Day in the Life
The 2nd show, entitled “A Day in the Life”, obliquely refers to the form of the Beatles song of the same name that features, and is perhaps mostly known for, its format of being two separate songs in one—a McCartney song plunked down in the middle of a Lennon song. The title also refers to a text* written by Aldrich in 2005 in which he describes art installations as a collection of fragments (artworks) that when combined describe, encompass a day in one’s life. Aldrich’s work is ostensibly about what happens when we see two different paintings hung next to each other, and how this forces us to reconstruct our idea of what each one would have meant seen singularly. In the exhibition, that process is expanded from two separate paintings into two separate exhibitions. The medium of meaning is in the modulation between the works—in the time and interstitial space that separates this and that.
The works in each exhibition make sometimes subtle and sometimes overt reference to works in the other show, works from previous shows, and to notions of evolution and comparative learning. While this is generally true of Aldrich’s work, in this double show context the effects are more pointed and crystallized.
2001 #1 2004
A work from Aldrich’s first show at Oliver Kamm/5BE gallery in 2004, from around the same time of the aforementioned text, will be exhibited on loan. In many ways, the viewing progression of the first exhibition echoes the narrative of the final sequence of “2001: A Space Odyssey”—the initial engagement, clashing abstraction, the acknowledgment of self, and finally the ascent of the child/past.
Zig Zag Cubism
A series of, thus far, three paintings, the first shown in 2010 at Sculpture Center, the second in 2011 at Bortolami, in which forms migrate from painting to painting.
Ken Griffey Jr.
Junior Felix
Felix Gonzalez-Torres
an unstretched painting/strips of red stripes and green
strips of red stripes and green/text concerning text piece
text concerning text piece/patty waters exposition
Zig Zag Cubism #3 features a text discussing the two dramatically different sides of the Patty Waters lp “Sings” and the swath of linen cut from “Looking With Mirror Apparatus” 2008, with notes concerning “Two Planes (With Text)“, 2007.
Stacks, 2012
Stacks is made up of components from four previously exhibited sculptures. Two were shown at Oliver Kamm/5be in 2004; one was exhibited in London in 2009; and the last was a part of a Hurray art exhibition in Long Island City in 2006. Each have a document of their original state– be that a slide, an image on a website or a reference in a review.
-Richard Aldrich and Bortolami Gallery
*The second show features the text in printed form as a drawing. The text was originally produced as an invitation card for the art fair, Art Rock, 2005.