Amie Dicke
24 Jan - 23 Feb 2008
Decapitate, 2007
Amie DICKE
Mixed-media sculpture-plaster, plastic. black ink marker on shelf
7.8 x 7.8 x 11.8 inches (20 x 20 x 30 cm)
Amie DICKE
Mixed-media sculpture-plaster, plastic. black ink marker on shelf
7.8 x 7.8 x 11.8 inches (20 x 20 x 30 cm)
AMIE DICKE
"Infinitely suffering Thing"
January 25 - February 23, 2008
Opening reception: January 25th from 7 to 9 pm
"For it is ultimately the function of art, in imposing a credible order upon ordinary reality, and thereby eliciting some perception of an order in reality, to bring us to a condition of serenity, stillness and reconciliation; and then leave us, as Virgil left Dante, to proceed towards a region where that guide can avail us no further".
T.S. Eliot
Javier Peres is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Amie Dicke, "Infinitely suffering Thing," at Peres Projects, Los Angeles.
For her third solo exhibition with Peres Projects, the artist will present an installation of new sculptures that, in her words, "search for the inner life of objects and materials." In extending her visual vocabulary and incorporating new, more vulnerable materials into her works, Dicke reminds us of the temporality and the fragility that are the essence of life.
The title for the show is taken from the poem 'Preludes' by TS Eliot, which talks about "the notion of some infinitely gentle / Infinitely suffering thing" - a thing which for Dicke is inherent in many images. For some years now, she has been absorbed in the steady stream of visual debris and fragmented imagery that is flooding our world. By dredging the dark and deep currents of our visual and material culture, she exposes the many sides of mental and physical decay and suffering.
Dicke uses found objects and everyday, discarded materials in her "assemblages". They consist of disquieting collections of objects and photographs that seem to have resurfaced from a sunken, subconscious world, and are grouped together to form a new creation and invoke a new stream of thought.
This confrontation with a submerged world that is slowly disintegrating, reminds us of Virgil and Dante as they are crossing the Styx - the mythical River of Hate, where sinners are immersed in mud, striking one another with hands, feet, and head, and even biting one another as they are slowly perishing.
The relationship between the living and the dead, via ritual transformation and mediation, has always been of interest to Dicke. The central work of the exhibition (Here we are at the threshold, 2007) expresses this fascination by referring to the defining scene in Tarkovsky's 'Stalker' (1979). In this movie two men are guided into the Zone, an abandoned industrial space where one's innermost desires can be fulfilled, from the reawakening of the dead to the securing of eternal live. Standing on the threshold of the Zone, the guide warns them one last time: "Here we are at the threshold. This is the most important moment of your lives. You have to know that here your most cherished wish will come true. The most sincere one. The one reached through suffering."
Through her new body of work, Dicke leads the viewer into her own transcendental zone that reveals the vanishing traces of realized dreams and the scattered relics of lived lives. It contains both original and newly (re)produced objects, and bridges the physical and psychological gap between the living and the dead by bringing together such diverse elements as disjointed limbs, scarred cityscapes, discarded furniture, disintegrated sculptures, broken mirrors, potting soil and decomposed torsos.
In her installations a sculpted head of Dante is covered with tie wraps, making the poet appear as if he is blindfolded and thus kept away from the pain and suffering of the poor souls that are trapped in the Styx. In another work, however, Dicke confronts us with the mutual dependence of suffering and salvation by showing fragile octopuses that are made of wax. If an octopus loses one of his arms, another, even stronger one, will grow in the same place. By uncovering the degenerated and amputated nature of our material culture, Dicke reconciles the destructive and creative forces of nature.
Amie Dicke (b. 1978 Rotterdam, the Netherlands) lives and works in Amsterdam and will be present for the opening.
Recent group exhibitions include "The Game of Multiple Meaning," Van der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal Germany (2007), "An Archeology," 176 (The Zabludowicz Collection), London England (2007), "Private Property," Peres Projects, 2006 in Berlin (solo exhibition). Her work is in the permanent collections of the Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, Museum Het Domein, Sittard; The Museum of Modern Art, Arnhem; City Collection of Rotterdam through the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen.
"Infinitely suffering Thing" will be on view at Peres Projects (969 Chung King Road, Los Angeles) through Feb. 23, 2008. Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, from 11:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M and by appointment.
"Infinitely suffering Thing"
January 25 - February 23, 2008
Opening reception: January 25th from 7 to 9 pm
"For it is ultimately the function of art, in imposing a credible order upon ordinary reality, and thereby eliciting some perception of an order in reality, to bring us to a condition of serenity, stillness and reconciliation; and then leave us, as Virgil left Dante, to proceed towards a region where that guide can avail us no further".
T.S. Eliot
Javier Peres is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Amie Dicke, "Infinitely suffering Thing," at Peres Projects, Los Angeles.
For her third solo exhibition with Peres Projects, the artist will present an installation of new sculptures that, in her words, "search for the inner life of objects and materials." In extending her visual vocabulary and incorporating new, more vulnerable materials into her works, Dicke reminds us of the temporality and the fragility that are the essence of life.
The title for the show is taken from the poem 'Preludes' by TS Eliot, which talks about "the notion of some infinitely gentle / Infinitely suffering thing" - a thing which for Dicke is inherent in many images. For some years now, she has been absorbed in the steady stream of visual debris and fragmented imagery that is flooding our world. By dredging the dark and deep currents of our visual and material culture, she exposes the many sides of mental and physical decay and suffering.
Dicke uses found objects and everyday, discarded materials in her "assemblages". They consist of disquieting collections of objects and photographs that seem to have resurfaced from a sunken, subconscious world, and are grouped together to form a new creation and invoke a new stream of thought.
This confrontation with a submerged world that is slowly disintegrating, reminds us of Virgil and Dante as they are crossing the Styx - the mythical River of Hate, where sinners are immersed in mud, striking one another with hands, feet, and head, and even biting one another as they are slowly perishing.
The relationship between the living and the dead, via ritual transformation and mediation, has always been of interest to Dicke. The central work of the exhibition (Here we are at the threshold, 2007) expresses this fascination by referring to the defining scene in Tarkovsky's 'Stalker' (1979). In this movie two men are guided into the Zone, an abandoned industrial space where one's innermost desires can be fulfilled, from the reawakening of the dead to the securing of eternal live. Standing on the threshold of the Zone, the guide warns them one last time: "Here we are at the threshold. This is the most important moment of your lives. You have to know that here your most cherished wish will come true. The most sincere one. The one reached through suffering."
Through her new body of work, Dicke leads the viewer into her own transcendental zone that reveals the vanishing traces of realized dreams and the scattered relics of lived lives. It contains both original and newly (re)produced objects, and bridges the physical and psychological gap between the living and the dead by bringing together such diverse elements as disjointed limbs, scarred cityscapes, discarded furniture, disintegrated sculptures, broken mirrors, potting soil and decomposed torsos.
In her installations a sculpted head of Dante is covered with tie wraps, making the poet appear as if he is blindfolded and thus kept away from the pain and suffering of the poor souls that are trapped in the Styx. In another work, however, Dicke confronts us with the mutual dependence of suffering and salvation by showing fragile octopuses that are made of wax. If an octopus loses one of his arms, another, even stronger one, will grow in the same place. By uncovering the degenerated and amputated nature of our material culture, Dicke reconciles the destructive and creative forces of nature.
Amie Dicke (b. 1978 Rotterdam, the Netherlands) lives and works in Amsterdam and will be present for the opening.
Recent group exhibitions include "The Game of Multiple Meaning," Van der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal Germany (2007), "An Archeology," 176 (The Zabludowicz Collection), London England (2007), "Private Property," Peres Projects, 2006 in Berlin (solo exhibition). Her work is in the permanent collections of the Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, Museum Het Domein, Sittard; The Museum of Modern Art, Arnhem; City Collection of Rotterdam through the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen.
"Infinitely suffering Thing" will be on view at Peres Projects (969 Chung King Road, Los Angeles) through Feb. 23, 2008. Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, from 11:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M and by appointment.