Installation images: Tammy Rae Carland "An Archive of Feelings"

Gossip from back in the day: Kevin Killian

--> Posted by Kevin Killian @ February 19, 2008 at 4:45 pm

I’m at the Silverman Gallery and Larry Rinder has just done his best to make Poland’s Pavel Kruk seem fascinating in their onstage interview, but Kruk, who looks so commandingly Olympian in his videos, keeps reminding me of the posts in a fence I once had to plant on the prairies of Manitoba. Afterwards in a dark corner of the cellar space I ask Marc Arthur and Job Piston their ideas on the box. First thought best thought, I urge them. “Off the record?” “Yes,” I lied. “In that case how about The Cell with Jennifer Lopez?” asks Marc. Job nods enthusiastically, adding, “And you know what was my favorite—Cube!” I hadn’t thought of horror movies, how the box permeates horror cinema. My brow frowns as I try to recall what The Cell was about. I think it was to save the life of a kidnapped girl, brave Jennifer Lopez goes to a desert laboratory where she gets strapped into the “cell” and virtual memory electrodes are taped to her temples and she relives the horror of the other girl’s ordeal. I know I saw it, but not during my formative years unlike Marc who must have been an extreme version of nine or ten. And what about Boxing Helena, I intersperse, but neither boy seems to know that film, despite the enormous furore of its production when its lead, Kim Basinger, dropped out due to the disgustingness of the material. If I remember right, weird stalker scientist Julian Sands captures the heroine, cuts off her arms and legs, and keeps her in a box because he loves her so much, yuck. It was made by David Lynch’s daughter—case closed—get it? Job’s still talking about The Cube and how everyone wakes up and they’re all in a cube and each of them represents something else and they have to figure out what. “Story of my life,” think I.

Pavel Kruk at Silverman Gallery

Kevin Killian and Job Piston, photo by William E. Jones

Photos and Press: PDF show, 2008

Link for press in Norway: http://oslopuls.no/kunst/article2551421.ece

Plus, images from Silverman Gallery installation:

Vanessa Albury @ Ox-Bow

Vanessa Albury finished a three weeks residence at Ox-Bow. She made a series of polaroid-studies capturing the light in her studio and experimented with film projections in the woods.

Ox-Bow, school of art and artists’ residency, has served as a haven for visual artists since 1910. Founded on the shores of Lake Michigan as an escape from the city, Ox-Bow’s campus encompasses 115-acres of pristine natural forests, dunes, a lagoon, and historic buildings. It is both defined and protected by the landscape that inspires the artists who live and work here.

Review: Tammy Rae Carland, Shotgun-Review.com

Shotgun Review: An Archive of Feelings - Tammy Rae Carland at Silverman Gallery by Jano Cortijo "Things belong to those who need them", my grandmother used to say, meaning you would hardly ever find clothes or appliances lying around her house indolently collecting dust. Life had taught her about precariousness and she had learned to share and give away things that somebody, anybody, else might need. Just as clothes and school books went from older to younger to youngest daughter, a worn chair or a chipped pot quickly found a new home when they were replaced by newer items, their life span extended well beyond their average life. Still, she held on to a few things until her last day: a wooden trunk, a hand knit bedspread, a clear acrylic cube holding 5 pictures on each of its exposed sides. These three items probably witnessed a lot more than could have ever been observed by any of her daughters or grandchildren. After she passed away, my mother kept the wooden trunk and to this day it is inevitable -Spielberg-ish corny as it sounds- to be immediately transported to the endless afternoons I or any of my cousins spent sitting on top of it or to the evenings when we stared at the small color TV on top of it watching whatever soap opera was in fashion. All this textual foreplay is -hopefully- an introduction to Tammy Rae Carland's austere and magnificent photography exhibition "An Archive of Feelings" on view until July 26th at Silverman Gallery in downtown San Francisco. Carland has slightly steered away from photographing herself and her surroundings to focus on a series of objects that, engulfed in a sea of white as we see them in the show, form a very intimate cabinet of personal curiosities, the items both offering sufficient information and barely hinting at the anecdotes and stories behind and around them. A literal installation of all these carefully conserved items would not be as beautifully effective as their current presentation, like immobile prehistoric remains captured in amber, their sentimental value exponentially augmented by the pristine conservation of their meaningful patina. While keeping some of these mementos' tactile qualities, the photographs create the necessary distance for the viewer to wonder and wander in what we can only speculate are Tammy Rae's archived feelings. The larger pieces on display in the gallery may be more effective in threading what seems like clear, almost explicit narratives; but the smaller, single or double item photographs are none less persuasive in transporting us to the time(s) and place(s) when they started to become important for the artist, slowly and serenely accumulating a history that is now made tangible by the wear and tear they proudly flaunt, almost infinite memories gradually seeping into each and every corner of these vessels of affection. I've read that the show's title has been borrowed from a book I am not familiar with so instead of futilely trying to figure out the intellectual aspect of Tammy Rae Carland's project, I will just relate it to my own experiences, even at the risk of cornering it in the niche of subtly female artwork rooted in the domestic universe. I just can't think of any male artist caring as much to keep vestiges like these (my limited art history knowledge only brings up Felix Gonzalez-Torres' name) and enshrining them to such delicate and potent effect. Carland's achievement lies in both referencing and transcending a sort of housekeeping aesthetic by elevating the immaterial qualities of apparently banal items to convey the resonance of relationships past.

Mini Market, August 1 & TIGER BEER

We are thrilled to have sponsorship from this amazing company:

Thanks to Marco and Shannon!

Staying open late: July 19, 2008

We will stay open until 8pm in honor of PDF:

GROUP SHOW OPENS IN 14 CITIES INTERNATIONALLY

(July 14, 2008 New York, NY) TKTKTKTKTK in partnership with Why + Wherefore is pleased to announce PDF, a one-night-only show co-curated by Summer Guthery, Lumi Tan, and Nicholas Weist that will be held simultaneously in 14 cities internationally and each of the 5 boroughs of New York City on July 19 from 6 to 8pm. The show includes commissioned works from Fia Backström, Bozidar Brazda, Brian Clifton, Paul Ramirez Jonas, Rachel Mason, Sean Raspet, and Jordan Wolfson, and a contribution from Dexter Sinister.

For the PDF show, the curators asked each of the artists to respond to their medium, PDFs—specifically how digital work can be infinitely and exactly reproduced. Each was also invited to interrogate the idea of worldwide, collective action—connected to the simultaneous, international openings. Select artworks are currently available for download at http://www.whyandwherefore.com/pdf, and the complete show will be available on July 19.

PDF will also open at the following commercial, alternative, and artists-run galleries and institutions on July 19:

SELECT VENUES

Please contact for opening details; for a complete listing of venues please visit whyandwherefore.com/pdf

Atkinson Space, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA
Bastard, Oslo, Norway
Brown Gallery, London, UK
La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain
Circus of Books, Los Angeles, California, USA
Golden Age, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Hiromi Yoshii Gallery, Osaka, Japan
Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco, California, USA
Galleri Loyal, Stockholm, Sweden
Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, Portland, Oregon, USA
Showroom, Hamburg, Germany; Leipzig, Germany; Zurich, Switzerland
Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, New York City, USA
Vox Populi, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Y Gallery, Queens, New York City, USA

ABOUT WHY + WHEREFORE
Why + Wherefore is an online curatorial project co-founded and -directed Summer Guthery, Lumi Tan, and Nicholas Weist. Since December 2007 they have presented work by over 100 artists, in experimental group shows that explore the structure of curatorial practice and the expanded field of internet-based curation. Why + Wherefore is seen by thousands each month, visiting from across North and South America as well as Africa, Asia, and Europe. http://www.whyandwherefore.com