NYAB Event - "Of Memory and Time" Exhibition

"Of Memory and Time" Exhibition

Hendershot Gallery

This event has ended.

Hendershot Gallery presents “Of Memory and Time”, an exhibition inspired by a quote from the French Nouveau Réaliste Arman, combines a range of artists who’s works speak to the relationship between the ephemeral quality of time and the enduring presence each artist possesses through memory. In the interview conducted by Sevim Fesci on April 22, 1968, the artist described how he did not believe in time itself. Rather, he spoke of memory as his real inspiration and the source from which time is created. Through the works in this exhibition, the artists create from either the true or fantastic memories of their mind– a new perpetual existence in time.

Although vastly different in media and composition, the works included in Of Memory and Time all convey this belief in the “pure power” of memory. A quote from Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughter-House-Five reads, “When a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past... All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist.” Christopher Astley’s So It Goes installation was inspired by this idea of memory in relation to existence. Similarly, Richard Bosman’s Doors and Windows series explores the remaining presence of the late artists Duchamp, Pollock, and Magritte in the portrayal of the doors and doorways leading to their remaining studios. Carlo Van de Roer depicts the relationship between physical and spiritual coexisting in tandem with one another through his photographic series, Orbs. The use of colorful orbs in his images derives from the widespread belief that such unexplained presences in photography are actually documentations of the supernatural.

Marie Vic’s Life! Still series plays with the staging of found objects from every day life in a continuous variation of free actions, which have been contained and petrified –re-contextualizing the way one views them. By freezing and displaying these objects with an archeological mindset, Vic creates work that provokes an analysis of the material culture, which will be left behind from contemporary consumerism. The idea of preserving the memories of contemporary life is also explored in Christopher Brook’s portraits. The artist is able preserve these particular intimate moments between the artist and subject which in turn creates a unique and perpetual existence of each memory. In Public Figures, Erik Olofsen slows down time in order for the viewer to suddenly perceive the minimal gestures, which normally go unnoticed to the human eye. Through this process he is able to create a surreal moment from a fragment of every day life, which has been recorded and replayed in different venues, giving them a new ever-lasting life and enabling them to relive again with each play.

In relation to Arman’s statement, “Memory is the real inspiration,” artist David Pappaceno drew his inspiration for the unique juxtapositions found in his work from the documented memories of art historical periods, existing together only in the moments captured through the context of his paintings. Julie Tremblay’s whimsical installation of wax figures uses untraditional materials to speak to what it’s like to be a human being today, in what she refers to as a modern, “desacralized” world. Her works often explore the tension between individual and society as well as the idea of a collective unconscious. In a video installation created from four separate excerpts from Grace Jone’s 2008 music video, Corporate Cannibal, Nick Hooker creates a surreal, otherworldly environment in the basement of the gallery. Matthew Brandt’s Lakes and Reservoirs emphasizes the material processes and properties of photography by using the actual water collected from the various lakes and reservoirs to manipulate their images.

While standing in front of certain artist’s works, the viewer will be able to listen to a portion of the musical piece composed specifically for this exhibition by cellist Christopher Lancaster. Lancaster and his cello “Lucas” have produced six unique compositions that are inspired by the particular works by which they are positioned. When listened to in its entirety, this piece encapsulates the overall cohesive experience that one would take away from Of Memory and Time. At the end of the exhibition, gallery visitors will leave with the lingering memory of Lancaster’s musical composition and of their personal relationship with the works on view –a memory that will continue to exist in time far beyond the duration of this exhibition.

[Image: Arman "Still Hungry" (1978) Bronze Wrenches with Nickel 17.2h x 15.4w x 9.3d in.]