Ry Rocklen “Believe You Me”
UNTITLED
This event has ended.
In “Believe You Me”, the point of entry is marked by a wooden bench, the visitors' first port of call. Beyond this, the gallery floor is covered with variously sized paintings used to frame the artist's sculptures, tiles rendered by manipulating the work of a multitude of collaborators, friends and strangers.
The involvement of many is first acknowledged through Soft Cover A to Z, a chrome-plated found phone book, and later glorified by Second to None, a construction made of trophies that someone once won, then discarded. But the treasure in these objects is not lost on the artist.
For this exhibition Rocklen continues to engage in his unique manipulation of the found object, elevating the most mundane knick knacks to pure sculptural poetry. A kitsch umbrella-shaped umbrella stand gets showered with blue drops – a plethora of blue earrings patiently collected from thrift stores and pierced into the metal. The movement of a patterned towel casually thrown over a metal stand is frozen by a layer of glass tiles and an instantaneous action is turned into many hours of painstakingly meticulous effort.
Amid this visual onslaught, the head of a woman placidly lies on a stars-and-stripes-decorated pillow – Liberta is the queen of this show. She rests her head on a ubiquitous symbol of national pride, facing the entrance of the gallery, where an oversized American flag is draped, its edge kissing the ground.
Ry Rocklen was born in 1978 in Los Angeles, where he lives and works.
Media
Schedule
from September 07, 2011 to October 16, 2011
Opening Reception on 2011-09-07 from 18:00 to 20:00