The LongestShow Title

of the Universeis Here

Annalisa PerazziKim Jong Il

Ronald ReaganMatt Kleenex

Ramon EsquivernaLaetitia Ann-Saedler

Camilla Perowski-WittgensteinEdo Udo

Rachel Minnesota

Curated by:Franklin Delano and

Eric Sutherland

From April 26 to May 28, 2012Opening Reception: Friday, May 28, 7-9 PM

NURTUREart Gallery56 Bogart St., Brooklyn, NY 11206

One Trace After

Elizabeth Orr

Carlos Reyes

Claudia Weber

Geo Wyeth

From January 3 to January 31, 2014Opening reception: Friday, January 3, 7-9 PM

NURTUREart Gallery56 Bogart St., Brooklyn, NY 11206

curated by Alison Burstein

My deepest appreciation goes to Emma Cohen, Desi Gonzalez, Debra Lennard, and my family, whose generous support and

feedback made this exhibition possible.

“Every perceptual experience is always, at best, a work in progress”– Alva Noë, Varieties of Presence, 2012

Notes on Traces by Alison Burstein

As a complement to One Trace After, this publication rearticulates the exhibition’s central proposition in a different form. Where the exhibition suggests that a visi-tor’s encounter with an artwork or group of artworks in a gallery always results in a partial impression—limited by the physical and discursive contexts framing it—these pages explore how this condition of in-completeness impacts the project of docu-menting an exhibition. Recognizing that it is not possible to comprehensively portray the artworks and their relationships to one another as they exist in the exhibition, this publication instead brings together a series of traces that take the form of words and images documenting moments from One Trace After’s conception, development, and realization. The publication’s contents offer in-sight into these phases of the exhibition’s evolution from the perspectives of its con-tributors—the curator, the artists, and the writers. To shed light on One Trace After’s conceptual underpinnings, I have incorpo-rated quotations representing the thinkers and theories that motivated my investiga-tion of traces. The artists have selected ma-terials that uncover aspects of their creative processes by directly or abstractly illustrat-

ing the research, ideation, or creation of their works. As reflections on the exhibition in its fully realized form, four unique press releases are included within: composed by me and three invited writers, these texts were released weekly during the exhibition’s run. And for the final element, images of the gallery installation and the individual artworks as they first ap-peared punctuate these pages. Between the publication’s covers, these components are fluidly mixed together: a flip of a page results in a shift in moment, voice, reference, or mode of representation. By compiling the traces without regard for chro-nology or typology, this publication prompts the reader to peruse it according to his or her interpretative sense, whether that means fol-lowing or straying from the given order. In do-ing so, the reader can develop his or her un-derstanding of the exhibition not only through the traces captured on the pages, but also through the connections that he or she makes between them. With each potential link offer-ing a distinct perspective on the exhibition and its artworks, this publication invites visitors to multiply the meanings and narratives associ-ated with One Trace After, turning the docu-ment’s incompleteness into an indication of its unfolding future rather than a product of its fixed origin.

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Elizabeth Orr, Steak (detail), 2014. Digital video, a/v equipment, wood, wheels, digital prints, dimensions variable.

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Geo Wyeth, Den (detail), 2013. Mixed trash, dimensions variable.

Claudia Weber, Take the Day Off (detail), 2013. Archival pigment print, 70 x 44 inches.

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Claudia Weber, Take the Day Off, 2013. Archival pigment print, 70 x 44 inches.

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Carlos Reyes

Not Yet Titled (The Comebacks), 2013. Box fan, mirror, extension cord, dimensions variable.

Not Yet Titled (Jackals), 2013. Box fan, mirror, extension cord, dimensions variable.

Day Rate, 2013. Box fan, mirror, extension cord, dimensions variable.

Not yet titled (Tomato)_clear, 2013. Box fan, mirror, extension cord, dimensions variable.

Also pictured in the reflection:

Not Yet Titled (Perfecto), 2013. Box fan, glass, extension cord, dimensions variable.

Not Yet Titled (Romeos), 2013. Box fan, glass, extension cord, dimensions variable.

Nite Rate, 2013. Box fan, glass, extension cord, dimensions variable.

Not Yet Titled (Potato) _mirror, 2013. Box fan, glass, extension cord, dimensions variable.

Geo Wyeth

“A work of art no matter how old and classic is actually, not just potentially, a work of art only when it lives in some individualized experience. […] As a work of art, it is recreated every time it is esthetically experienced”

– John Dewey, Art as Experience, 1934

Steak is a symbol of food, protein, wealth, hier-archical power, ego, death, and capitalism, and a product of farming conventions that contrib-ute to deforestation, drought, and other envi-ronmental damage. Steak (2014) is a video installation that shifts over the course of January during One Trace After’s run. The piece combines a few different looks: the look of low resolution color, black & white, precarious, and digital. The vid-eo piece is obstructed so you are unable to see a front and centered vantage point; the video is projected on the far wall and in front of it is

a wheeled vertical object. Glossy color, legal sized prints of repurposed internet images of steaks are collaged and taped to this frame on wheels, which is wrapped in white faux vinyl. The sculptural frame blocks the projection frame, divvying up the clas-sic frontal vantage point of viewership. Behind the object, the same three steaks are black & white with ghostly shadows moving over them. These steaks move as the planets do, sped up enough to look slowed down, clocking five minutes forwards and backwards on the user interface timeline that re-mains on the screen. With Steak, I or a friend will periodically move the frame into a new position, continuing to obstruct the view of the video and messing with the narrative that comes from the proximity of the frame and the video. The only constant throughout these shifts will be that it is never easy to see the vantage point of the front and center. Steak reflects one of the main consider-ations in my work: the question of how the process of making a piece of art is part and parcel of the product. Influenced by the work of artist Emma Hedditch, I shy towards showing the candid and casual in my performances, which are staged within my less casual installations. Beyond this, the means by which a work is produced and how these means are reflected in the work itself have come to the forefront of how I think about my work and read any piece of art. For instance, in my piece A Moral Body at Bodega in Philadelphia, PA, I performed through-out a series of my video installations, dismantling and changing high hanging, large sculptures and altering the external lighting and projection planes of videos. The disruption of my video installation

There are a number of stories about how the Tenderloin got its name. One says it is a reference to an older neighborhood in New York with the same name and similar characteristics. Another is a reference to the neighborhood as the “soft underbelly” (analogous to the cut of meat) of the city, with allusions to vice and corruption, espe-cially graft. There are also some legends about the name, probably folklore, includ-ing that the neighborhood earned its name from the words of a New York City police captain, Alexander S. Williams, who was overheard saying that when he was as-signed to another part of the city, he could only afford to eat chuck steak on the salary he was earning, but after he was transferred to this neighborhood he was making so much money on the side soliciting bribes that now he could eat tenderloin instead. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenderloin,_San_Francisco)

Steak (2014) is in the way—

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and sculpture is increasingly becoming a large part of how I want to exhibit work. I am excited by the premise of One Trace After, as it gives an opportunity to do just that by making a piece whose elements shift over time and exhibiting it alongside other artists’ work that will also change. One Trace After for me is a conversa-tion with the conventional gallery model of present-ing a finished piece (to presumably be bought and sold). This critique of the capitalist model of show-ing “finished” work allows me to have my process readily apparent, and foregrounds how the viewing relation informs not only the subjects of my work but also the complexity and instability of represen-tation and knowledge. —Elizabeth Orr

“Works live and remain important be-cause their meanings change. They ac-

cumulate past views, and are affected by the resources each new viewer brings to

them”

– Rika Burnham and Elliott Kai-Kee, “The Art of Teaching in the Museum,” 2005

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For my written contribution to One Trace After, I elected to forego the traditional gal-lery press release in favor of a different kind of interpretive material that might be found at a museum: a game. I have spent three years producing educational resources for art museums, most recently experimenting with games as a way to get visitors discussing works on view.

Modeled after I Spy, Where’s Waldo, Hid-den Pictures, and others, One Trace After: The Game asks visitors to find traces—items, ideas, essences— in the gallery (or, if a visi-tor so chooses, anywhere in the world). But there’s a twist: like works of art, words can have diverse meanings that change depend-ing on the context or the personal knowl-edges of interlocutors. The traces listed in this game are often whimsical, intangible, layered, and ambiguous. Pairing these words to the physical becomes, itself, an exercise in imagination and subjective interpretation.

– Desi Gonzalez

Elizabeth Orr, Steak (detail), 2014. Digital video, a/v equipment, wood, wheels, digital prints, dimensions variable.

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Carlos Reyes

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Claudia Weber, Take the Day Off, 2013.

Seres Enterprise LTD is a manufacturer located in Taipei, Taiwan; like many other Asian manu-facturers, it provides cheap labor and goods for companies around the world. Seres makes cloth bags for clients including Clinique Laboratories, LLC, an upscale skin and cosmetics brand that markets products with ambitious label claims such as “Superdefense” and “Superprimer Face Primer Colour Corrects Dullness.” Clinique’s North American headquarters is located in New York City.

Roughly a year ago, I found several discarded, outdated samples that Seres produced for Cli-nique in the inventory at Materials for the Arts, a reuse center that collects unneeded supplies and makes them available to arts organizations. Around this time, Alison Burstein invited me to take part in One Trace After at NURTUREart, and I began to research the history of the Bushwick building—56 Bogart Street—that houses this exhibition space, along with other galleries, studios, and creative businesses.

Upon learning that the previous occupants of this formerly industrial building were local gar-ment manufacturers who had either moved loca-tions or permanently shut down, I recognized the relevance of the Seres fabric samples to this context.

My work for this exhibition, Take the Day Off, which borrows one of Clinique’s declarative product titles, appropriates these found mate-rials in a way that seamlessly perpetuates the ongoing circulations and transformations that occur at the interstices between labor, fash-ion, and art. In doing so, my aim is to highlight what slips in and out of this cycle—the people, perspectives, and things—and what kind of nar-ratives arise as a result of this local and global drive for production.

—Claudia Weber

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Import-Genius—a business that tracks the shipments of Clinique and other companies — features a short animation on its website that playfully illustrates how goods circulate around the globe. The videogame-like journey tracks trading routes along air, sea, and land so fluidly and alluringly that it doesn’t seem out of place when a passing submarine sud-denly destroys an igloo-style factory.

“As soon as you trace something, the trace be-comes independent of its source – that’s the struc-ture of the trace. The trace becomes independent of its origin, and as soon as the trace is traced, it escapes. You cannot control the fate of the book totally. I cant control the future of this interview (laughter)...You record it, but then you’ll re-write it, re-frame it, build a new context, and perhaps, my sentence will sound different.”

– Jacques Derrida, “An Interview with Jacques Derrida,” 1997

Geo Wyeth

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Geo Wyeth, Den, 2013. Mixed trash, dimensions variable.

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Carlos Reyes

Untitled (vs. Version 2), 2013. Laser etched dried mushroom, 10 x 8 inches.

And (vs. V2), 2013. Laser etched dried mushroom, 10 x 8 inches.

Same As (vs. V2), 2013. Laser etched dried mushroom, 10 x 8 inches.

Not yet titled -And & _shroom, 2013. Laser etched dried mushroom, 10 x 8 inches.

NURTUREart Non-Profit, Inc is a 501(c)3 New York State licensed federally tax-exempt charitable organi-zation founded in 1997 by George J. Robinson.

NURTUREart receives support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, including member item funding from City Council Members Sara Gonzales, Stephen Levin, and Diana Reyna, the New York City Department of Education, and the New York State Council on the Arts. NURTUREart is also supported by the Harold and Colene Brown Foundation, Edelman, the Green-wich Collection, Ltd., the Joan Mitchell Foundation, the Laura B. Vogler Foundation, the Lily Auchincloss Foundation, the Milton and Sally Avery Arts Founda-tion, No More Poverty, the Puffin Foundation, Urban Outfitters, and the Wolf Kahn and Emily Mason Foun-dation. We receive in-kind support from Brooklyn Brewery, Societe Perrier, Tekserve, and Volunteer Law-yers for the Arts. NURTUREart is grateful for significant past sup-port from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Liebovitz Foundation, and the Greenwall Foundation, and to the many generous individuals and businesses whose contributions have supported us throughout our history. Finally, we would like to ac-knowledge the artists who have contributed works of art to past benefits—our continued success would be impossible without your generosity.

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56 Bogart StreetBrooklyn, NY 11206

L train to Morgan Avenue

T 718 782 7755F 718 569 2086

E gallery@nurtureart.org

www.nurtureart.org

Directions:

By Subway: L train to the Morgan Avenue stop.

Exit the station via Bogart Street. Look for the NURTUREart entrance on Bogart Street, close to the inter-

section with Harrison Place.

By Car: Driving From Manhattan: Take the

Williamsburg Bridge, stay in the outside lane, and take the Broadway

/ S. 5 St. exit. Turn left at light onto Havemeyer St. Turn right next light

onto Borinquen Place, continue straight, street will change name to Grand Street. Turn right onto Bush-

wick Ave, left onto Johnson Ave, then right onto Bogart Street. Look

for our entrance at the corner of Bogart Street and Harrison Place.