BE THERE
Partial Recall: A Group ExhibitionPresented by Lehmann Maupin July 20, 2006- August 25, 2006Reception: July 20, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pmKutlug Ataman, Christian Curiel, Emma Kay, Mike Kelley, Dash Snow, Juergen Teller, Jeffrey Vallance, Michael Vasquez
Cinderella and the Virgin by Kutlug Ataman is a continuation of Kuba, a large-scale work, which debuted at the Carnegie International and won the prestigious Carnegie Award. Istanbul is a modern and ever-changing city. However, history is a weight and through the collective memories of one community, Kuba has remained one of Istanbul’s most notorious ghettos and has defined the identities of its’ residents. Kutlug Ataman presents a captivating look at how collective memories from one community have defined their identity. Christian Curiel’s paintings depict seemingly everyday events, yet upon closer examination, abnormal elements begin to emerge. By representing the confusion and fragility of childhood, Curiel explores his interest in the effect that memories have on the construction of identity. In various media, Mike Kelley gives form to his memories and explores repressed memory. In the case of Memory Ware Flats, he pokes fun at the nostalgic value people invest in keepsakes and other objects. Like Jeffrey Vallance, Kelley’s interest is in how material objects become associated with personal histories and then become charged with meaning. However, unlike Vallance, Kelley’s Memory Ware Flats are not sentimental. For his Reliquary Project, Jeffrey Vallance has constructed elaborate reliquaries to hold the highly personal objects (relics) that he has saved for more than 40 years, with each designed to reflect the meaning of the object inside. Spanning Vallance’s lifetime, the earliest objects are from his childhood and deal with embarrassing moments, traumas and life changing events. For one year, photographer Juergen Teller returned to Nürnberg, a place familiar to him as a child, though his memories of the place are far different from its brutal history. In this series, Teller presents images of the Nazi ruins overrun with weeds in an attempt to confront complicated personal histories and refashion what it means to be German. Drinking, drugs, sex, and violence are the images prevalent in Dash Snow’s enlarged Polaroids. Snow’s art is about recent memory and nostalgia as he attempts to capture and remember his debaucherous escapades the morning after. Former gang member turned painter, Michael Vasquez depicts hustlers and dealers from his past. These dynamic portraits convey aggression and a sense of loss for the part these men played as role models for the artist. His work is currently on view in Metro Pictures at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Miami and a solo exhibition is planned at The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri, later this year. The British artist Emma Kay creates humorous prints that consider the subjective nature of knowledge and memory. In Shakespeare from Memory, she wrote her own versions of the author’s work, without reference materials, relying solely on personal memory. She also painstakingly drew a map of the world with muddled borders and coastlines, causing the viewer to question its validity. Reviews of Partial Recall: A Group Exhibition
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