D’Amelio Terras, New York
July 12 – August 10, 2007
Curated by Rachel Uffner
Sarah Braman
David Brooks
Jedediah Caesar
Nicole Cherubini
Valerie Hegarty
Yuri Masnyj
Ian Pedig0
Jacob Robichaux
Sterling Ruby
Erika Vogt
Circumventing the City reflects on the flux of the neighborhood around us as seen in the transitions between old and new structures, ideas, and architectures. The dichotomy between past and future is omnipresent: warehouses are positioned next to brand new condos, old studio buildings are occupied by glossy new restaurants, and the once-secret High Line has become a marketing phenomenon. The transitory state of the neighborhood relates to the practice of a number of artists negotiating their way through materials and process. These artists play with the intersection between a made and unmade space, using materials as a guide, often revealing the structure of the work itself like some half built architectonic building or a willowy wall of torn movie posters, exposing the space of questions and of flaws.
Artists and galleries have traditionally been driving forces of city diasporas, pushed further and further into the urban fringes, and even shifting the public focus to alternate areas and different cities. There is something at once beautiful and formidable about the impending presence of change in the city, a time where the bellies of buildings are exposed, dust is flying in the air, and shiny newness is rearing its head. This tenuous position is captured in a variety of ways by the artists in this exhibition.
