D’Amelio Terras, New York
September 6 – September 29, 2007
D’Amelio Terras is pleased to present our first solo exhibition with Los Angeles based artist Jedediah Caesar. The exhibition will consist of several resin-based sculptures, which have been amalgamated with debris from Caesar’s living and working environment. The three main works in the show are: a wall piece that is made up of 24 panels, a large bouquet of dried plants that emerge out of a cube filled with organic refuse, and a fabric recliner set on a shipping pallet. Each piece, with its uncertain status, exhibits a different point along the timeline of artistic production.
The large wall piece evokes an abstract painting and is made up of panels that have been sliced from a solid cube filled with collected objects. The individual panels function in a similar way to film stills — when viewed in a sequence the objects are reconstructed in the viewer’s mind. The plants that jut out of the resin cube gradually congeal closer to the base containing domestic organic refuse such as seeds, wood chips, and dried flowers. The rough panels that were cut from the piece to form the cube are presented alongside, creating the possibility to reverse the separation. The recliner (pictured above) is rendered shapeless by the heap of objects still in their original found state. This piece appears to occupy the very initial stage in Caesar’s process. The various art process castoffs that are present in the sculptures, as well as works that appear to be at various points of completion, challenge the notion of labor value behind artistic production and question the idea of purity of form.
In 2007, Caesar had a solo show at the Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Texas. In 2006, his work was included in the exhibition “Trace” at the Whitney Museum of American Art at Altria. In 2005, he participated in the show “Thing: New Sculpture from Los Angeles” at the Hammer Museum and Cultural Center, Los Angeles.
