Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi is pleased to announce
Art Basel OVR: Pioneers
VAGINAL DAVIS:
SPEAKING FROM THE DIAPHRAGM
24 – 27 March 2021
Vaginal Davis has been a prolific producer of club performance, video and Xerox Zines, and other forms of antagonistic low-cost, high-impact work. Ms Davis derails collector-friendly raciness in spectacles of femininity, queerness and blackness. — Dominic Johnson, Frieze
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Adams and Ollman
Artists, Exhibitions, Fairs, News, Gallery
Dear John
March 19 – April 17, 2021
James Castle with Evgeny Antufiev, Katherine Bradford, Andrew Cranston, Vaginal Davis, Lois Dodd, Ficus Interfaith, Nick Goss, Jessica Jackson Hutchins, Chris Johanson, David Korty, Isaac Tin Wei Lin, Sarah McEneaney, Ryan McLaughlin, Jeffry Mitchell, Dina No, Hilary Pecis, Conny Purtill, Emily Mae Smith, Becky Suss, Ricky Swallow and Willa Wasserman
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That young, very pretty and sexy artist Elliot Reed who is like a black dorky Jerry Lewis on Seconal has an exhibition opening in New York City where he is stationed in residence through the Studio Museum of Harlem. Check it out if you are in the Tri-State area.
Elliot Reed Three Works (March 25 - April 25 2021)
Open to the public one viewer at a time
-Saturdays and Sundays between 12and 6 pm or by appointment-
Like every living thing, Elliot Reed struggles between present and past.
But instead of kneading and glossing this conflict into seeming clarity, Reed makes a virtue of vagueness. His work seeks to have 50-ply blanket of layers, like archaeological artifacts whose discoveries elicit more questions than they answer.
The 29-year-old Reed might be better known for his performance works, but the only performance here is imaginary – via “Drawing,” the centerpiece of the show, which lived one life as a dance floor before retiring into wall piece objecthood.
Even the title of the show, Three Works, is a piece of misinformation. Actually, there are five.
Because Reed’s works chafe at definition even as they court it, no attempt will be made to decrypt them here. Instead, there are two helpful lists of layers which the works variously inhabit and the tensions they explore.
1. Drawing (2019-2021) approximately 4ft x 9ft - wood, latex paint, indigo, sweat, rubber, blood, saliva, dirt, velcro
2. Sheath (2021) - hand-studded leather jacket, 24k gold hex spikes, brass studs, display stand
3. Concrete (2020-21) - flowers, metal shelf, paper, cellophane, ink
4. Untitled (Legs) (2021) - framed set of two matte photo prints
5. Untitled (Umbrellas) (2021) - framed set of two matte photo prints
The works have 24 layers, as:
plinth
calendar
body
envy
dance
tea leaves
sex
trash
revision
cryptography
minimalism
collection
memory
homage
history
set
exclusion
shibboleth
evidence
chic
perversity
monument
pyx
legend
The works have 32 tensions, between:
suggested and stated
tangible and untouchable
inclusion and exclusion
ab-ex and minimalism
joy and sadness
theatrical and permanent
visible and invisible
past/plasticity, present/plasterity, future/posterity
smudged and pristine
loss and leftover
peace and violence
flux and stasis
race and erasion
packaging and prize
communal and contemplative
public and personal
fabrication rate and approval rate
lazy/passive and industrious/active
artifact and human
sculpture and painting
utilized floor and fetishized wall
purpose and accident
valueless and value-added
artwork and film screen
suggested and stated
tangible and untouchable
inclusion and exclusion
ab-ex and minimalism
joy and sadness
theatrical and permanent
visible and invisible
past/plasticity, present/plasterity, future/posterity
smudged and pristine
loss and leftover
peace and violence
flux and stasis
race and erasion
packaging and prize
communal and contemplative
public and personal
fabrication rate and approval rate
lazy/passive and industrious/active
artifact and human
sculpture and painting
utilized floor and fetishized wall
purpose and accident
valueless and value-added
artwork and film screen
flotsam and jetsam
digital and manual
horizontal and vertical
simple and multiple
show and shambles
literal and abstract
myth and truth
life and death
Elliot Reed is a contemporary artist and director. His projects span performance, choreography, video, and sculpture. He is the founder, director, and sole employee of Elliot Reed Laboratories, a production office located within the artist’s body. Established in 2014, Elliot Reed Laboratories holds a copyright with The Library of Congress and a Los Angeles County business license.
Elliot Reed’s work has shown at MoMA PS1, The Getty Museum, Kaufman Music Center, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, The Broad Museum, Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, OUE Skyspace, The Hammer Museum, University of Chicago, University of Southern California, and UCLA, in addition to international performances in Tokyo, Osaka, London, Vienna, Berlin, and Mexico City. In 2019 he taught a sound course at California Institute of the Arts (CALARTS). He received the Rema Hort Mann emerging artist grant in 2019 as well as a danceWEB scholarship for ImPulsTanz performing arts festival in Vienna, and was 2019-20 Artist In Residence at The Studio Museum in Harlem.
digital and manual
horizontal and vertical
simple and multiple
show and shambles
literal and abstract
myth and truth
life and death
Elliot Reed is a contemporary artist and director. His projects span performance, choreography, video, and sculpture. He is the founder, director, and sole employee of Elliot Reed Laboratories, a production office located within the artist’s body. Established in 2014, Elliot Reed Laboratories holds a copyright with The Library of Congress and a Los Angeles County business license.
Elliot Reed’s work has shown at MoMA PS1, The Getty Museum, Kaufman Music Center, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, The Broad Museum, Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, OUE Skyspace, The Hammer Museum, University of Chicago, University of Southern California, and UCLA, in addition to international performances in Tokyo, Osaka, London, Vienna, Berlin, and Mexico City. In 2019 he taught a sound course at California Institute of the Arts (CALARTS). He received the Rema Hort Mann emerging artist grant in 2019 as well as a danceWEB scholarship for ImPulsTanz performing arts festival in Vienna, and was 2019-20 Artist In Residence at The Studio Museum in Harlem.
