[flo] #1- installation at A.I.R. Gallery
A.I.R. Gallery
April 29 - May 24, 2009
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 30, 2009 6pm to 8pm
First Thursday Reception: Thursday, May 7, 2009 6pm to 8pm
BROOKLYN, NY April 2009 - A.I.R. Gallery is pleased to announce [flo] an exhibition of new work by 2008-2009 A.I.R. Gallery Fellowship Artist, Jennifer Williams. This is Williams’ first solo exhibition in New York City. The opening reception will be held on Thursday, April 30th from 6pm to 8pm.
Overall, Jennifer Williams work is concerned with a “desire to recycle and build” in order to engage the viewer in overlooked moments from the everyday. While her collage-based installations are grounded in photography, the artist is never satisfied with the rectangular frame, but instead, like Rauschenberg, finds fresh ways to work, with, around through and over the shape, searching for the moment when the initial form “falls off.”
Jennifer Williams has lived and worked in Manhattan for the last twenty years and has made the visual exploration of New York City a central theme in her work. By documenting, deconstructing and re-composing visual elements of the city she tells the stories of its inhabitants. Having worked as a carpenter and woodworker, Williams is engaged with structural concerns, especially the possibility of combining disparate elements to form a cohesive, new whole. In recent work, Williams photographs the overlooked objects of Manhattan’s raucous landscape, such as piles of discarded furniture or construction debris. In the studio, images of these “found materials” are cut out and re-assembled to form intricate, abstract collages. The final step in Williams’ process is to return the completed work to the street by pasting each piece in a location where the work partially blends with the surroundings. At first glace these, complex yet subtle interventions may appear to be a happy accident.
In [FLO] Williams focuses her attention on the immediate landscape of the gallery itself. Her installation reminds us that there is substantially more to an exhibition space than a white walled cube. By photographing the ducts, pipes, light fixtures, office equipment, and other necessary but often hidden features of a gallery, Williams deconstructs the space, highlighting the architectural elements that make the building function but often go unnoticed. The viewer is directed to see the space in its entirety instead of imagining the artwork to be separate or unaffected by its context. In this case, rather than returning her large-scale collages to the street, Williams allows the outside to in. The literal and imagined ductwork, electric lines, sprinkler system and other pipes lead the viewer’s eye around the space, serving as pathways to the building’s exterior and the surrounding urban geography.
April 29 - May 24, 2009
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 30, 2009 6pm to 8pm
First Thursday Reception: Thursday, May 7, 2009 6pm to 8pm
BROOKLYN, NY April 2009 - A.I.R. Gallery is pleased to announce [flo] an exhibition of new work by 2008-2009 A.I.R. Gallery Fellowship Artist, Jennifer Williams. This is Williams’ first solo exhibition in New York City. The opening reception will be held on Thursday, April 30th from 6pm to 8pm.
Overall, Jennifer Williams work is concerned with a “desire to recycle and build” in order to engage the viewer in overlooked moments from the everyday. While her collage-based installations are grounded in photography, the artist is never satisfied with the rectangular frame, but instead, like Rauschenberg, finds fresh ways to work, with, around through and over the shape, searching for the moment when the initial form “falls off.”
Jennifer Williams has lived and worked in Manhattan for the last twenty years and has made the visual exploration of New York City a central theme in her work. By documenting, deconstructing and re-composing visual elements of the city she tells the stories of its inhabitants. Having worked as a carpenter and woodworker, Williams is engaged with structural concerns, especially the possibility of combining disparate elements to form a cohesive, new whole. In recent work, Williams photographs the overlooked objects of Manhattan’s raucous landscape, such as piles of discarded furniture or construction debris. In the studio, images of these “found materials” are cut out and re-assembled to form intricate, abstract collages. The final step in Williams’ process is to return the completed work to the street by pasting each piece in a location where the work partially blends with the surroundings. At first glace these, complex yet subtle interventions may appear to be a happy accident.
In [FLO] Williams focuses her attention on the immediate landscape of the gallery itself. Her installation reminds us that there is substantially more to an exhibition space than a white walled cube. By photographing the ducts, pipes, light fixtures, office equipment, and other necessary but often hidden features of a gallery, Williams deconstructs the space, highlighting the architectural elements that make the building function but often go unnoticed. The viewer is directed to see the space in its entirety instead of imagining the artwork to be separate or unaffected by its context. In this case, rather than returning her large-scale collages to the street, Williams allows the outside to in. The literal and imagined ductwork, electric lines, sprinkler system and other pipes lead the viewer’s eye around the space, serving as pathways to the building’s exterior and the surrounding urban geography.
