{"id":9258,"date":"2012-01-10T09:23:31","date_gmt":"2012-01-10T14:23:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/?p=9258"},"modified":"2012-01-10T11:02:31","modified_gmt":"2012-01-10T16:02:31","slug":"pix-from-the-gerald-ferguson-opening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/the-bomb\/2012\/01\/10\/pix-from-the-gerald-ferguson-opening\/","title":{"rendered":"~PIX from the GERALD FERGUSON OPENING . . ."},"content":{"rendered":"

‘GERALD FERGUSON. WORK.’ – ‘STENCIL THROUGH FROTTAGE FROM 1968’
\ncurated by . . . LUKE MURPHY.
\nopened Sat, Jan 7, 2012
\nthe show runs thru Sunday, Feb 12, 2012
\nCANADA – 55 CHRYSTIE ST (btwn HESTER & CANAL) – LOWER EAST SIDE<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nLUKE MURPHY – curated the show and put together a wonderful catalog, poetic and informative . . . including fab fab photos of the works. <\/p>\n

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\nHEATHER FERGUSON, GERALD FERGUSON’S daughter at the opening, standing in front of her dad’s painting . . .
\nGERALD FERGUSON, ‘1 Mile Clothesline’, 2000. 60 x 108 in.<\/p>\n

HEATHER told us that she and her brother Doug, who was also at the opening, grew up and were childhood friends with Luke in Nova Scotia, Canada, and that Luke went on to study with her dad at the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design. <\/p>\n

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\nGERALD FERGUSON, ‘1 Mile Clothesline’, 2000, 60 x 108 in. from the catalog . . .
\nthe catalog has top notch reproductions of the works, with particular attention paid to the surface quality and off-colors (esp the backgrounds) of the pieces. image scanned from the catalog.
\nthe lines and shapes of the individual paintings are usually a tone of black – sometimes a sharp pinpoint line black, such as this, sometimes a charcoal derived black. . . . and all these blacks – are printed in a raised metallic shiny impression, while their ochre or unprimed canvas backgrounds . . . which are very true to hue . . . are matte printed on super matte white pages. with the shadows of the paintings usually framed as they hang on walls – to give them subjective stance. very very nice print & photo job.<\/p>\n

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\nGERALD FERGUSON, ‘Untitled’, 1969. enamel on unprimed canvas, 71 x 73 in.
\nthis piece was the star of the show – being the image that graces both the cover of the catalog, and the email card – see: post below.
\nlarge and impressive – I guess it could generate tons of serious papers and thought. and probably did, and will, and does !!
\nit is animated by a randomness that is human in scale, and speaks both to code, and – throw of the dice.
\nin other words: rigid pattern, repeated systems, found transgression, and poetry. whether that’s random poetry, or destiny – well, I guess that depends on your own beliefs . . . as to the human condition !!
\n. . . and the huge huge universe we try to live in. and the small daily lives – we are constantly, since time immemorial – trying to decipher, control, understand, pre-ordain and basically: de-code.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nGERALD FERGUSON, ‘Untitled’, 1969. enamel on unprimed canvas, 71 x 73 in.
\ntalking bout code.
\nlooking back through art history – this art patron stance is only found & readable . . . to contemporary historians !!
\nwith one variable: is that checking<\/em> out the cellphone date – or sending<\/em> out a message ?
\na nice mesh of art, art theory, and the human dance, or what ?
\nand, oh yeah – technology !!
\nrepetition – and, sampling !! on demand !! and wireless. not to forget scaled to fit in the palm of your hand.
\nand oh yeah, social networking !! funny how cold technology merges best with human . . . networking !!
\nas well not to forget, last but not least – the piece, based on common hardware – looks just so much like a giant early, 1970s, computing data – punch card !! or what ?
\nsame manilla cardboard hue, too. pre-sentient ? coincidence . . ?
\nor the universal (is it divine – that’s the BIG question) ‘randomness’ that meshes with all mathematical truth ? the signs . . . the pathways – the signifiers – that are there for the taking – if you can only grasp them, i.e. inspiration.
\n(just saying.) <\/p>\n

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\nthe back room also held out – a few of my faves !!
\nGERALD FERGUSON, ’18 Drain Covers’ , 2006. enamel on canvas, 62 x 54 in.
\nobviously a later work – it’s a beautiful example of the simple art of ‘frottage’ or making a rubbing from a specific real object. in pro hands, a simple drain cover – becomes a thing of elegant, almost oriental beauty. a commonplace object – is imbued with formality and distinction.
\nI guess they have square drain hole covers – in Nova Scotia !! <\/p>\n

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\non the wall – you get a better sense of how the pieces – dialoged amongst themselves.<\/p>\n

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\nI found this earlier piece so super compelling – because it was so darn hard to photograph. deadpan, NOT !!
\nKinetic, YES. and, well – really just lines and straight-on pattern, go figure.
\nGERALD FERGUSON, ‘L4’, 1968, enamel on canvas. 48 x 48 in.<\/p>\n

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\nyou know sometimes, sideways – strangely enough, is a good way to go !!
\nGERALD FERGUSON, ‘L4’.<\/p>\n

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\nthe catalog. it was free for the taking . . . at the opening.
\nlike I said: a totally pro – and poetic undertaking. with pieces and essays by: LAWRENCE WEINER, LUKE MURPHY, DONALD KUSPIT and PEGGY GALE.<\/p>\n

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\nthe opening page – a “poem” – by LAWRENCE WEINER . . .
\n
\nA PILE OF PENNIES<\/p>\n

NO ONE CAN ENTER BUT ALL MUST LOOK<\/p>\n

THE ANGST OF THE PROCESS IS PORTRAYED AS A METAPHOR FOR LIFE WHEREAS IN FACT FERGUSON FOUND HIMSELF PRODUCING OBJECTS THAT DID NOT REQUIRE A CONTEXT OR EXPLANATION<\/p>\n

THE TRACE WAS THE THING
\nTHE TRANSCENDENCE OF THE PERSONAL DESPITE HIMSELF
\nHERE TODAY HERE TOMORROW<\/em><\/p>\n

LAWRENCE WEINER NYC 2011 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\noutside on the downtown Chinatown Street, NYC YEAR 2012 . . . talk about black water dragons: AIDAS BAREKIS.
\nyep, he the very same . . who made the TOXIC ROOM with AARON BREWSTER at QUIET\/WE LIVE IN PUBLIC !! NYC YEAR 2000.
\n“HERE TODAY HERE TOMORROW” – LAWRENCE WEINER !!<\/p>\n

PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH, unless otherwise noted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘GERALD FERGUSON. WORK.’ – ‘STENCIL THROUGH FROTTAGE FROM 1968’ curated by . . . LUKE MURPHY. opened Sat, Jan 7, 2012 the show runs thru Sunday, Feb 12, 2012 CANADA – 55 CHRYSTIE ST (btwn HESTER & CANAL) – LOWER EAST SIDE LUKE MURPHY – curated the show and put together a wonderful catalog, poetic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9258"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9258"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9260,"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9258\/revisions\/9260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}