Chained to a Creature of a Different Kingdom at David Castillo Gallery

From Mar 13th through Apr 3rd, 2010.

altDavid Castillo Gallery presents the exhibition Chained to a Creature of a Different Kingdom, curated by Annie Wharton, and including works by Skip Arnold, Angela Dufresne, aaron GM, Kate Gilmore, Ann Hamilton, Micol Hebron, Dawn Kasper, Susan Lee-Chun, Marilyn Minter, Shana Moulton, Ali Prosch, Yvonne Rainer, Pipilotti Rist, Jimmy Joe Roche, and Mark Verabioff.

The body is a precarious vehicle that propels us around the earth, sometimes at speeds defying logic. Artists in all genres have utilized the body as a subject matter since the beginning of art-making. In Chained to a Creature of a Different Kingdom, the works of 15 video artists who use their bodies and actions as their main subject are assembled. The show’s title is derived from a quote by Marcel Proust, “It is in moments of illness that we are compelled to recognize that we live not alone but chained to a creature of a different kingdom, whole worlds apart, who has no knowledge of us and by whom it is impossible to make ourselves understood: our body” – and many of the body-based, time-based works within the exhibition beautifully straddle the creative line between madness/”illness” and brilliance.

An exhibition of corporeal, temporal works, the idea of Chained to a Creature of a Different Kingdom was fueled both by a recent conflagration of performances and performative video works being made, and a dearth of international video exhibitions. The exhibition juxtaposes the extremely physical video works of Skip Arnold, Dawn Kasper, and Ali Prosch with the more narrative ones of Ann Hamilton, Micol Hebron, and Shana Moulton. Humor is a key component to both aaron GM and Angela Dufresne’s work, which quirkily contrast the abstract, non sequitur nature of works made by Jimmy Joe Roche, Marilyn Minter, and Pipilotti Rist. References to popular culture can be found in the “music video” of Mark Verabioff, an ersatz theatre ovation by Kate Gilmore, faux aerobic exercise tapes by Susan Lee-Chun, and a modern dance work by Yvonne Rainer. From humorous to political to surreal to physical, the artists in the show run the gamut of works being made in the genre of action-based video art today.

David Castillo Gallery
2234 NW 2nd Avenue
Miami, FL 33127
305.573.8110
www.davidcastillogallery.com

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