The Gorgeous Nothings: curated by Susan Morris

7 Oct-2 Nov 2022

PV 6 Oct 2022, 6-8pm

Overview

With Stefana McClure, Susan Morris, Allyson Strafella, Ignacio Uriarte; curated by Susan Morris

The title for this group exhibition comes from a book published in 2013 on the envelope poems of Emily Dickinson. It was conceived as a response to Dickinson’s work, but in a way that tells it ‘slant’ - to quote Dickinson herself. The focus is on works that bring the world in by incorporating traces of ready-made printed words or text, and on papery things, especially folded or otherwise manipulated found papers - flyers, receipts, newspapers and magazines or commercially available stationary such as calendars, diaries and year planners.

The works in the show could generally be classified - like Dickinson’s envelop writings - as hybrid objects: half object, half poem. There is an emphasis on the compact form, and on material paraphernalia – the kind of litter that is slowly disappearing as we are directed towards digital versions of everything - diaries, calendars, (invite) cards… etc. Without engaging in nostalgia for these things, I hope the show offers a resistance to the kind of obsessive hygiene that can result from reducing incidences of scrunched-up paper or accidental juxtapositions of printed text - chance operations that reveal unconscious truths about language and subjectivity.

Artists