Nature of Things was a 2005 exhibition of 8 works that each explored issues of impermanence and the end via distinct media, material, approach, and installation. The aggregate formed a set of autonomous works that also functioned as an installation environment that sought to act as a body-sized nature morte—a masque inviting a play across various forms of vanitas among the objects, and among viewers.
The show, at Boston’s Barbara Krakow Gallery, included Gone, a silent, looping projected lo-tech video collage of the abstract horizontal movement of car travel; Vanitas, a wall-sized grid of neon silkscreen-striped acrylic mirrors; Wallcovering, an adhesive vinyl work comprised of a tiled pattern of accumulated numbers; Torso, a body-sized image of a skeletal torso clear-silkscreened on clear Plexiglas; Souvenir, a bronze multiple cast of a dental mold of the artist’s teeth; Fenway Nine, a charcoal drawing of the numeral font used by 1930s sign painters; and The Law of Life, a sculptural field-recorded sound collage. This disparate collection of objects formed a seemingly unending dialogue among them as they discussed the impermanent nature of matter, representation, art, and life.
2005 | Barbara Krakow Gallery | Boston
Vanitas, 2004-5, silkscreen on Plexiglas mirror, five versions, each panel 17 x 31 inches, overall dimensions site-specific. This installation: 48 panels, overall dimension 102" x 256"
2005 | Barbara Krakow Gallery | Boston
Left: Partial view of Vanitas, 2004-5, silkscreen on Plexiglas mirror, five versions, each panel 17 x 31 inches. Right: Gone, 2003-2004, digital video projection, 14 minutes.
2005 | Barbara Krakow Gallery | Boston
Left: Painting, 2005, acrylic on Plexiglas, 72 x 72 x 4 inches. Right: Partial view of Vanitas, 2004-5, silkscreen on Plexiglas mirror, five versions, each panel 17 x 31 inches.
2005 | Barbara Krakow Gallery | Boston
Background: Wallcovering, 2005, inkjet on adhesive vinyl, repeat of 48 x 48 inches, overall dimensions variable: Left: Fenway 9, 2004, charcoal on paper, 12 x 9 inches. Foreground: The Law of Life, 2005, 23 minute stereo sound recording with playing device as sound-sculpture, site-specific. This version: 56 x 12 x 12 inches.
2005 | 72" x 48" x 5"
Clear silkscreen varnish on clear Plexiglas with clear acrylic standouts. Edition of 3. Published by the artist.
2005 | Acrylic on Plexiglas | 72" x 72" x 4"
Acrylic on Plexiglas, 72 x 72 x 4 inches.
2004 | 3" x 4" x 4"
Bronze cast of dental molds, 2 parts, overall. Edition of 3. Published by the artist.
2004 | charcoal on paper | 12" x 9"