Spike Annual Edition Portfolio
Spike presents its 1st Annual Edition Portfolio
We are proud to announce the release of our 1st Annual Edition Portfolio, curated by Stefan Tasch. It includes specially commissioned works by Darren Bader, Sylvie Fleury, Samara Golden, Jonathan Monk, Rob Pruitt and Heimo Zobernig. The portfolio is produced in an edition of 100 +6 AP, numbered and signed.
Darren Bader, 11.62 EUR
At the 2014 Whitney Biennial in New York, Darren Bader showed two transparent, cylindrical donation boxes. Visitors could either donate money to “something” or “nothing”. By including the audience and making them accomplices to his idea of art, Bader expands the historical notion of the readymade. Just as common ideas of authorship are rendered absurd, so too are the mechanisms of the art market. As stated on Bader’s certificate, the 11.62 EUR can be spent, saved or even forgotten. Independent of the fluctuations the work may experience in the art market, it retains its nominal cash value. The 11.62 EUR thus becomes a placeholder that resists market gain—at least on a formal level.
*1978 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, lives in New York
Sylvie Fleury, CAMINO DEL SOL
Sylvie Fleury became known in the 90s for luxury cars, Louis Vuitton bags, and high heels—readymade objects cast in bronze or included as components of larger installations. CAMINO DEL SOL abstains from any recognizable brand symbolism. Instead, the pictogram evokes a universal dynamic in which there is no distinct division between interior and exterior space. What do we see? Does the current flow in or out? The black plexiglass hangs on the wall like a cryptic sign reflecting both setting and viewer. Much like a mirror, it becomes a medium of awareness.
*1978 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, lives in New York
Samara Golden, Mass Murder, blue room #1
In installations-like stage sets, Samara Golden generates subtle atmospheres that give rise to a wide variety of feelings, memories and moods through different settings, lighting situations and colour selections. In the exhibited version of Mass Murder, blue room, reflective sofas stood on a blue carpet and hung from the ceiling, while two mirrored walls produced multiple reflections of the salon-like interior with its grand piano and various other objects, considerably expanding the dimensions of the room. A video projection on the mirrored sidewall created the illusory impression of an enormous window flooding the room with the warm light of a sunset. The photograph Mass Murder, blue room #1 shows an excerpt of this setting.
*1973 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, lives in Los Angeles
Jonathan Monk, The Windows of The Museum
During a residency at Vienna’s Belvedere in 2000, Monk acquired three sets of slides, each featuring six pieces by the painter Gustav Klimt. Included in these sets were the famous works Beethoven Frieze, The Kiss and Judith. Upon closer inspection, one can recognize the name “Gustav Klimt” and the collection “Österreichische Galerie” (Belvedere) printed across the tops of the slide sleeves. Yet by the time one attempts to decipher this writing, it becomes clear that Monk has presented us with the works in reverse. Seemingly secure knowledge and quick conclusions that we’re dealing with the reproduction of an original are put to the test.
*1969 in Leicester, lives in Berlin
Rob Pruitt, USE THIS TAPE TO: JOIN 2 THINGS TOGETHER FOREVER
Panda bears, jeans filled with cement, or sculptures made from old car tyres—Rob Pruitt combines pop and folk art, irony and style. In USE THIS TAPE TO: JOIN 2 THINGS TOGETHER FOREVER, Pruitt plays with the role of master of ceremonies. With an ironic blessing “By Reverend Rob Pruitt”, two objects can be joined together forever. Additionally, on page 90 of the enclosed magazine, Pruitt provides three concrete examples of how one might make use of the tape. The work’s owner can of course freely choose which two things he would like to unite “forever”. And even those who don’t own Pruitt’s tape can follow the instructions. In this sense, it is also conceived as a democratic, open work for all to use.
*1964 in Washington, D.C., lives in New York
Heimo Zobernig, Untitled
Particle board, wood, jute, cardboard and styrofoam have become trademarks for Heimo Zobernig, who represents Austria at this year’s Venice Biennale. Zobernig’s works are not, however, so easily categorised. Instead, they tend to make subtle references; operating in the exchange and transfer between particular art forms. Besides cardboard sculptures that subversively undermine the minimalist ideal of objectivity and materiality by putting cheap material on display, Zobernig creates works that foreground a service-like quality. In a similar way, his edition Untitled is a box that is simultaneously an autonomous sculpture and a functional object archiving the other artist’s works. The box contains five styrofoam inserts that can be removed separately and also used to display the editions.
*1958 in Mauthen, lives in Vienna
All proceeds go towards Spike’s programs and projects.
Order online here or contact us for for more information: editions [at] spikeartmagazine.com