January 20–April 7, 2012
Grand Arts
1819 Grand Boulevard
Kansas City, MO 64108
Grand Arts is pleased to announce Let’s Change, a new installation by Brooklyn-based artist Mariah Robertson. This solo exhibition opens on Friday, January 20th, 2012 with an opening reception from 6–9pm. The exhibition will remain on view through April 7th, 2012.
Working primarily as a photographer, Robertson’s work explores analog photographic processes in non-traditional ways. In an age dominated by the immediate pleasures of digital imaging, Robertson’s work manages to forge uniquely contemporary works through reimagining the darkroom as studio, laboratory, and playground. As sophisticated digital imaging technologies continue to further separate photography from its documentarian roots, Robertson creates a frisson through foregoing traditional modes of photographic representation in favor of a playful, painterly treatment of images and analog darkroom practices.
“The work attempts to move photography away from an idea of it as a conduit through which images are channeled, towards an idea of photography as a medium whose specific properties can be tinkered with, stretched and placed into dialogue with those of other media.”
(Wiley, Chris. “Depth of Focus.” Frieze October 2011)
Let’s Change comprises a medley of image/objects united by their florid hues and “punctuated by the occasional intrusion of photographic representation.”[1] Rolls of lustrous photo paper race the length of the gallery’s ceiling, cascading down to a gentle spiral at its end. A 100′ long continuous roll of photo paper sits on the ground as though it were a barrel. Large and luminous photographs combine colorful abstraction with representational visual themes; palm trees, male nudes, domestic scenery and so on. Irregularly hewn photos rest un-matted in white frames, decidedly ignoring the tropes of photographic presentation. Temporary walls are built to re-orient movement through the gallery, in effect recasting the space itself as a frame for the luscious and ebullient darkroom experiments Robertson presents. In contrast to the representational conventions of photography, Robertson’s Let’s Change flips the script—the world is not mirrored by that which is framed, but the frame itself becomes a new world.
[1] Wiley, Chris. “Depth of Focus.” Frieze October 2011
ARTIST BIO
Mariah Robertson’s work has been shown both throughout the United States and internationally. Robertson has exhibited her work at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, UK, Greater New York at MoMA PS1 in New York City, and Process(ing) at Galerie Perrotin in Paris among many others. Her work has been covered in a variety of publications including Artforum, The New York Times, Art Review, The New Yorker and more. Mariah Robertson is represented by American Contemporary, NY.
ABOUT GRAND ARTS
Grand Arts is a non-profit art project space in downtown Kansas City that commissions and assists artists in the production and realization of ambitious contemporary art projects. Functioning as a laboratory, its mission is to provide financial, technical and logistical support to artists while encouraging conceptual risk-taking and experimentation at all stages of the creative process. Grand Arts gallery hours are Thursday and Friday 10am–5pm and Saturday 11am–5pm or by appointment.
For more information on this exhibition or Grand Arts, please visit us online at www.grandarts.com, find us on Facebook or contact:
Seth Johnson
Communications and Public Programs Coordinator
Grand Arts
1819 Grand Blvd.
Kansas City, MO 64108
seth [at] grandarts.com
T 816.421.6887
F 816.421.1561
