ANNOTATIONS & IMPROVISATIONS
ANNOTATIONS & IMPROVISATIONS CURATED BY KRISTEN BECKER
525 West 22nd Street New York NY 10011
511 West 22nd Street New York NY 10011
520 West 21st Street New York NY 10011
SANFORD BIGGERS WILLIE COLE RICO GATSON HARMONY HAMMOND MAREN HASSINGER STEVE LOCKE ANNA MARIA MAIOLINO DONALD MOFFETT RONNY QUEVEDO ZILIA SÁNCHEZ DIANE SIMPSON DYANI WHITE HAWK ZARINA
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ANNOTATIONS & IMPROVISATIONS By Kristen Becker
In times of stress, strain, and unrest, we often look to artists for guidance. They turn a critical eye on our history, and the combination of their creativity and their willingness to reach outside of traditional constraints and break past both physical and mental boundaries makes them particularly adept at envisioning new futures.
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For me, though, the most resonant artists are not the ones who use this unique role to push a flashy agenda or who claim to have clear answers. Instead, I unfailingly look to the questioning artists—the artists who diligently, humbly, respectfully, yet confidently and powerfully change the terms of engagement. The artists who choose to tell complicated stories, embrace contradictions and encourage nuanced readings that are far more expansive than what one category or classification could relay. They don’t fear the reconsideration or reassessment of history; they openly adjust their lines of inquiry and embrace layered narratives around their work. The artists included in Annotations & Improvisations are bonded by their shared role as consummate seekers. In addition to an innate versatility, the artists in the exhibition are also unified in their exploration of abstraction, making me consider whether this chosen mode of expression (often maligned for creating distance from the viewer) actually allows for elevated approachability and accessibility, generating surprising connections and opening up associationsthat result in inspired conversations well after the viewing experience has passed. These artists embrace their own myriad history and draw the viewer in with a familiar form— the seemingly modernist template in Steve Locke’s Homage to the Auction Block works, the pulsating bands of color in Rico Gatson’s cosmic Untitled (Sunrise/
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Sunset LG-II), and the traditional sewing patterns giving shape to Ronny Quevedo’s cuerpo y alma (body and soul)—but what could easily be presented as cold formalism is actually rich and multivalent work, full of significance both public and private.
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Many of these artists forge a connection through everyday materials, like clothing and textiles. Sanford Biggers engages with turn-of-the-century quilts, but then upends them by adding modern textiles and refashioning them before presenting them as wall sculptures. Harmony Hammond employs previously undervalued sewing practices to create a tactile, almost flesh like work in Crimson Chenille. Willie Cole acknowledges the labor of his mother and other relatives who worked as housekeepers, using the scorched iron as a tool and a template on the canvas. And Dyani White Hawk’s All That Glitters outlines the form of a moccasin built up by ledger paper, a medium loaded with ethical and historical complications. Entry points for these works come alongside very personal narratives, helping to broach the painful truths of systemic erasure, whether through enslavement, forced removal, rewritten histories, or the common dismissal of any work associated with the feminine. Others engage in these charged topics through a sense of space and physicality, uniting the anatomy of the body and the object in a choreography. Anna Maria Maiolino and Zarina both engage in a rich tactility through regimented systems of making works on paper, using repeating motions and gestures to merge the maker and the medium. Maren Hassinger’s Untitled Vessel (Red) is stretched and beckoning; the viewer imagines the sensation of pulling polyester up around the metal armature and wonders what it would be like to occupy that internal space. Zilia Sánchez also activates the negative space between sensual, curvaceous forms, while Donald Moffett explores sexual politics and mortality through his use of zippers and grommets to mimic bodily organs and secretions. In Kabuto, Diane Simpson adds hard architecture to the
implied body by using soffit as the exterior armor of the piece, giving the material its own strong presence. Annotations & Improvisations imply a grounding in the formalities of history, structure, and tradition, but they also call for new interpretations and expressions. We readily experience palpable connections with the works, clear in the knowledge that their story will only continue to unfold.
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Kristen Becker is an independent curator and founder of KB Art Strategies, a consultancy providing concrete support to a global network of artists, galleries, non-profits, and arts organizations looking to expand the visibility of their projects and connect with their community. Prior to KB Art Strategies, Becker spent over 20 years working in commercial galleries, including Marianne Boesky Gallery, Luhring Augustine, L+M Arts, and Gorney Bravin + Lee.
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SANFORD BIGGERS The Charlatan, 2020
Antique quilt, assorted textiles 73 x 67 1/2 x 3 inches 185.4 x 171.5 x 7.6 cm
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WILLIE COLE Domestic Shield XVII, 2021
Iron scorches on canvas with resin, chalk and wax mounted on wood 54 x 16 3/4 inches 137.2 x 42.5 cm
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RICO GATSON Untitled (Sunrise/Sunset LG-II), 2021 Acrylic paint on wood 36 x 48 inches 91.4 x 121.9 cm
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HARMONY HAMMOND Crimson Chenille, 2019 Oil and mixed media on canvas 70 x 56 inches 177.8 x 142.2 cm
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MAREN HASSINGER Untitled Vessel (Red), 2021
Stretch polyester fabric on steel armature 69 x 61 inches 175.3 x 154.9 cm
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STEVE LOCKE Homage to the Auction Block #100-hudson, 2021 Acrylic on panel 16 x 16 inches 40.6 x 40.6 cm
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STEVE LOCKE Homage to the Auction Block #45, 2020 Acrylic gouache on panel 16 x 16 inches 40.6 x 40.6 cm
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STEVE LOCKE Homage to the Auction Block #72, 2020 Acrylic gouache on panel 24 x 24 inches 61 x 61 cm
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STEVE LOCKE Homage to the Auction Block #97-truro, 2021 Acrylic gouache and acrylic on panel 16 x 16 inches 40.6 x 40.6 cm
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ANNA MARIA MAIOLINO Untitled, from Cobrinhas (Little Snakes) series, 2018 Marble powder and white cement 17 x 28 x 4 inches 44 x 70 x 10 cm
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ANNA MARIA MAIOLINO Untitled, from the Desenhos Objetos (Drawing Objects) series, 1976/2012 Thread on paper in wooden box 22 x 22 x 3 7/8 inches 55.9 x 55.9 x 9.8 cm
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DONALD MOFFETT Lot 033020 (the gusher), 2020
Oil, cotton, aluminum, rabbit skin glue, poly vinyl acetate on linen 30 3/8 x 24 1/8 inches 77.2 x 61.3 cm
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RONNY QUEVEDO cuerpo y alma, 2021
Gold leaf, wax, gold leaf and pattern paper on paper 100 x 22 inches 48.3 x 238.8 cm
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RONNY QUEVEDO inti-killa, 2021
Metal leaf on carbon paper 26 1/4 x 18 inches 66.7 x 45.7 cm
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ZILIA SÁNCHEZ Concepto I, 2000/2019 Bronze, paint 24 x 5 x 6 1/2 inches 61 x 12.7 x 16.8 cm Edition 1 of 5, with 2 AP
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DIANE SIMPSON Kabuto, 1991
Aluminum, stain, and acrylic on MDF, steel tacks, silk cord 43 x 21 x 11 inches 109.2 x 53.3 x 27.9 cm
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DYANI WHITE HAWK All That Glitters, 2014
Acrylic, gold leaf, and antique ledger paper on canvas 42 x 42 inches 106.7 x 106.7 cm
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ZARINA Untitled, 2017
Collage with strips of Indian handmade paper stained with Sumi ink on Arches Cover buff paper 30 x 8 3/4 inches 76.2 x 22.2 cm
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ZARINA Untitled, 2017
Collage with crushed Indian handmade paper stained with Sumi ink and 22-karat gold leaf mounted on Arches Cover buff paper 13 x 13 inches 33 x 33 cm
Published on the occasion of
ANNOTATIONS & IMPROVISATIONS CURATED BY KRISTEN BECKER
9 December 2021 – 29 January 2022 Miles McEnery Gallery 525 West 22nd Street New York NY 10011 tel +1 212 445 0051 www.milesmcenery.com Publication © 2021 Miles McEnery Gallery All rights reserved Essay © 2021 Kristen Becker Catalogue layout by Spevack Loeb, LLC Photo Credits Pages 3 and 42: Collection of L.A. Walker, Courtesy of the artist and Bockley Gallery, Minneapolis, MN Pages 5 and 10: Courtesy of the artist and Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York and Aspen. © Sanford Biggers. Photo credit: Lance Brewer Page 12: Photo: Joerg Lohse. Image courtesy of Alexander and Bonin, New York Page 14: Photo: Jason Mandella. Image courtesy of the artist and Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY Page 16: Courtesy the artist and Alexander Gray Associates, New York © Harmony Hammond / Licensed by VAGA via ARS, New York Page 18: Courtesy of Susan Inglett Gallery, NYC Pages 20 - 26: Courtesy of LaMontagne Gallery Pages 28 - 30: © Anna Maria Maiolino. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Page 32: Courtesy of the artist and Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York and Aspen. © Donald Moffett. Photo credit: Joseph Parra Pages 34 – 36: Courtesy of the artist Page 38: Courtesy Zilia Sánchez and Galerie Lelong & Co., New York Page 40: Courtesy of the artist, JTT, New York, Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago, and Herald St, London Pages 44 – 46: © Zarina; Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York. Photo: Farzad Owrang. ISBN: 978-1-949327-57-1 Cover: Ronny Quevedo, cuerpo y alma, (detail), 2021