ADAM NIKLEWICZ LOCUS COMMUNIS (commonplace) September 9 – October 16, 2011
www.blackandwhiteartgallery.com
www.blackandwhiteartgallery.com
Black & White Gallery, Brooklyn, NY is delighted to launch its tenth season with Locus Communis (commonplace)- solo exhibition by Adam Niklewicz. Adam Niklewicz’s work thrives on misunderstandings. Much of his work in this exhibition plays with de-contextualization. The objects of his attention are ordinary utility objects such as tables, chairs and all kinds of things that have a role to play in the network of daily experiences that define the practical world. Niklewicz arrived to the United States in 1980s seeking refuge from martial law in Poland. Indicative of a complex migrant experience of an in-between condition, the artist’s work renegotiates the associative and symbolic functions of common objects. Neither fully Polish nor fully American, Niklewicz stands back and assumes a detached view of the objects attempting to discover new and secret aspects of reality by making obvious things odd and finding playful qualities along with clear and palpable symbolism. Such contemplative detachment translates into absurd situations suspended of practicality but with healthy dose of irony and humor – all communicated through mediums ranging from sculpture, video, installation and conceptual photography. Polish-born and Connecticut-based, Adam Niklewicz earned his BFA in graphic communications from Washington University in St. Louis in 1989 and his MFA in sculpture from SUNY Purchase (State University of New York) in 2006. Niklewicz is the recipient of the International Sculpture Center’s 2006 Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award, 2008 Artist Fellowship Grant from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and 2010 grant from the Berkshire Taconic Foundation (Sheffield, MA). His work has been featured and discussed in ARTnews, the New York Times, Sculpture Magazine, Modern Painters Magazine and the Nation, among others, and shown at such venues as Real Art Ways, the New Britain Museum of American Art, the Stamford Museum, Grounds for Sculpture, Galerie fur Landschaftskunst (Hamburg, Germany), Zacheta (Warsaw, Poland) Galeria Sztuki Wspolczesnej (the Gallery of Contemporary Art) in Opole, Poland, and others. Image: Ritual, 2010, table, plates, spoons, electric candle, borscht www.blackandwhiteartgallery.com
DIVER mixed media 64" x 32" 32" 2006-2011 This two-part work involves a hanging sculpture of a deep-sea (deep-see) diver made entirely out of dead bees. The diver hovers over a belted beehive.
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www.blackandwhiteartgallery.com
UNTITLED inkjet print 16” x 24" 2008 One day, during my high school for the arts years, I spread orange oil paint over a slice of bread, and ate a good chunk of it. This adolescent act was a measure of my fascination with painting (and through it, with art in general). By re-creating that “action” now, I reaffirm the then act of commitment.
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www.blackandwhiteartgallery.com
MONUMENT TO BORSCHT plate, spoons, borscht 25” x 9” x 10” 2009 The work re-creates the route of a spoonful of borscht as it climbs to its high point, traveling from plate to mouth.
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www.blackandwhiteartgallery.com
CALLE LUNGA dried pasta, fork 7” x 9” x 2” 2010
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www.blackandwhiteartgallery.com
DELUSION OF A FRESH-WATER SEAMAN (THE SEAMAN’S ENGAGEMENT IS SEASONAL; IN THE WINTER HE SPLITS WOOD IN WYOMING) 12-pound sledge hammer with hickory handle 28.5” x 9” x 3” 2008
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www.blackandwhiteartgallery.com
WAVE rug 45” diameter x 14” high 2008
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www.blackandwhiteartgallery.com
BREATH paper, fabric, acrylic paint, gold leaf, electric device 12” x 14” x 44” (with pedestal) 2001 This book (devoid of title and author) appears engaged in a process of slow, measured breathing. Its cover moves slightly up and down, and a fish’s mouth-like opening forms systematically on the side. It seems to utter a sigh. The process has a subtle, laborious persistence to it.
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www.blackandwhiteartgallery.com
UNTITLED raisins, metal buckle 22” x 38” x 8" 2007
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www.blackandwhiteartgallery.com
THE ROUND TABLE mixed media 62” x 84” x 84” 2010
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www.blackandwhiteartgallery.com
MY DINNER WITH MARIAN inkjet print 16� x 24" 2008
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www.blackandwhiteartgallery.com
ROMANTYCZNOSC dry sausage 12”x1.5”x1.5” 2003 This work is a fully functional instrument (recorder) made out of Polish sausage. It is accompanied by a recording of polonaise played on this very instrument.
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www.blackandwhiteartgallery.com
TIESA inkjet print 16" x24" 2008
This is a hermetically sealed canning jar containing a piece of sausage that is shaped into the sign of infinity. The form relates to a popular East European ritual that originated in the 14th century Lithuania. Shaping canned sausage into the infinity sign is believed to secure prosperity (although an occasional breakage of the seal – which spoils the sausage – forecasts impending hardship, unless the meat is given to a stray dog). The infinity sausage is termed ‘tiesa’ and is to be consumed within one year of its creation. The consumption should be performed in silence and with one’s eyes turned up toward the sky.
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www.blackandwhiteartgallery.com
ROME mixed media 10.5" x 10.5" x 1.5" 2011 A bird's-eye view of Rome is visible through the holes in the slice of rye bread.
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www.blackandwhiteartgallery.com
DRAWING white pencil, wall 7” x 0.25” x 0.25” 2009 Artist stands in front of a blank, white surface with a pencil in his/her hand. The pencil is brought to the surface. Both wall and pencil are white. It is therefore unclear whether the creative process has been completed, or is about to begin.
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www.blackandwhiteartgallery.com
DESCENDING MAN, ASCENDING MAN board, acrylic, rotating device 44” x 44” x 2” 2000 This work consists of a slowly revolving disk, which makes one full circle every two minutes.
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www.blackandwhiteartgallery.com
CELEBRATING OUR TENTH ANNIVERSARY!
Black & White Gallery was founded in New York in 2002. In 2008 the non-profit Black & White Project Space was created to expand the Black & White Gallery's public mission inside the paradigm of a contemporary art space. From the outset, Black & White Gallery/Project Space has been committed to cultivating promising artists in the initial and more advanced phases of their careers exploring contemporary themes and concepts through multiple mediums.
www.blackandwhiteartgallery.com