LENKA CLAYTON NINA KATCHADOURIAN STEPHANIE SYJUCO
ZONAMACO Booth FS117 February 5-9, 2020 Centro Citibanamex Mexico City, CDMX, Mexico zsonamaco.com
Catharine Clark Gallery 248 Utah Street San Francisco, CA 94103 cclarkgallery.com cc@cclarkgallery.com o: 415.399.1439 |m: 415.519.1439
Above: Nina Katchadourian, Prince Charming ("Seat Assignment" project, 2010–ongoing), 2015. C-Print, 24 x 19 in. unframed, 24.75 x 19.75 in. framed; 60.9 x 48.26 cm. unframed, 62.87 x 50.17 cm. framed. Edition of 5 + 2AP. $4,500 USD framed; approximately $85,000 MXN Front cover: Nina Katchadourian, Mountain Climbers (Apple) ("Seat Assignment" project, 2010–ongoing), 2011. C-Print, 24 x 19 in. unframed, 24.75 x 19.75 in. framed; 60.9 x 48.26 cm. unframed, 62.87 x 50.17 cm. framed. Edition of 5 + 2AP. $4,500 USD framed; approximately $85,000 MXN Artworks must be paid for in USD by credit card, wire, or EFT. Prices are not inclusive of taxes, duties, or shipping if shipped from the USA after the fair.
Catharine Clark Gallery’s debut presentation at ZONAMACO Foto (Booth #FS117) features work by three women artists – Lenka Clayton, Nina Katchadourian, and Stephanie Syjuco – who repurpose everyday and found items (letters and correspondence, ephemera found in-flight, flowers and houseplants) into materials for sculptural and performative interventions. The resulting images document the assemblages that these artists create, while becoming fully realized artworks in and of themselves. Photographs have a technical capacity to document and to provide material evidence or proof of a particular moment, site, or event. But while photographs can “reveal” certain truths about the world around us, they can also obscure certain narratives in our shared or collective consciousness. The gallery’s booth presentation, in response, considers how photography in an expanded form offers artists a set of tools for excavating forgotten histories or archives of information that have fallen outside of mainstream discourse, or which have been occluded by conventional art historical narratives or social histories around issues such as colonialism or immigration. Collectively, all three artists invite us to pay closer attention to our surrounding environments and to seek out the unseen.
Above: Lenka Clayton, Letter from a Sculptor (Paolozzi), 2019. Pigmented inkjet print, 16 x 20 in. unframed, 16.62 x 20.62 in. framed; 40.64 x 50.8 cm. unframed, 42.21 x 52.37 cm. framed. $1,800 USD framed; approximately $34,000 MXN
La presentación debut de Catharine Clark Gallery en Zona Maco Foto (Stand # FS117) presenta el trabajo de tres mujeres artistas: Lenka Clayton, Nina Katchadourian y Stephanie Syjuco, que reutilizan artículos cotidianos y encontrados (cartas y correspondencia, ephemera encontrado en vuelo, flores y plantas de interior) en materiales para intervenciones escultóricas y performativas. Las imágenes resultantes documentan los ensamblajes que crean estos artistas, al tiempo que se convierten en obras de arte totalmente realizadas en sí mismas. Las fotografías tienen una capacidad técnica para documentar y proporcionar evidencia material o prueba de un momento, sitio o evento en particular. Pero aunque las fotografías pueden "revelar" ciertas verdades sobre el mundo que nos rodea, también pueden ocultar ciertas narrativas en nuestra conciencia compartida o colectiva. La presentación del stand de la galería, en respuesta, considera cómo la fotografía en forma expandida ofrece a los artistas un conjunto de herramientas para excavar historias olvidadas o archivos de información que han quedado fuera del discurso convencional, o que han sido ocluidos por narrativas convencionales de la historia del arte o historias sociales en torno a temas como el colonialismo o la inmigración. Colectivamente, las tres artistas nos invitan a prestar más atención a nuestros entornos circundantes y a buscar lo invisible.
LENKA CLAYTON (born 1977 in Cornwall, England; lives and works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an interdisciplinary artist whose work engages with everyday situations, extending the familiar into the realms of the poetic and absurd. Clayton is the founder of An Artist Residency in Motherhood, a selfdirected, open-source artist residency program that takes place in the homes of artists who are also parents. In 2017, she was commissioned by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum to create A
talking parrot, a high school drama class, a Punjabi TV show, the oldest song in the world, a museum artwork, and a congregation's call to action circle through New York , in collaboration with Jon Rubin. Objects from six unique venues in New York City were circulated between sites, creating a network of social and material exchange. In October 2018, Clayton and Jon Rubin debuted the collaborative project Fruit and Other Things at the 57th Edition of the Carnegie International. Clayton's work has been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia, the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, and the Blanton Museum of Art, Austin among other institutions. Her work is represented in multiple public collections, including the Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Texas; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California among others. Clayton has exhibited with Catharine Clark Gallery since 2016 and has been represented by the gallery since 2019.
Above: Lenka Clayton, Letter from a Sculptor (Paolozzi) in the series “Typewriter Drawings”, 2019. Typewriter paper and ink, rendered with a portable 1957 Smith–Corona Skyriter typewriter, 11 x 8.5 in. unframed, 14.75 x 11.75 in. framed; 27.94 x 21.59 cm. unframed, 37.47 x 29.85 cm. framed. $2,800 USD framed; approximately $52,000 MXN
LETTERS FROM SCULPTORS
Lenka Clayton, Letter from a Sculptor (Boltanski), 2019. Pigmented inkjet print, 16 x 20 in. unframed, 16.62 x 20.62 in. framed; 40.64 x 50.8 cm. unframed, 42.21 x 52.37 cm. framed. Edition of 10 + 2AP. $1,800 USD framed; approximately $34,000 MXN
Lenka Clayton’s work exhibits an incisive inquisitiveness about how we collectively document and catalogue the world around us. In her series “Letters from Sculptors” (2019), Clayton photographs letters written and sent to museums by famous sculptors, which she subsequently encountered in museum archives. Her photographs emphasize the particular form and composition of the folded documents with little regard for the typed messages themselves. Clayton remarks that she was fascinated in how these “forms were made by sculptors whose hands folded the paper, rendering each into a unique object.” Encountering these letters in the archive, for her, was akin to encountering “overlooked, accidental sculptures,” unnoticed by the passive observer. By photographing these letters, Clayton both reveals these unseen “works,” while upending our concepts of the ephemeral and the canonical.
El trabajo de Lenka Clayton exhibe una curiosidad incisiva sobre cómo documentamos y catalogamos colectivamente el mundo que nos rodea. En su serie “Cartas de los Escultores” (2019), Clayton fotografía cartas escritas y enviadas a museos por escultores famosos, que posteriormente ella encontró en los archivos del museo. Sus fotografías subrayan la forma particular y la composición de los documentos doblados con poca consideración por los mensajes escritos. Clayton comenta que estaba fascinada de cómo estas "formas fueron hechas por escultores cuyas manos doblaron el papel, convirtiendo cada una en un objeto único". Encontrar estas letras en el archivo, para ella, era similar a encontrarse con "esculturas accidentales pasadas por alto," desapercibido por el observador pasivo. Al fotografiar estas cartas, Clayton revela ambas "obras" invisibles, al tiempo que cambia nuestros conceptos de lo efímero y lo canónico.
Lenka Clayton, Letter from a Sculptor (Deacon), 2019. Pigmented inkjet print, 16 x 20 in. unframed, 16.62 x 20.62 in. framed; 40.64 x 50.8 cm. unframed, 42.21 x 52.37 cm. framed. Edition of 10 + 2AP. $1,800 USD framed; approximately $34,000 MXN
Lenka Clayton, Letter from a Sculptor (Ernst), 2019. Pigmented inkjet print, 16 x 20 in. unframed, 16.62 x 20.62 in. framed; 40.64 x 50.8 cm. unframed, 42.21 x 52.37 cm. framed. Edition of 10 + 2AP. $1,800 USD framed; approximately $34,000 MXN
Lenka Clayton, Letter from a Sculptor (Moore), 2019. Pigmented inkjet print, 16 x 20 in. unframed, 16.62 x 20.62 in. framed; 40.64 x 50.8 cm. unframed, 42.21 x 52.37 cm. framed. Edition of 10 + 2AP. $1,800 USD framed; approximately $34,000 MXN
Lenka Clayton, Letter from a Sculptor (Oldenburg), 2019. Pigmented inkjet print, 16 x 20 in. unframed, 16.62 x 20.62 in. framed; 40.64 x 50.8 cm. unframed, 42.21 x 52.37 cm. framed. Edition of 10 + 2AP. $1,800 USD framed; approximately $34,000 MXN
TYPEWRITER DRAWINGS
Lenka Clayton, Letter from a Sculptor (Boltanski) in the series “Typewriter Drawings”, 2020. Typewriter paper and ink, rendered with a portable 1957 Smith–Corona Skyriter typewriter, 11 x 8.5 in. unframed, 14.75 x 11.75 in. framed; 27.94 x 21.59 cm. unframed, 37.47 x 29.85 cm. framed. $2,800 USD framed; approximately $52,000 MXN
Clayton’s photographs are accompanied by typewriter drawings, illustrated works on paper entirely rendered with a portable 1957 Smith-Corona Skyriter typewriter that draw on her archival research into forgotten art “histories.” For ZONAMACO Foto, Catharine Clark Gallery presents a series of drawings in which the photographs of letters from famous sculptors are transformed again as illustrated works that are rendered on vintage sheets of correspondence similar to those used in the letters themselves. Additionally, the gallery presents a grouping of drawings that reference the history of photography as an image-making practice. Like the camera, the typewriter is a machine developed in the context of the Industrial Revolution whose invention–and subsequent innovation– changed mass communication. In re-imagining the typewriter’s use as an image-making device, Clayton evokes a deeper relationship about how devices inform our relationship to how we “see” the world.
Las fotografías de Clayton van acompañadas de dibujos de una máquina de escribir, obras ilustradas en papel totalmente renderizadas con una máquina de escribir portátil Smith-Corona Skyriter de 1957 que se basa en su investigación de archivo en "historias" del arte olvidadas. Para Zona Maco Foto, la Galería Catharine Clark presenta una serie de dibujos en la que las fotografías de cartas de escultores famosos se transforman nuevamente como obras ilustradas que se representan en hojas de correspondencia vintage similares a las utilizadas en las propias cartas. Además, la galería presenta una agrupación de dibujos que hacen referencia a la historia de la fotografía como una práctica de creación de imágenes. Al igual que la cámara, la máquina de escribir es una máquina desarrollada en el contexto de la Revolución Industrial cuya invención, y posterior innovación, cambió la comunicación de las masas. Al reimaginar el uso de la máquina de escribir como dispositivo de creación de imágenes, Clayton evoca una relación más profunda sobre cómo los dispositivos informan nuestra relación de cómo "vemos" el mundo.
Lenka Clayton, Letter from a Sculptor (Deacon) in the series “Typewriter Drawings”, 2020. Typewriter paper and ink, rendered with a portable 1957 Smith–Corona Skyriter typewriter, 11 x 8.5 in. unframed, 14.75 x 11.75 in. framed; 27.94 x 21.59 cm. unframed, 37.47 x 29.85 cm. framed. $2,800 USD framed; approximately $52,000 MXN
Lenka Clayton, Letter from a Sculptor (Ernst) in the series “Typewriter Drawings”, 2020. Typewriter paper and ink, rendered with a portable 1957 Smith–Corona Skyriter typewriter, 11 x 8.5 in. unframed, 14.75 x 11.75 in. framed; 27.94 x 21.59 cm. unframed, 37.47 x 29.85 cm. framed. $2,800 USD framed; approximately $52,000 MXN
Lenka Clayton, Letter from a Sculptor (Moore) in the series “Typewriter Drawings”, 2020. Typewriter paper and ink, rendered with a portable 1957 Smith–Corona Skyriter typewriter, 11 x 8.5 in. unframed, 14.75 x 11.75 in. framed; 27.94 x 21.59 cm. unframed, 37.47 x 29.85 cm. framed. $2,800 USD framed; approximately $52,000 MXN
Lenka Clayton, Letter from a Sculptor (Oldenberg) in the series “Typewriter Drawings”, 2020. Typewriter paper and ink, rendered with a portable 1957 Smith–Corona Skyriter typewriter, 11 x 8.5 in. unframed, 14.75 x 11.75 in. framed; 27.94 x 21.59 cm. unframed, 37.47 x 29.85 cm. framed. $2,800 USD framed; approximately $52,000 MXN
Lenka Clayton Rug Photographed by a Child in the series “Typewriter Drawings” 2019. Typewriter paper and ink, rendered with a portable 1957 Smith–Corona Skyriter typewriter, 11 x 8.5 in. unframed, 14.75 x 11.75 in. framed; 27.94 x 21.59 cm. unframed, 37.47 x 29.85 cm. framed. $2,800 USD framed; approximately $52,000 MXN
Lenka Clayton, Group Photograph in the series “Typewriter Drawings” 2015. Typewriter paper and ink, rendered with a portable 1957 Smith–Corona Skyriter typewriter, 11 x 8.5 in. unframed, 14.75 x 11.75 in. framed; 27.94 x 21.59 cm. unframed, 37.47 x 29.85 cm. framed. $2,800 USD framed; approximately $52,000 MXN
Lenka Clayton, Dust on the Lens in the series “Typewriter Drawings” 2019. Typewriter paper and ink, rendered with a portable 1957 Smith–Corona Skyriter typewriter, 11 x 8.5 in. unframed, 14.75 x 11.75 in. framed; 27.94 x 21.59 cm. unframed, 37.47 x 29.85 cm. framed. $2,800 USD framed; approximately $52,000 MXN
NINA KATCHADOURIAN (born 1968 in Stanford, California; lives and works in Berlin, Germany and Brooklyn, New York) is an interdisciplinary artist whose work includes video, performance, sound, sculpture, photography, and public projects. Her video Accent Elimination was included in the 2015 Venice Biennale as part of the Armenian pavilion, which won the Golden Lion for Best National Participation. Exhibitions have included shows at the Serpentine Gallery, Turner Contemporary, de Appel, Palais de Tokyo, Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, Turku Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, ICA Philadelphia, Brooklyn Museum, Artists Space, SculptureCenter, MoMA, and MoMA PS1. Katchadourian has been widely published nationally and internationally, including a monograph, Sorted Books, published by Chronicle Books in 2013. The Tang Museum exhibited All Forms of Attraction, Katchadourian's first museum survey in 2005. In March 2017, a traveling survey exhibition of her work titled Curiouser opened at the Blanton Museum in Austin, Texas, with an accompanying monograph. Following the Blanton, Curiouser opened at the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University in September 2017, and Brigham Young Museum of Art in Provo, UT in March 2018. In 2016, MASS MoCA commissioned a film by Katchadourian called The Recarcassing Ceremony. A commission titled Floater Theater opened at the Exploratorium in San Francisco in October 2016, the same month that the Museum of Modern Art in New York presented Dust Gathering, Katchadourian's audio tour on the subject of dust, as part of their program "Artists Experiment." Katchadourian has received grants and awards from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Anonymous Was a Woman Foundation, the Tiffany Foundation, the American-Scandinavian Foundation, and the Nancy Graves Foundation. Her work is in public and private collections including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York; the Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Texas; the Morgan Library and Museum, New York, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California among others. Katchadourian is an Associate Professor at the New York University Gallatin School of Individualized Study and has been represented by Catharine Clark Gallery since 1999 and has been corepresented by Pace Gallery since 2019.
Nina Katchadourian, Dancers ("Seat Assignment" project, 2010–ongoing), 2012. C-print, 15.25 x 19 in. unframed, 16 x 19.75 in. framed; 38.73 x 48.26 cm. unframed, 40.64 x 50.16 cm. framed. Edition of 5 + 2AP. $3,800 USD framed; approximately $71,000 MXN
SEAT ASSIGNMENT
Nina Katchadourian, Pretzel Meteor ("Seat Assignment" project, 2010–ongoing), 2010. C-print, 19 x 24 in. unframed, 19.75 x 24.75 in. framed; 48.26 x 60.96 cm. unframed, 50.17 x 62.87 cm. framed. Edition of 5 + 2AP. $4,500 USD framed; approximately $85,000 MXN
Nina Katchadourian’s work draws on close observation of environments and social spaces. While often humorous, her photographs also exhibit a keen eye for how our everyday surroundings are delimited and defined by ordering systems and hierarchies. In “Seat Assignment” (2010–ongoing), Katchadourian transforms her downtime on airplanes into a period of artistic production. For each photograph, she uses materials found in-flight–Sky Mall catalogues, pretzels, cocktail napkins–to create visually innovative “combines” that are subsequently photographed with an iPhone. Airline magazines, in turn, become sublime backdrops for the snacks that are photographed upon them, while the tray-table transforms into a studio workspace for small sculptures.
El trabajo de Nina Katchadourian se basa en la observación cercana de entornos y espacios sociales. Aunque a menudo son divertidas, sus fotografías también muestran un buen ojo sobre cómo nuestro entorno cotidiano está delimitado y definido por los sistemas de orden y las jerarquías. En “Asignación de Asiento” (2010 en curso), Katchadourian transforma su tiempo de inactividad en los aviones en un período de producción artística. Para cada fotografía, utiliza materiales encontrados en vuelo catálogos de Sky Mall, pretzels, servilletas de cóctel - para crear "grupos" visualmente innovadores que posteriormente fotografía con un iPhone. Las revistas de las líneas aéreas, a su vez, se convierten en telón de fondo sublimes para los snacks que fotografía encima de ellas, mientras la bandeja se transforma en un espacio de trabajo de estudio para las pequeñas esculturas.
Nina Katchadourian, Ascension ("Seat Assignment" project, 2010–ongoing), 2013. C-Print, 24 x 19 in. unframed, 24.75 x 19.75 in. framed; 60.9 x 48.26 cm. unframed, 62.87 x 50.17 cm. framed. Edition of 5 + 2AP. $4,500 USD framed; approximately $85,000 MXN
Nina Katchadourian, Bather, ("Seat Assignment" project, 2010–ongoing), 2011. C-Print, 24 x 19 in. unframed, 24.75 x 19.75 in. framed; 60.9 x 48.26 cm. unframed, 62.87 x 50.17 cm. framed. Edition of 5 + 2AP. $4,500 USD framed; approximately $85,000 MXN
Nina Katchadourian, Giant Redwood ("Seat Assignment" project, 2010–ongoing), 2012. C-Print, 24 x 19 inches unframed, 24.75 x 19.75 inches framed; 60.9 x 48.26 unframed, 62.87 x 50.17cm framed. Edition of 5 + 2AP. $4,500 USD framed; approximately $85,000 MXN
Nina Katchadourian, Rapture ("Seat Assignment" project, 2010–ongoing), 2011. C-Print, 24 x 19 in. unframed, 24.75 x 19.75 in. framed; 60.9 x 48.26 cm. unframed, 62.87 x 50.17 cm framed. Edition of 5 + 2AP. $4,500 USD framed; approximately $85,000 MXN
Nina Katchadourian, St. Edward ("Seat Assignment" project, 2010–ongoing), 2013. C-print, 15.25 x 19 in. unframed, 16 x 19.75 in. framed; 38.73 x 48.26 cm. unframed, 40.64 x 50.16 cm. framed. Edition of 5 + 2AP. $3,800 USD framed; approximately $71,000 MXN
Nina Katchadourian, Twin Towers ("Seat Assignment" project, 2010–ongoing), 2011. C-print, 15.25 x 19 in. unframed, 16 x 19.75 in. framed; 38.73 x 48.26 cm. unframed, 40.64 x 50.16 cm. framed. Edition of 5 + 2AP. $4,500 USD framed; approximately $85,000 MXN
Nina Katchadourian, Engine Failure Meteor ("Seat Assignment" project, 2010–ongoing), 2011. C-print, 19 x 24 in. unframed, 19.75 x 24.75 in. framed; 48.26 x 60.96 cm. unframed, 50.17 x 62.87 cm. framed. Edition of 5 + 2AP. $4,500 USD framed; approximately $85,000 MXN
Nina Katchadourian, Pretzel Landslide ("Seat Assignment" project, 2010–ongoing), 2010. C-print, 19 x 24 in. unframed, 19.75 x 24.75 in. framed; 48.26 x 60.96 cm unframed, 50.17 x 62.87 cm framed. Edition of 5 + 2AP. $4,500 USD framed; approximately $85,000 MXN
Nina Katchadourian, Snack Eyed Penguin (Male) ("Seat Assignment" project, 2010–ongoing), 2011. Cprint, 15.25 x 19 in. unframed, 16 x 19.75 in. framed; 38.73 x 48.26 cm. unframed, 40.64 x 50.16 cm. framed. Edition of 5 + 2AP. $3,800 USD framed; approximately $71,000 MXN
Nina Katchadourian, Woodpile #1 ("Seat Assignment" project, 2010–ongoing), 2012. C-print, 19 x 24 in. unframed, 19.75 x 24.75 in. framed; 48.26 x 60.96 cm. unframed, 50.17 x 62.87 cm. framed. Edition of 5 + 2AP. $4,500 USD framed; approximately $85,000 MXN
LAVATORY SELF–PORTRAITS IN THE FLEMISH STYLE
Nina Katchadourian, Lavatory Self-Portrait in the Flemish Style #6 ("Seat Assignment" project, 2010–ongoing), 2011. C-Print, 13.75 x 10 in. unframed, 16.25 x 12.87 in. framed; 34.92 x 25.4 cm. unframed, 41.27 x 32.69 cm. framed. Edition of 8 + 2AP. $7,000 USD framed; approximately $130,000 MXN
The gallery’s salon presentation of “Seat Assignment” photographs includes select works from the acclaimed series “Lavatory Self-Portraits in the Flemish Style” (2012). Photographed in the airplane bathroom of a single flight from San Francisco to Auckland, New Zealand, Katchadourian re-styled toilet seat covers and paper towels into makeshift costumes that evoke 15th-century Flemish portraiture. Katchadourian notes that “I often make art motivated by the mundane, but Seat Assignment has become a vehicle for me to put many of my deeply-held premises to the test. Is there always more than meets the eye? Is there really something to make out of nothing? Is it truly a matter of paying attention, of staying alert and optimistic about the potential that something interesting could evolve when challenged by boredom?”
La presentación de salón de la galería de fotografías de “Asignación de Asiento” incluye obras seleccionadas de la aclamada serie “Lavatory Self-Portraits in the Flemish Style/Autorretratos de Baño en el Estilo Flamenco” (2012). Fotografiado en el baño del avión de un solo vuelo desde San Francisco a Auckland, Nueva Zelanda, Katchadourian rediseñó las tapas de los inodoros y las toallas de papel en trajes improvisados que evocan el retrato flamenco del siglo XV. Katchadourian señala que “a menudo creo arte motivado por lo mundano, pero “Asignación de Asiento” se ha convertido en un vehículo para probar muchas de mis premisas profundamente arraigadas. ¿Siempre hay más de lo que parece? ¿En realidad hay algo que hacer de nada? ¿Es realmente una cuestión de prestar atención, de estar alerta y optimista sobre el potencial de que algo interesante pueda evolucionar cuando se enfrenta al aburrimiento?
Nina Katchadourian, Lavatory Self-Portrait in the Flemish Style #1 ("Seat Assignment" project, 2010– ongoing), 2011. C-Print, 14.25 x 10.5 in. unframed, 17.25 x 13.25 in. framed; 36.19 x 26.67 cm. unframed, 43.81 x 33.65 cm. framed. Edition of 8 + 2AP. $7,000 USD framed; approximately $130,000 MXN
Nina Katchadourian, Lavatory Self-Portrait in the Flemish Style #10 ("Seat Assignment" project, 2010– ongoing), 2011. C-Print, 13.75 x 10 in. unframed, 16.25 x 12.87 in. framed; 34.92 x 25.4 cm. unframed, 41.27 x 32.69 cm. framed. Edition of 8 + 2AP. $7,000 USD framed; approximately $130,000 MXN
Nina Katchadourian, Lavatory Self-Portrait in the Flemish Style #5 ("Seat Assignment" project, 2010–ongoing), 2011. C-Print, 12.75 x 9.5 in. unframed, 14.25 x 11.12 in. framed; 32.38 x 24.13 cm. unframed, 36.19 x 28. 24 cm. framed. Edition of 8 + 2AP. $7,000 USD framed; approximately $130,000 MXN
STEPHANIE SYJUCO (born 1974 in Manila, Philippines; lives and works in Oakland, California) creates large-scale spectacles of collected cultural objects, photographs, and installations that investigate the political effects of economies and empire. In 2020, Syjuco’s work will be the subject of a solo museum survey exhibition titled The Visible Invisible at the Blaffer Museum of Art, Houston, TX. In 2019, her work was the subject of a monographic exhibition titled Rogue States at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, and recently reviewed in Artforum. In 2018, Syjuco was one of four featured artists in Disrupting Craft: Renwick Invitational 2018 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; the exhibition was accompanied by an attendant catalogue. Also in 2018, her work was part of Being: New Photography 2018 at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York; Public Knowledge at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California; and This Site is Under Revolution at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art. Syjuco’s work is represented in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York; Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, California; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California; McEvoy Foundation for the Arts, San Francisco, California; Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; Saint Louis Museum of Art, Missouri; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California; 21c Museum Hotels, Louisville, Kentucky; University of Kentucky Art Museum, Lexington; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, among many others. In 2020, Syjuco was awarded a residency at the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 2019, she was the recipient of a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship. Other awards have included a Guggenheim Fellowship (2014), and a Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors Award (2009). In 2008, she was featured in Season 9 of the acclaimed PBS documentary series Art21: Art in the Twenty-First Century. Syjuco is an Associate Professor of Sculpture at the University of California at Berkeley. She received an MFA from Stanford University and a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. Since 2013, she has exhibited with Ryan Lee Gallery in New York and since 2008, she has been represented by Catharine Clark Gallery, where she will have her next solo exhibition in the fall of 2020.
CARGO CULTS
Stephanie Syjuco, Cargo Cults: Head Bundle (Small), 2016. Pigmented inkjet print, 20 x 15 in. unframed, 21 x 16 in. framed; 50.8 x 38.1 cm. unframed, 53.34 x 40.64 cm. framed. Edition of 15 + 2AP. $8,200 - $10,200 USD framed; approximately $155,000 - $190,000 MXN
The series “Cargo Cults” (2016) revisits historical ethnographic studio portraiture via fictional display: using mass-manufactured goods purchased from American shopping malls and restyled to highlight popular fantasies associated with “ethnic” patterning and costume. Black and white photographic calibration charts are embedded within the pictures, and in some cases overlap and cover portions of the figure, as if to insist that race is something that can be measured.
El trabajo reciente de Stephanie Syjuco explora cómo la fotografía y otras tecnologías basadas en imágenes cosifica las estructuras del poder. Sus esculturas y fotografías hacen referencia a géneros como la naturaleza muerta y el retrato etnográfico como un medio para criticar las cuestiones del imperio y el nativismo que impregnan la historia del arte. Syjuco también se apropia de herramientas de prácticas basadas en fotografías, como gráficos de calibración de color y escala de grises, para explorar cómo estos sistemas de poder dependen de diversas formas de intervención, manipulación y edición selectiva. La presentación de la galería en Zona Maco Foto presenta obras selectas de tres series principales que muestran el enfoque de Syjuco en cómo la cultura y la política se construyen a través de imágenes mediadas y manipuladas.
La serie “Cargo Cults/Cultos de Cargo” (2016) revisa el retrato de estudio etnográfico histórico a través de una exhibición ficticia: utilizando productos fabricados en masa comprados en centros comerciales estadounidenses y rediseñados para resaltar las fantasías populares asociadas con los patrones y trajes "étnicos". Los cuadros de calibración fotográfica en blanco y negro están incrustados dentro de las imágenes, y en algunos casos se superponen y cubren partes de la figura, como para insistir en que la raza es algo que se puede medir.
Stephanie Syjuco, Cargo Cults: Java Bunny (Small), 2016. Pigmented inkjet print, 20 x 15 in. unframed, 21 x 16 in. framed; 50.8 x 38.1 cm. unframed, 53.34 x 40.64 cm. framed. Edition of 15 + 2AP. $8,200 - $10,200 USD framed; approximately $155,000 - $190,000 MXN
Stephanie Syjuco, Cargo Cults: Basket Woman (Small), 2016. Pigmented inkjet print, 20 x 15 in. unframed, 21 x 16 in. framed; 50.8 x 38.1 cm. unframed, 53.34 x 40.64 cm. framed. Edition of 15 + 2AP. $8,200 - $10,200 USD framed; approximately $155,000 - $190,000 MXN
HARD LIGHT
Stephanie Syjuco, Orange Alert (Fluorescent Orange on White Tulips) in the series "Hard Light", 2019. Pigmented inkjet print, 24 x 30 in. unframed, 25 x 31 in. framed; 60.96 x 76.2 cm. unframed, 63.5 x 78.74 cm. framed. Edition of 5 + 2AP. $12,000 USD framed; approximately $225,000 MXN
In the recent series “Hard Light” (2019), Syjuco spray paints white Oriental lilies and white tulips as a way to both negate and highlight persistent cultural metaphors about difference. Spraying already white flowers a gloss white means that their whiteness is insistently—even perversely—doubled, while the black and fluorescent orange spray paints alert the viewer to pantomiming gestures of race and representation. En la serie reciente “Hard Light/Luz Intensa” (2019), el spray Syjuco pinta lirios orientales blancos y tulipanes blancos como una forma de negar y resaltar metáforas culturales persistentes sobre la diferencia. Al rociar flores blancas, un blanco brillante, significa que su blancura se duplica de manera insistente, incluso perversa, mientras que las pinturas en aerosol negras y naranjas fluorescentes alertan al espectador de gestos de raza y representación.
Stephanie Syjuco, Whiteout (Krylon
ColorMaster Gloss White on White Oriental Lilies) in the series "Hard Light", 2019. Pigmented inkjet print, 30 x 24 in. unframed; 31 x 25 in. framed 76.2 x 60.96 cm. unframed, 78.74 x 63.5 cm. framed. Edition of 5 + 2AP. $12,000 USD framed; approximately $225,000 MXN
Stephanie Syjuco, Blackout (Krylon
ColorMaster Gloss Black on White Oriental Lilies Sprayed Gloss White) in the series "Hard Light", 2019. Pigmented inkjet print, , 30 x 24 in. unframed; 31 x 25 in. framed 76.2 x 60.96 cm. unframed, 78.74 x 63.5 cm. framed. Edition of 5 + 2AP. $12,000 USD framed; approximately $225,000 MXN
NEUTRAL ORCHIDS
Stephanie Syjuco, Neutral Orchids (Phalaenopsis, small), 2016. Pigmented inkjet print, 20 x 15 in. unframed, 20.75 x 15.75 in. framed; 50.8 x 38.1 in. unframed, 52.7 x 96.77 in. framed. Edition of 10 +2AP. $8,200 - $10,200 USD framed; approximately $155,000 - $190,000 MXN
“Neutral Orchids” (2016), conversely, features photographs of living orchids that have been sprayed with industrial grey primer paint and then photographed against a neutral grey background. As "exotic" flowers that have since been cloned ad infinitum and marketed to the public, orchids bear the weight of being at once foreign, domestic, and a common decorator item that connotes elegance and distant tropical splendor. “Neutral Orchids/Orquídeas Neutrales ” (2016), por el contrario, presenta fotografías de orquídeas vivas que han sido rociadas con pintura de imprimación gris industrial y luego fotografiadas sobre un fondo gris neutro. Como flores "exóticas" que desde entonces han sido clonadas ad infinitum y comercializadas al público, las orquídeas soportan el peso de ser a la vez extranjeras, domésticas y un elemento de decoración común que connota elegancia y esplendor tropical distante.
Stephanie Syjuco, Neutral Orchids
(Phalaenopsis + Dracaena sanderiana), 2016. Pigmented inkjet print, 32 x 24 in. unframed, 33.25 x 25.25 in. framed; 81.28 x 60.96 cm. unframed, 84.45 x 64.13 cm. framed. Edition of 10 +2AP. $13,000 - $16,000 USD framed; approximately $244,000 - $299,000 MXN
Stephanie Syjuco, Neutral Orchids
(Phalaenopsis + Dracaena sanderiana 2), 2016. Pigmented inkjet print, 32 x 24 in. unframed, 33.25 x 25.25 in. framed; 81.28 x 60.96 cm. unframed, 84.45 x 64.13 cm. framed. Edition of 10 +2AP. $8,300 - $12,800 USD framed; approximately $155,000 - $240,000 MXN
Above: Stephanie Syjuco, Neutral Orchids (Dendrobium), 2016. Pigmented inkjet print, 24 x 18 in. unframed, 24.75 x 18.75 in. framed; 60.96 x 45.7x cm. unframed, 62.86 x 47.62 cm. framed. Edition of 10 +2AP. $5,800 $10,800 USD framed; approximately $109,000 - $202,000 MXN Back cover: Stephanie Syjuco, Cargo Cults: Head Bundle (Small), 2016. Pigmented inkjet print, 20 x 15 in. unframed, 21 x 16 in. framed; 50.8 x 38.1 cm. unframed, 53.34 x 40.64 cm. framed. Edition of 15 + 2AP. $8,200 - $10,200 USD framed; approximately $155,000 - $190,000 MXN
LENKA CLAYTON NINA KATCHADOURIAN STEPHANIE SYJUCO
ZONAMACO Booth FS117 February 5-9, 2020 Centro Citibanamex Mexico City, CDMX, Mexico zsonamaco.com
Catharine Clark Gallery 248 Utah Street San Francisco, CA 94103 cclarkgallery.com cc@cclarkgallery.com o: 415.399.1439 |m: 415.519.1439