Thomas Witte Vantage Point
Thomas Witte
Vantage Point
23 March - 22 April, 2017
521 West 26th St, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10001 T (212) 759-7555 F (212) 759-5824 www.davidsoncontemporary.com info@davidsongallery.com
Foreword Davidson Contemporary presents Vantage Point, a solo exhibition of work by Thomas Witte. What does it mean to observe? When we are tourists, we take in the landscape, sights, or monument in front of us. We snap a few photos for posterity and, more often than not, seldom look at them again. But this desire to create and preserve memories drives us to travel, to witness and to participate, perpetually giving us new layers of experience that shape us. For Vantage Point, Thomas Witte uses images from found 35mm slides to create his hand-cut paper works. Witte has created two separate but connected sets of work, both of which play with our sense of perspective. In the Lookout set, Witte selected photographs that omit the actual sights, focusing instead on the people participating in the act of observation. In Protest, by focusing more on the protesters than the subject of the protest itself, Witte puts viewers in the position of sightseer or voyeur, bringing the act of protesting a historical significance that exists outside temporal and contextual constraints. Vantage Point considers the way in which we participate and observe. There are things that exist for the express purpose of observing – platforms equipped with telescopes and man-made scenic overlooks. Protests, on the other hand, create moments that either compel us to participate or relegate us to spectators. There is a connection between the act of viewing art and viewing life; the passive act of sightseeing versus the very active and sometimes perilous act of demonstrating. This juxtaposition presents a sublime discrepancy in the way in which we, as removed art-viewers, take meaning from the images. This is Witte’s second solo exhibition with the gallery. He lives and works in New Jersey.
POLICE LINE 2016-17 Hand-cut archival paper 25 x 24 inches 63 1/2 x 61 cm
COSMIC WHIRL 2015 794 wooden spheres, glass fibre rods, teal and gold metallic paints, lacquer, MDF, aluminum tubing, aluminum fixings 36 5/8 x 8 inches 93 x 20.5 cm Signed and dated
A BETTER VIEW 2017 Hand-cut archival paper 25 x 24 inches 63 1/2 x 61 cm
ABAJO 2017 Hand-cut archival paper 25 x 24 inches 63 1/2 x 61 cm
JUST BEFORE 2017 Hand-cut archival paper 25 x 24 inches 63 1/2 x 61 cm
OUR VISION... 2017 Hand-cut archival paper 25 x 24 inches 63 1/2 x 61 inches
SHEER DROP 2017 Hand-cut archival paper 25 x 24 inches 63 1/2 x 61 inches
LOOKOUT 7, 1970 2016 Hand-cut archival paper 25 x 24 inches 63 1/2 x 61 cm
VANTAGE POINT 2017 Hand-cut archival paper 25 x 24 inches 63 1/2 x 61 cm
PENTAGON 2017 Hand-cut archival paper 25 x 24 inches 63 1/2 x 61 cm
FACADE 2016-17 Hand-cut archival paper 40 x 38 inches 101 1/2 x 96 1/2 cm
DARE 2016-17 Hand-cut archival paper 40 x 38 inches 101 1/2 x 96 1/2 cm
LOOKOUT 8, 1964 2016 Hand-cut archival paper 25 x 24 inches 63 1/2 x 61 cm
HIGH GROUND 2017 Hand-cut archival paper 40 x 38 inches
Biography Born in New Jersey Lives and works in New Jersey Education 2004 Student of Fine Arts, Rutgers University, Bachelor of the Arts. Solo Exhibitions 2017 Vantage Point, Davidson Contemporary, New York 2016 Cortes, Marion Gallery, Panamå 2015 Anonymous Population, New York 1950-1981, Davidson Contemporary, NY 2014 A Brief History of Anonymity, Pulse Contemporary Art Fair, Davidson Contemporary, NY 2012 Tourist, Christopher Henry Gallery, NY 2011 At Home and Abroad, B. Beamesderfer Gallery, New Jersey. 2009 Stencils, Spray painted stencils on glass, Aswoon Gallery DUMBO, Brooklyn, NY 2007 Reunion, drawings and paintings from Argentina, Sayan Gallery, New Jersey 2006 Mexico, Sayan Gallery, New Jersey. 2005 Projections, sculptures and primitive projectors, Sayan Gallery, New Jersey Selected Group/Collaborative Exhibitions 2016 Pulse Contemporary Art Fair, Davidson Contemporary, NY 2015 Pulse Contemporary Art Fair, Davidson Contemporary, Miami, FL Exposition Chicago, Maxwell Davidson Gallery, Chicago, IL Seattle Art Fair, Maxwell Davidson Gallery, Seattle, WA Pulse Contemporary Art Fair, Davidson Contemporary, NY 2014 Pulse Contemporary Art Fair, Davidson Contemporary, Miami, FL Exposition Chicago, Maxwell Davidson Gallery, Chicago, IL Pulse Contemporary Art Fair, Davidson Contemporary, NY 2013 ON PAPER/Grand Central at 100 – Grand Central Station, NY Pulse Contemporary Art Fair, Davidson Contemporary, Miami, FL Pulse Contemporary Art Fair, Davidson Contemporary, NY Works of Paper, Davidson Contemporary, NY Collaborative exhibition with Matthew Witte. Rivington Design House Gallery, NYC. Cutting Edge: Contemporary Paper Art, Brooklyn Public Library, Central Branch, Brooklyn, NY. 2012 A Cut Above, group exhibition of eleven paper artists. Christopher Henry Gallery, NYC 2010-2 Gutbox, group exhibitions of collaborative works. 2012 Grid, Lambert Fine Arts, NY 2010 Gutbox, Dorian Grey Gallery, NY Square Peg, Round Hole, Y Gallery, NY
This catalogue was produced in conjunction with the exhibition Vantage Point at Davidson Contemporary, New York City, 23 March -- 22 April 2018 All works Š Thomas Witte 2016-17 Studio photography by Charles Witte. Catalogue design by Brittany LoSchiavo