"8 Artists Making Sculpture" Catalog:

8 ARTISTS MAKING SCULPTURE

The 5th Annual Registry Exhibition

CURATOR STATEMENT This is a show about sculpture. About how an object in space transforms one’s understanding of that space and of that object.

It is about how physicality is transformative and how it makes the sense of scale and gravity appear compressed, expanded or dissolved. The artists selected for this exhibition all make objects that investigate what happens when an object is put into a room and how experiencing it in real time and in real space is crucial to its existence. Today we live in a highly mediated world where information, images, and reproductions of art and installations are easily digitized and disseminated. This is a great advance in many ways but it has also affected the impulses in how art is being made and the way we see and experience art. Sculpture is a form that requires firsthand experience; its persistence in threedimensionality makes it unbidden to this digital age.

The work by the artists included in this show vary greatly in medium, scale, and purpose but through their use of materiality they all transform the spaces they inhabit and make the viewer’s presence felt and necessary.

8 ARTISTS MAKING SCULPTURE The 5th Annual Registry Exhibition Guest curated by Jamie Sterns Artists Arielle Falk Jamie Felton MaryKate Maher Abraham McNally Jong Oh Carolyn Salas Ian Umlauf Matthew C. Wilson Exhibition Dates September 13 – October 27, 2012 BRIC Rotunda Gallery, the contemporary art space of BRIC ARTS | MEDIA | BKLYN

– Jamie Sterns

Jamie Sterns is an independent curator, writer, and consultant who is currently a director with envoy enterprises. She was previously director for P.P.O.W Gallery, New York, and has curated exhibitions for P.P.O.W Gallery, envoy enterprises, SPRING/BREAK, and Interstate Projects. She has also organized events with C.A.T and NP. She maintains a weekly arts and culture blog called YaYaYa (yayayagetarty.blogspot.com) and is the co-founder of New York City, an office/gallery/project/ space (www.newyorkcity2012.biz). She is a member of the New Art Dealers Association.

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Arielle Falk Arielle Falk’s sculptural work, which ranges from wearable pieces to inhabitable moving structures to static installations, reacts to both space and viewer. Often participatory in some way, Falk aims to produce works that influence or shape the way the viewer/participant is perceived or how they perceive and move around a space. Taking inspiration from the work of Bauhaus choreographer and sculptor Oskar Schlemmer, Falk is particularly interested in the transformation of the body by barrier and conversion of space by obstacle, and the physical movement that results from such alterations.

BIOGRAPHY Arielle Falk was born in Washington DC in 1983, and is a Brooklyn-based artist working in video, performance, and sculpture. She received her BA with a concentration in Performance Studies from Eugene Lang College, The New School for Liberal Arts, in 2007. Falk’s work has been exhibited broadly including at P.P.O.W Gallery; envoy enterprises, Movement Research at Judson Church, and The Big Screen Plaza, all in New York; Interstate Projects, Brooklyn; Halsey McKay Gallery, East Hampton; BolteLang, Zurich; Antimatter Underground Film Festival, Victoria, BC, Canada; EXiS Experimental Video Festival, Korea. She is a 2010 –11 recipient of the Franklin Furnace Fund for Performance Art. Her work has received press in The Village Voice, Time Out New York, and New York Magazine, as well as being featured on WNYC Radio. www.ariellefalk.com

DE-INHIBITIONATORS [black, red, white, yellow, blue, green], 2011

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Jamie Felton For Jamie Felton, making is a physical exploration; a way of thinking, feeling, and communicating through a material vocabulary. Felton searches for a language of representation that approaches directness of expression and gives tangibility to the ephemeral. The ability to convey emotion is brought into question, and what can be trusted is evaluated through the act of constructing. In Your Mother’s Shoes, the specificity of origin is obscured, and the personal becomes abstracted as it is transposed into form. What is left available are fragmented symbols, traces of autobiography, dissolved halfway into formalism. The gleaning, faux-leather pair of shoes rests on top of the aggressive and raw yet whimsical immediacy of the column. The physicality of the process leaves its seams and mortar exposed, recalling the material language of honesty.

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BIOGRAPHY Jamie Felton received her BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University, and she is currently completing her MFA at The Tyler School of Art at Temple University, Philadelphia. Her work has been exhibited in group shows in Baltimore, Richmond, New Orleans, Rome, and Rotterdam. She has participated in residencies at Lobot Gallery in Oakland, CA, and internationally at De Zwarte Ruyter in Rotterdam. Felton was recently nominated for the Dedalus Foundation Grant. www.jamiefelton.tumblr.com

Left: Your Mother’s Shoes, 2012 Right: Last of the Purple, 2012

MaryKate Maher MaryKate Maher’s work is consistently [re]developing a lexicon of imagery that she constructs and deconstructs until the forms are neither physical nor psychological but exist in the spaces between. It is here that she creates a visual relationship among the discarded, broken elements of industry and their parallel elements found in nature. The sculptures have their own space and identity which make reference to objects in this world and have a kinship with forms we know, but elements of abstraction keep them from being tied to a specific place. They remain remnants of a space that resides between fact and fiction.

BIOGRAPHY MaryKate Maher was born in Philadelphia, PA and lives in Brooklyn, NY. She received her BFA from Arcadia University, Glenside, PA, in 2001 and her MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, in 2004. In addition, she has studied at the Glasgow School of Art in 1999 and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2008. She has had recent exhibitions at Franconia Sculpture Park, Minnesota; Hinge Gallery, Chicago; Like the Spice Gallery, Brooklyn; Kunstwerk Carlshutte, Budelsdorf, Germany; Das Gift, Berlin; and at BRIC Arts | Media | Bklyn’s BRIC Rotunda Gallery as part of the 201112 exhibition The Bricoleurs. Maher has been the recipient of numerous fellowships and residencies including those of the New York Foundation for the Arts, MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, Vermont Studio Center, and Socrates Sculpture Park. www.marykatemaher.com

Left: Auspicious positions (1), 2012 Right: Auspicious positions (2), 2012 5

Abraham McNally Abraham McNally makes sculptures that explore the idea of architecture as a container for memory. He manipulates materials such as firewood, hay bails, and stone, to create narratives that integrate the psychological space of past with the process of constructing a world with his hands in the present.

BIOGRAPHY Abraham McNally earned his BA from Bard College, Annandaleon-Hudson, NY, in 1997, and his MFA from the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College in 2004. He has exhibited at Radiator Gallery, Long Island City; Space B and Field Projects, both in New York; The Wassaic Project, Wassaic, New York; Vox Populi, Philadelphia; Galerie Pfriem, Lacoste, France; and The LiShui Museum of Photography, LiShui, China. The artist lives in Brooklyn, NY. www.abrahammcnally.com

Untitled Sculpture, 2012

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Jong Oh By using the precarious nature of gravity, Jong Oh builds spatial structures of lines, planes, and shadows. These structural elements connect and intersect each other depending upon the movement and angle of the audience’s perspective. The audience disorients within these vague boundaries of three-dimensionality and flatness, intention and unintention, completion and destruction. The viewer’s experience becomes a meditation on perception’s delicate whim.

BIOGRAPHY Jong Oh was born in Mauritania in the West Sahara desert in 1981. After spending most of his childhood in Spain, Oh relocated to Korea. He received his BFA in Sculpture from Hongik University, Seoul, Korea, and his MFA at the School of Visual Arts, New York, in 2011. Recently, he had his first solo exhibition at Marc Straus LLC, New York. Recent group exhibitions include The Itinerary of Mobility and Translation, Korean Cultural Service, New York, 2012; Divided by Zero, Artgate Gallery, New York, 2012; First Look III, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, New York, 2011; and Subtle Anxiety, Doosan Gallery, New York, 2010. He is currently participating in the 2012 LMCC Swing Space residency program. www.ohjong.com

Untitled, 2011, courtesy of the artist and Marc Straus LLC, New York

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Carolyn Salas Carolyn Salas uses a wide array of materials in her current body of work including, found objects, photography, collage, craft‑oriented assemblages, fabric, and found items. Her works oscillate between abstraction and figuration, discrete sculptures and site-specific works. Salas explores the “in-between” stages; the tension that lies within both physical and the psychological spaces. With laborious craft and a handmade touch, Salas exposes the imperfections and human attributes of burdens, failures, and achievements in our everyday.

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BIOGRAPHY Carolyn Salas received her BFA from The College of Santa Fe, NM, in 1999 and her MFA from Hunter College, City University of New York, in 2005. She has exhibited in the U.S. and internationally at Urbis, Manchester, United Kingdom; Gallery Zidoun, Luxembourg; Art Space, New Haven; Parisian Laundry, Montreal; Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, MA; Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA; Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, CA; and Casey Kaplan and Kate Werble Gallery, both in New York. She has been a resident artist at the Vermont Studio Center, Santa Fe Art Institute, Blue Mountain Center, Jentel Artist Residency Program, Djerassi Art Residency, Franconia Sculpture Park, Chashama Studio Program, the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, Henry Street Settlement, and the NARS International Studio Program. She was a 2011 Rema Hort Mann Foundation grant nominee. In 2012, Salas was invited to attend the artist residency at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai, China. She currently teaches Mold Making at Yale University, and was appointed Lecturer there in 2011. www.carolynsalas.com

Left: Untitled, 2011 Right: Standing Sculpture, 2012

Ian Umlauf Using discarded hollow-core doors as his chosen medium, Ian Umlauf suggests new use-value for the quotidian and the rejected. By cutting up and rebuilding the doors into new configurations, repurposing the doors’ skeletal structures as readymade printing presses, and integrating found imagery in the form of inkjet prints and posters, the artist invites the viewer to adjust, reconsider, and adapt their relationship to commonplace objects and imagery. Umlauf’s interest in the stratified atmosphere of mediated images, and the quasi-cubistic effect of multiple perspectives, becomes evident as one weaves through his work.

Formal relationships such as mirroring, repetition, and flipping are presented through visual conundrums to establish themes and to draw out conflated perspectives and spaces. These subtle disorientations and the resultant short-circuiting of perceptual flow serve to heighten the viewer’s self-awareness and reveal the shifting strata of looking in real time.

BIOGRAPHY Ian Umlauf was born in Austin, Texas, in 1974 and now lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He earned his BFA from the University of Texas, Austin, in 1997 and his MFA in Sculpture from Hunter College, City University of New York, in 2001. He exhibits his work in galleries and not-for-profit spaces both nationally and internationally such as Track 16 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA; Plywood, Baltimore; Vaudeville Park and the International Studio & Curatorial Program, both in Brooklyn; and bendixen contemporary art, Copenhagen. www.ianumlauf.com

teparu: First Altitudes, 2012

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Matthew C. Wilson Matthew C. Wilson deploys sculpture, action, photography, video, drawing, and combinations of these media. The shadow of an intention‑charged action — often implied rather than witnessed — is cast against a network of places/spaces, times, and material transformations. Wilson’s work occupies an unstable space between projection and perception, between metaphysical and concrete vision. Through its relationship to physical and mental processes, the work hangs in a suspended state between whole and fragments, creating a confrontation with an active process of becoming, rather than a crystallization of meaning.

BIOGRAPHY Matthew C. Wilson was born in North Carolina in 1982 and received two BA degrees from North Carolina State University in 2006. He is currently in the MFA Visual Arts program at Columbia University in the City of New York. He has attended residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, the Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts as the recipient of the AAF Prize for Fine Arts, and at the Fondazione Antonio Ratti, Como, Italy, among others. Recent exhibitions include those at the Museo Archeologico Paolo Giovio, Como, Italy; 92YTribeca, New York; Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City; and Cabinet Magazine Gallery and NURTUREart, both in Brooklyn. www.matthewcwilson.com

They’ll say of him, “He has started to wander,” 2009

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Works in the Exhibition

All works courtesy the artist unless otherwise noted.

Arielle Falk Feelings are never true. They play with their mirrors. (Cowardice), 2012 MDF and latex paint 44 x 40 x 49 in.

Feelings are never true. They play with their mirrors. (Courage), 2012 MDF and latex paint 82 x 40 x 5 in.

Jamie Felton Your Mother’s Shoes, 2012 Wood, chicken wire, plaster, acrylic, satin, and faux leather shoes 156 x 18 x 18 in.

Four, 2012 Wood, chicken wire, plaster, acrylic, and plastic 18 x 26 x 98 in.

Untitled, 2012 Foam, plaster, oil, plastic, and flowers 51 x 24 x 3 in.

MaryKate Maher Auspicious positions (1), 2012 Resin, steel, aluminum, and dirt 46 x 17 x 14 in.

Auspicious positions (2), 2012 Resin, bronze, steel, plaster, and C-print 38 x 25 x 32 in.

Abraham McNally Untitled Sculpture, 2012 Wood, stone, mortar, and plaster 12 x 14 x 10 in.

Untitled Sculpture, 2012 Plaster and wood Two freestanding sculptures, each measuring 148 x 18 x 28 in.

Jong Oh Untitled, 2012 Plexiglas, wood, foam board, fishing wire, nail, paint, and pencil line Dimensions variable Courtesy of the artist and Marc Straus LLC, New York

Carolyn Salas Standing Sculpture, 2012 Aqua resin, pigment, and Hydrocal 76 x 72 x 4 in.

Untitled #1, 2011 Cast Hydrocal, pigment, and cement 12 x 10 x 1 ½ in.

Untitled #2, 2011 Cast Hydrocal, pigment, and cement 12 x 10 x 1 ½ in.

Untitled #3, 2011 Cast Hydrocal, pigment, and cement 12 x 10 x 1 ½ in.

Untitled #4, 2011 Cast Hydrocal, pigment, and cement 12 x 10 x 1 ½ in.

Untitled #5, 2011 Cast Hydrocal, pigment, and cement 12 x 10 x 1 ½ in.

Untitled #6, 2011 Cast Hydrocal, pigment, and cement 12 x 10 x 1 ½ in.

Untitled #7, 2011 Cast Hydrocal, pigment, and cement 12 x 10 x 1 ½ in.

Untitled #8, 2011 Cast Hydrocal, pigment, and cement 12 x 10 x 1 ½ in.

Ian Umlauf teparu: First Altitudes, 2012 Hollow-core door, heat-resisting aluminum paint, poster, and tape 34 1/8 x 107 3/8 x 37 ½ in.

Matthew C. Wilson They’ll say of him, “He has started to wander,” 2009 Mummy sleeping bag, sleeping pad, scarified blue lotus seed, blue lily flower infusion, wine glasses, mixtures of wood glue and tobacco decoction and wood glue and uña de gato decoction on acrylic sheets, MDF sealed with mixture of wood glue and tobacco decoction, enamel paint, and PVC 80 x 96 x 96 in.

Acknowledgments BRIC Arts | Media | Bklyn presents contemporary art, performing arts, and community media programs that reflect Brooklyn’s creativity and diversity. BRIC also provides resources to launch, nurture and showcase artists and media makers.

We advance access to and understanding of arts and media by presenting free and low cost programming, and by offering education and public programs to people of all ages.

BRIC’s contemporary art initiatives aim to increase the visibility and accessibility of contemporary art while bridging the gap between the art world and global culture in Brooklyn through exhibitions, public events, and an innovative arts education program at BRIC Rotunda Gallery.

BRIC acknowledges public funds for its contemporary art programs from the Institute of Museum and Library Services; New York State Council on the Arts; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; New York City Council members Mathieu Eugene, Vincent J. Gentile, Sara M. Gonzalez, Letitia James, Brad Lander, Stephen Levin, Domenic M. Recchia, Jr., Albert Vann, and Jumaane Williams.

Additional support is provided by Astoria Federal Savings; Lily Auchincloss Foundation; Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation; Barclays/Nets Community Alliance; Bay and Paul Foundations; Bloomberg; Bloomingdale’s Fund of the Macy’s Foundation; Con Edison; Robert Lehman Foundation; Lawrence W. Levine Foundation; and numerous individual supporters.

About the BRIC Contemporary Artist Registry Artists exhibited in 8 Artists Making Sculpture were selected exclusively from BRIC’s online Contemporary Artist Registry (registry.bricartsmedia.org). The BRIC Contemporary Artist Registry is a digital image database that contains the work of artists who were born, live, or work in Brooklyn, New York.

Established in 1983, the Registry became an online resource in spring 2010; it is the oldest registry of visual artists in Brooklyn, and one of the largest and most comprehensive artist registries in the country. The Registry is not curated, and is free to join and/or use. Curators, artists, collectors, and other arts professionals from around the world consult the Registry to discover the work of Brooklyn-affiliated visual artists.

Cover: Jong Oh, Between Two Doors (Element 7), 2012, Courtesy of the artist and Marc Straus LLC, NY Inside front cover: Auspicious positions (1) (detail), 2012 Back: Jamie Felton, Your Mother’s Shoes (detail), 2012

Director of Contemporary Art Elizabeth Ferrer Associate Director, Contemporary Art Christian Fuller Director of Contemporary Art Education Hawley Hussey Education Program Assistant Linda Mboya Marketing and Events Coordinator Abigail Clark Graphic Designer Matthew de Leon Interns Sarah Simpson, Curatorial Intern Lori Camilleri President BRIC Arts | Media | Bklyn Leslie G. Schultz

BRIC Rotunda Gallery 33 Clinton Street Brooklyn, NY 11201 718.683.5604 bricartsmedia.org/contemporary-art facebook.com/bricartsmedia twitter.com/bricarts

BRIC Rotunda Gallery 33 Clinton Street Brooklyn, NY 11201 718.683.5604 bricartsmedia.org/contemporary-art