Passenger with Horizon

PASSENGER WITH HORIZON SCOTT LAWRENCE GRIN

PASSENGER WITH HORIZON SCOTT LAWRENCE SEPTEMBER 17 - OCTOBER 15, 2016

GRIN is pleased to present an exhibition of new interdisciplinary works and installations by Scott Lawrence.

In Passenger with Horizon, Lawrence employs a diverse range of quotidian objects seemingly plucked from his daily routine— the train ride home, the corner of the office, the floor of a shopping mall. However, this is where the familiarity ends. Through careful attention and experimentation, Lawrence recasts these often mundane subjects as new forms - sometimes sadly awkward, sometimes positively elegant - and confuses their placement on the cultural

spectrum

of

high

to

low.

Objects

are

presented

as

low-stakes

disruptions and reverberate with an aimless, transient energy. But they also read as allegorical case studies, phantoms of metaphysical inquiry testing Positivism's triple mantra of Description, Control and Prediction.

The human figure is implied throughout, but only indirectly and via stand-ins such as clothing, furniture or cigarette smoke. The resulting sense is one of vacancy, as though the human itself has somehow been lost in a repetition of mass produced goods, daily commutes and sunsets.

Mishap Progression I, 2016.

Mirror, velvet and painted coat hangers. 24" x 36" x 1.25"

Exit, 2016 Painted stacking chairs. 18" x 34" x 70"

SCOTT LAWRENCE IN CONVERSATION WITH ALEXANDER CASTRO ON THE OCCASTION OF PASSENGER WITH HORIZON AT GRIN

ALEXANDER CASTRO: You refer to

there’s a disruptive impulse at work.

minimalism

as

when

My motivation there is more in the

discussing

your

sepa-

spirit of David Hammons’ Shoe Tree

rates

your

proper?

a

“misnomer” work.

work

from

Thinking

objects

of

What

of

minimalism

your

supreme

use

banality

of

(wire

hangers, chairs, business attire), you do

seem

to

interrupt

the

from

1981,

where

he

tossed

all

these pairs of sneakers up on top of

Serra’s

giant

steel

sculpture

T.W.U.

self-seriaesthetic.

There are a few reasons I choose

But why the hesitation to associate

the objects that end up in my work.

yourself

directly

Universality

Does

imply

ousness

of

a

reductive with

minimalism?

is

maybe

the

most

or

important. I want them to be recog-

discursive mission you don’t share?

nizable to practically anyone. Instead

Would you say you create art that’s

of

anarchic or disruptive?

look, as in Judd’s brass boxes, I’m

it

a

philosophical

the

high-end

corporate

interior

doing something a little bit pathetic, to

more human – while still working in

achieve a level of visual clarity or

this reductive aesthetic. These aren’t

directness in my work. I try to strip

high-design

away the non-essential. I’ve casually

consumer landscape. Their forms are

(confusingly,

SCOTT

LAWRENCE:

maybe)

minimalist

approach.

minimalism

proper

work

of

Smith

Stella,

and

satirical, referenced number

the

to of

be it

I

try

pulled

from

the

this

a

engineered for the bottom line and

interest

in

in

called My

objects

that

sense

I

think

of

them

as

canonical

being impoverished, or desperate, in

Serra,

McCracken,

a way. The exceptions to this are

others

–

more

the pinstripe pants and dress shirts

I’ve

which I intend to be associated with

in

a

a more white collar environment and

values

I

to

-

the

honest,

pretty pieces.

is and

directly The

make

this

connection

between

associate with that minimalism, like

minimalism and corporate hegemony

the domineering approach to space,

more explicit.

its

declarative

to

receptive

attitude or

as

opposed

sensitive,

its

AC: You mention Max Weber’s idea

embrace of commodity and alignment

of

with industrial capitalism, are values

mysticism to positivism-- as an influ-

I

ence.

question.

So

you’re

right

that

“disenchantment” The

--the

asceticism,

loss

of

efficiency,

organization

and

bureaucracy

that

he collected, for example.

But obvi-

sociological

ously there’s this very long history

concerns were arguably instrumental

of artists thwarting the rational in all

in

sorts of ways, trying to access the

defined

Weber’s

establishing

now:

one

the

in

world

which

we

have

ontology

is

subconscious,

doing

and forms (visual, social, or other-

conscious brains to take the wheel.

wise)

Dreams,

defined. engage ment

contents

How or

and

are

does

tussle its

clearly

of

than

their

consciousness,

work

Mark Tansey had his spinning wheel

disenchant-

of random subject matter and Brian

your

with

stream

other

to

allow

whose

something

anything

grounded in predictability, rationalism

metaphysical

implica-

Eno

and

Peter

Schmidt

had

their

tions? Furthermore, how do you see

Oblique Strategies. And then on the

disenchantment

the

other hand there was this group of

arts? Thinking of Weber’s Protestant

minimalist artists fully embracing the

Ethic, one does find some overlap

values

with the goals of minimalism.

to

expressed

in

of

use

rationalism.

this

odd

So

I’ve

window

tried

where

art

and rationalism overlapped as cover SL: Weber’s thesis of rationalization

in some of my work.

has been a useful framework for me You

reference

a

relevant picture of the world and it

reductive

aesthetic,

but

describes

com-

you create seem to contain a jouis-

monly thought of as progress. Basi-

sance that spills outside the bound-

cally he said that the entire history

aries of pure form. So what place

of western civilization could be sum-

does the euphoric or visionary expe-

marized as the gradual disenchant-

rience have in your work? Are your

ment of the world, and the replace-

pants sculptures writhing in ecstasy,

ment of magic with rationalism. The

perhaps, rebelling against the utilitar-

end goal of rationalism being securi-

ian

ty, via control, predictability, descrip-

created?

because

tion,

I

think what

it’s I

an

accurate,

imagine

convenience.

But

is

I’ve

AC:

purpose

for

minimalist the

which

or

objects

they

were

always

been struck by the extent to which

SL:

This

is

art is the exact inverse of rational-

start

with

the

ization. Like, I can’t think of a less

wanted to find a way to make sculp-

interesting

in

And

when

great easy

question. part.

I

I’ll had

art

than

tures of people in suits falling down,

I’ve

ever

in a slapstick way. I realized I could

made anything that’s very hard for

do this with just the pants. For me,

me to describe to someone, I know

those

I’m onto something. Or, all the art

about... well, falling down.

that gets its power from the amount

a funny way) more than ecstasy. But

of care that went into making it -

they are really ambiguous and get a

efficiency

range

predictability.

quality

a

would

kill

it.

Wolfgang

Laib’s installations with the pollen

sculptures

of

have

interpretations.

always

been

Pain (in

Dancing

is

one I hear sometimes. If you look at

them as objects, they’re very static

doing every time, but there’s space

and

its

built in to incorporate her life. In my

own design problem. But if you look

case, I’m sort of an ‘everyman’ in

at them as figures, they’re writhing

my own work. The same way I pull

or falling down or crushed. So there

in

is this structure/ anti-structure inter-

matter, I pull in some of the more

play, not just in these but in a lot

mundane details of my everyday life.

of my other work, too. I read once

And

that Victor Turner said we conserve

more

through structure and grow through

those

otherwise

anti-structure, and that always stuck

count

for

with me.

significance. Part of the way I want

architectural.

Each

one

is

ubiquitous

it’s

not

in

a

way

of

these

objects

an

subject

ironic

for

way

me

but

to

make

insignificant

times

something,

pieces

as

to

to

spill

give

them

outside

the

As for the visionary experience – it’s

boundaries of their restricted forms,

always the place to try to get to,

as

right?

narrative

Proof that there’s more than

just

rationalization.

happens

but

it’s

I

think

unpredictable,

it

you

said,

is

quality,

to to

give tie

them

them

a

to

a

larger story outside themselves.

at

least in my experience. But process-

AC: Did your experiences commuting

es,

between Providence and Brooklyn for

and

pected

seeing

materials

things,

can

do

be

unex-

like

a

hard-earned substitute.

several years inform Passenger with Horizon? More broadly, how can an artist

represent

or

visualize

their

AC: You mention R.H. Quaytman as

interiority —even through the detritus

an artist who personalizes her work

of mass consumer culture?

despite

its

formal”

ostensibly

nature.

Your

“rigid

art

and

seems

to

SL:

They

did.

I

moved

from

New

personal

York to Rhode Island and then start-

without being confessional. So how

ed commuting back and forth once

—or through what— do you express

a week, because I kept my job and

your self in your work?

my studio there. The 3 ½ hr train

exist

in

the

same

realm:

rides along the coast became really SL: as

Quaytman set up her practice a

sort

of

open

system.

She

valuable time for me and the details of that commute started finding their

imposed a set of limitations to work

way

into

within, like setting standard painting

had

been

sizes for herself. Her work progress-

that I wanted use an ellipse. Then

es in ‘chapters’ within an overarch-

I

ing

Amtrak bathrooms are all ovals and

archive

or

book.

But

within

I

shapes

from.

locales

of

images her

taken

from

exhibitions.

the She

doesn’t have to reinvent what she’s

was

that

sure So

work.

having

realized

these set decisions she incorporates or

my

I

For this

the

that’s traced

example odd

feeling

mirrors where the

I

in it

mirror

the

came and

used that shape in the coat hanger piece. Other imagery too, like the

backs of people’s heads.

I saw so

AC: Ha! Very neat. I just looked up

many

over

the

amazing

sunsets

the

Amtrak

ocean on those trips and I took all

fascinating

these

describe,

snapshots

of

them.

I

looked

residencies. program.

those

long

at them a lot and the gradations of

certainly

color sort of took hold. It got me

daydreaming

--

thinking about the Light and Space

place

writer.

movement in California, and also the

interview, Scott!

way

that

those

gradations

can

All

those

elements

for

a

both

a you

train

rides

stillness

definitely

and

a

Thanks

good

for

the

be

used to show motion or dematerialization.

invite

What Like

SL:

I’ve enjoyed it. Thanks Alex.

worked

their way into this show.

You’re absolutely right that in general, and especially in New York, so many things compete for our attention that it’s really difficult to ‘listen’ – or to be open to subtle possibilities. In a lot of the art I like the most, I find myself asking, how did the artist even hear that? In those several years, my studio space was not necessarily a fixed physical spot but

more

carry

with

of

something

me

I

internally.

had The

to

time

on the train was quiet and was its own sort of empty space. I would rush to finally make the train, then just sit there, decompress and watch the landscape go by for an hour or more.

I’d

think

and

think

until

I

basically had no more thoughts and then I could just keep watching the

ALEXANDER

landscape.

Castro

That

emptying

of

is

CASTRO a

journalist

Alexander and

writer

thoughts helped me to get down to

based in the Providence/Boston area.

a receptive place.

He

regularly

Island I

wasn’t

Place in the 'Arts Review or Criti-

program,

cism'

category

Island

Press

they

offer

to

Rhode

publications

that Amtrak actually has a residency a

all

the

for

like Newport Mercury. He won First

like

at

covers scene

learn

that

surprised

arts

cross-country to

writers,

trip,

because

the train is such a good place for that. You should apply!!

at

the

2015

Association

Rhode Editorial

Awards. boyjourno.com

Break, 2016.

Wood, aluminum, acrylic, silkscreen ink on glass, shadows. 12" x 48"

Pants Sculpture XII, 2016.

Dress pants on aluminum, carpet. 19" x 32" x 18"

Face III, 2016.

Dress shirt on wood panel. 22" x 26"

SCOTT LAWRENCE Born in Alabama, Scott Lawrence lives in and works in Providence, Rhode Island. He received his MFA from the school of Visual Arts and his BFA from the Atlanta College of Art. He has exhibited in Seoul, Korea, New York,

Berlin,

Brucennial

in

Germany 2012

and

and

elsewhere.

2010,

and

collective, Dos PestaĂąeos, in 2003.

He

was

co-founded

included an

in

BHQFU

award-winning

artist

He has been featured in the New

York Times, Art Papers and the Atlanta Journal Constitution. scottlawrencestudio.com

the

ABOUT GRIN GRIN is a contemporary art gallery located at The Plant in the historic Olneyville District of Providence, Rhode Island. Directed by Corey Oberlander

and

Lindsey

Stapleton,

GRIN

was

founded

in

2013

as

a

space

for

artists to develop and exhibit their work, with a steady curatorial hand.

Our intent is to develop an intellectually demanding yet aesthetically pleasing program, focusing on emerging artists working across mediums. Our hope is to stimulate fresh dialogue while continuing to promote the development of the local creative community. Our mission is to support the careers of underexposed artists with a devotion to process and conceptual advancement.

To

purchase

any

available

works,

please

contact

us

directly

at

direc-

tor@grinprovidence.com. All sales are Tax Free!

CONTACT 60 Valley Street, Unit 3 Providence, RI02909 e. contact@grinprovidence.com p. 401 272 0796 Open Saturdays 12PM - 5PM, by announcement, appointment and chance.