STANDARD (OSLO)
PRESS RELEASE
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"PAINTINGS, PROPS AND PROBLEMS (STILL UNRESOLVED)"
TAUBA AUERBACH / GARDAR EIDE EINARSSON / MATIAS FALDBAKKEN / KIM HIORTHØY / JOSH SMITH / CURATED BY EIVIND FURNESVIK
30.08.-30.09.2007 / PREVIEW: 30.08.2007 / 19.00-21.00 /
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STANDARD (OSLO) is pleased to announce the opening of the group exhibition "Paintings, Props and Problems (Still Unresolved)", featuring works of Tauba Auerbach, Gardar Eide Einarsson, Matias Faldbakken, Kim Hiorthøy and Josh Smith. Examining the relationship between painting and the theatrical prop, these works seem to put an emphasis on the objecthood of painting, and attempt at abandonment, destruction or deconstruction of the painterly practice.
"I wanted to get the paint out of the can and onto the canvas … I tried to keep the paint as good as it was in the can."
– Frank Stella
"The loss of quality that is so evident at every level of spectacular language, from the objects it glorifies to the behavior it regulates, stems from the basic nature of a production system that shuns reality. The commodity form reduces everything to quantitative equivalence. The quantitative is what it develops, and it can develop only within the quantitative."
– Guy Debord, "The Society of the Spectacle", 1967
"Paintings, Props And Problems (Still Unresolved)" takes as its point of departure the practice and idea of painting, but nevertheless includes works that may rather be categorized as 'arbitrary objects'. In line with Frank Stella's ambition – initially stated in connection with his debut exhibition at MoMA (New York) in 1958 – this exhibition reconsiders notions of production, non-production and the readymade painting in current practice. Rather than aiming at transcendent speculations (abstraction) or suggestions of narratives (figuration), these works seem to concentrate on the incomplete or indifferent – freely assuiming the role as proposals, prototypes or as props.
Immediately confronting the viewer upon entrance to the exhibition is a sculptural work by Matias Faldbakken, "Film Cans #4". Six tall stacks of film canisters have been sprayed down with chrome spray. The silver-coloured excess bleeds onto the walls and floor where the work is installed. Returning to the by-products from the entertainment industry – in this case the almost obsolete film canister – Faldbakken displays his recurring interest in that which exposes the fundaments of the spectacular. Both being infirm and empty, these canisters not only share features with the theatrical prop, but inevitably also comment on recent attempts throughout cultural production at emptying out (literal) content. Here, the rigid sculptural form is combined with an almost mocking quotation of the gesture of application, introducing vandalism (spraypaint) as an alternative language of negation through more or less spectacular means.
An comparable interest in the by-product may be found in the untitled paintings of Josh Smith, commonly referred to as "palette paintings". While working on a larger painting, Smith will utilize a smaller canvas as a palette for mixing the paint. The result of this process there is two paintings: one intentionally and one automatically executed. However, the very execution of the latter questions our notions of composition, as well as challenging the expectation of involvement or investment of the artist intrinsically linked with the legacy of abstract painting (that these works still are visually reminding of). As with so many of Smith's works, there is a reversal of what constitutes the instrument and what constitutes the content in production and presentation of art – earlier having allowed for his own name or the poster for an exhibition to take centre stage as motives for his works. Equally detached is the commentary offered in Kim Hiorthøy's video work "Film About Colours". Simple cutout figures of coloured cardboard – like home-made, impaired monochromes – are methodically presented in front of the camera, while a voice over announces the names of the colours in French. Adjacent is an ink drawing by Hiorthøy depicting black paint running from the top of the paper. The completely flat rendition of the potential physical event generates an unmoving and unconvincing gesture – all traces of the artist's work erased. The displayed disinterest echoes with one of the conclusions drawn by Guy Debord in the Society of the Spectacle: "Only the real negation of culture can preserve its meaning." Only the frozen gesture revives painting. Only the colourless surface gives meaning when revisiting the legacy of the monochrome. Occupying the end wall is a work of Gardar Eide Einarsson in the form of a reproduction of a mirror commonly found in public space. Bearing the title, "Suicide Mirror", it both verbally and visually retracts, while at the same time having the ability to reflect every colour.
The three works of Tauba Auerbach presented similarly look at the legacy of Modernist painting as inherently unstable, while also extending her analysis to two parallel investigations of morphology; that of computer programming language and that of the production of colour spectrum. Entitled "50/50" her large-scale ink drawings are based on a dichotomy equal to that of binary programming language, where information is put together through a system of 1's and 0's. Auerbach translates this configuration of 'yes' and 'not yes' into a restrictive system where 1 and 0 have been replaced by modularized halves of black and white. The result is as much an optically disorientating effect as an actual representation of the colour grey (digitally defined as 50% white and 50% black). The rigid logic is only introduced to be disrupted, with large sections of her latter two works suddenly being inverted. Hence the opposites, which constitute the formal and linguistic system, collapse. This work method of subjecting artistic determination to systematic restrictions and material resistance is further investigated in two works by the above-mentioned Faldbakken. Applying solely isolation tape as instrument the artist willingly imposes limitations. The two canvases thus present little more than clumsily spelled words, where the lack of precision and inevitable reduction is further amplified through repetition.
For further information see attached short bio for the artists, visit our webpage www.standardoslo.no, or contact Eivind Furnesvik at eivind@standardoslo.no or +47 917 07 429 / +47 22 60 13 10. STANDARD (OSLO) is open Tuesday-Friday: 12.00-17.00 / Saturday: 12.00-16.00. Please notice that the gallery will as of this be closed both on Sundays and Mondays.
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STANDARD (OSLO) is proud to announce the representation of American artist Tauba Auerbach. Auerbach (born 1981) works and lives in San Francisco. Her recent exhibitions include solo exhibitons at Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco, and Deitch Projects, New York, in addition to group exhibitions such as "Beneath the Underdog" at Gagosian Gallery, New York and "Panic Room" at Deste Foundation, Athens.
STANDARD (OSLO) is also joined by two new staff members in August: Therese Veier and Arne Vinnem. Vinnem – trained as an artist from the National Academy of Fine Arts in Bergen – leaves a position as exhibition manager at Bergen Kunsthall, whereas Veier – trained as art historian from the University of Oslo – formerly has worked for the Henie-Onstad Art Centre and Le Monde Diplomatique in Oslo.
STANDARD (OSLO) would also like to inform that after two years as co-director, Petter Snare, will be returning to his position as a legal advisor. Snare will still remain as a consultant to the gallery, but will concentrate on his own collection of contemporary art. Eivind Furnesvik assumes the position of chairman of the board, and would on behalf of STANDARD (OSLO) and its artists like to thank Snare for his great contribution to the gallery in its initial two years.
Next exhibition:
Matias Faldbakken: "Nothing Doing" / 04.10.-03.11.2007 /
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PRESS RELEASE / ENGLISH / PDF /
SHORT BIO / PDF /
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"PAINTINGS, PROPS AND PROBLEMS (STILL UNRESOLVED)"
2007
Installation view: Matias Faldbakken: "Untitled [Canvas #1]" / Matias Faldbakken: "Untitled [Canvas #2]" / Tauba Auerbach: "50/50 VIII" / Tauba Auerbach: "50/50 IX" / Gardar Eide Einarsson: "Suicide Mirror" / Matias Faldbakken: "Untitled (Film Cans #4)"
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MATIAS FALDBAKKEN
"UNTITLED [CANVAS #2]"
2007
Isolation tape on canvas
152 x 152 cm / 6 x 6 feet
Edition: 1
SOMF-2007-51
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MATIAS FALDBAKKEN
"UNTITLED [CANVAS #1]"
2007
Isolation tape on canvas
152 x 152 cm / 6 x 6 feet
Edition: 1
SOMF-2007-50
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"PAINTINGS, PROPS AND PROBLEMS (STILL UNRESOLVED)"
2007
Installation view: Josh Smith: "Untitled #4" / Josh Smith: "Untitled #10" / Josh Smith: "Untitled #6" / Josh Smith: "Untitled #7" / Tauba Auerbach: "50/50 VIII" / Tauba Auerbach: "50/50 IX"
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JOSH SMITH
"UNTITLED (PALETTE PAINTING #4)"
2007
Oil paint on canvas
50.8 x 40.64 cm / 20 x 16 inches
SOJS-2007-004
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JOSH SMITH
"UNTITLED (PALETTE PAINTING #10)"
2007
Oil paint on canvas
50.8 x 40.64 cm / 20 x 16 inches
SOJS-2007-010
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JOSH SMITH
"UNTITLED (PALETTE PAINTING #6)"
2007
Oil paint on canvas
50.8 x 40.64 cm / 20 x 16 inches
SOJS-2007-006
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JOSH SMITH
"UNTITLED (PALETTE PAINTING #7)"
2007
Oil paint on canvas
50.8 x 40.64 cm / 20 x 16 inches
SOJS-2007-007
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TAUBA AUERBACH
"50/50 VIII" / "50/50 IX"
2007
Indian ink pen on paper / framed
127 x 96,5 cm / 50 x 38 inches
SOTA-2007-002 / -003
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GARDAR EIDE EINARSSON
"SUICIDE MIRROR"
2007
Mirror board in aluminium frame
120 x 200 cm
Edition: 1
SOGEE-2007-021
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JOSH SMITH
"UNTITLED (PALETTE PAINTING #5)"
2007
Oil paint on canvas
50.8 x 40.64 cm / 20 x 16 inches
SOJS-2007-005
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JOSH SMITH
"UNTITLED (PALETTE PAINTING #2)"
2007
Oil paint on canvas
50.8 x 40.64 cm / 20 x 16 inches
SOJS-2007-002
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JOSH SMITH
"UNTITLED (PALETTE PAINTING #3)"
2007
Oil paint on canvas
50.8 x 40.64 cm / 20 x 16 inches
SOJS-2007-003
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JOSH SMITH
"UNTITLED (PALETTE PAINTING #9)"
2007
Oil paint on canvas
50.8 x 40.64 cm / 20 x 16 inches
SOJS-2007-009
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"PAINTINGS, PROPS AND PROBLEMS (STILL UNRESOLVED)"
2007
Installation view: Matias Faldbakken: "Untitled (Film Cans #4)" / Matias Faldbakken: "Untitled [Canvas #1]" / Matias Faldbakken: "Untitled [Canvas #2]"
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MATIAS FALDBAKKEN
"UNTITLED (FILM CANS #4)"
2007
Spray painted film roll boxes
Variable dimensions
SOMF-2007-055
Installation view
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MATIAS FALDBAKKEN
"UNTITLED (FILM CANS #4)"
2007
Spray painted film roll boxes
Variable dimensions
SOMF-2007-055
Detail view
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GARDAR EIDE EINARSSON
"SCALE AS CONTENT (COMPOSITION #1)"
2007
Acrylic paint on canvas
31 x 42,5 cm
Edition: 1
SOGEE-2007-023
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"PAINTINGS, PROPS AND PROBLEMS (STILL UNRESOLVED)"
2007
Installation view: Tauba Auerbach: "50/50 VII" / Matias Faldbakken: "Untitled [Canvas #2]"
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KIM HIORTHØY
"UNTITLED"
2004
Ink on paper / framed
41 x 30 cm
SOKH-2004-003
Private collection of Erling Kagge, Oslo
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KIM HIORTHØY
”FILM OM FARGER” [FILM ABOUT COLOURS]
2003
16 mm film transferred to DVD
Duration: 00:53 min
Edition: 3+1 AP
SOKH-2003-009
Film stills
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