Mapping: Memory and Motion in Contemporary Art
Mapping: Memory and Motion in Contemporary Art
Katonah Museum of Ar t
Cover
Karey Ellen Kessler
Other Country, 2009
Gouache on rice paper
8 x 8 inches
Courtesy of the artist
Artists
Norman Akers
Jane Ingram Allen
Doug Beube
Marla Brill
Val Britton
Ingrid Calame
Russell Crotty
Matthew Cusick
Josh Dorman
Eric Finzi
Vernon Fisher
Dawn Gavin
Robert Green
David F. Hartwell
Robin Hewlett
Mike Iacovone
Kysa Johnson
Ken Kalman
Cindy Kane
Nina Katchadourian
Karey Ellen Kessler
Ben Kinsley
Joyce Kozloff
Pedro Lasch
John Mann
Meridith McNeal
Trevor Paglen
Lordy Rodriguez
John Ruppert
Soledad Salamé
Lincoln Schatz
Paula Scher
Foon Sham
Scott Sherk
Susan Stockwell
Robert Van Vranken
Judi Werthein
Jeremy Wineberg
2
Mapping
Memory and Motion
in Contemporary Art
Sarah Tanguy
Guest Curator
Funding for this exhibition was provided by ArtsWestchester, with funds from the
Westchester County Government; the New York State Council on the Arts, celebrating
50 years of building strong, creative communities in New York State’s 62 counties; and the
Museum’s Exhibition Patrons.
1
Figure 1
Paula Scher
The United States (White) (detail), 2007
Hand-pulled screenprint
40 x 60 inches
Courtesy of the artist
2
Foreword
Neil Watson
Executive Director
Are we there yet? their work with us—we are all richer for this
interaction. We are also grateful to the galleries
As parents, we’ve heard it. As children, we’ve and private individuals who loaned to the show.
asked it. There’s a universal need to know
where we are, where we’re going, and when The Museum wishes to acknowledge the
we’ll get there. Yet at any given moment exceptional work of a few individuals who aided
those simple questions can have complex in the success of this exhibition, its catalogue,
underpinnings. and its programs. Naomi Leiseroff crafted
a fitting and seductive publication. Michael
So say the artists in Mapping: Memory and Prudhom created an engaging and coherent
Motion in Contemporary Art. installation, with the assistance of a dedicated
and professional crew. Nancy Hitchcock guided
Does knowing where we are ground us? Does the transport and safekeeping of the artwork
it make us feel safe? Is mapmaking more than with her usual care and rigorous standards.
a need to organize and define the world? Do Margaret Adasko, Gail Bryan, Naomi Leiseroff,
boundaries say more about human needs than Barbara Plechaty, Karen Stein, and Ellen
mere topography and political divisions? In this Williams developed educational materials and
GPS world, does knowing where we are at any exciting programs for our Museum visitors and
given moment guarantee that we’ll never get schools. Nancy Hitchcock and Susan Hoffman
lost? The 38 artists in Mapping delve into these led the Docent Training sessions and provided a
and other questions through the fascinating art great roadmap for our docent team.
and science of mapmaking.
The guiding hand for Mapping has been Nancy
The Museum extends a heartfelt thank-you Wallach. She has overseen this project from
to guest curator Sarah Tanguy for putting checklist to catalogue to exhibition. Finally, our
together this smart, provocative, and visually steadfast volunteers—the Boards of Trustees and
arresting exhibition. Over her illustrious Overseers and the Museum’s volunteer corps—
career, Sarah has curated many significant remain the bedrock for our exhibitions and
national and international exhibitions, including programs, and enable us to always reach higher.
the KMA’s Food Matters in 2004 and Tools As Art
in 2007. We’re delighted to work with her again
on another extraordinary project.
3
Figure 2
Doug Beube
Invisible Cities, 1991
Altered atlas, metal, springs, cloth
11 1/2 x 12 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches
Courtesy of the artist
4
Place is a Space
Taking off
Sarah Tanguy
Figure 3 (page 5) Figure 4
John Mann Nina Katchadourian
Untitled (proposed on-ramp), from Folded in Place, 2007 Map Dissection I (detail), 1991–97
Digital C-print Cut paper map, glass, hardware
30 x 35 inches 24 x 36 x 1/2 inches
Courtesy of the artist Courtesy of Catharine Clark Gallery,
San Francisco, California
6
Getting There
8
Figure 7 (opposite, bottom) Figure 8
Nina Katchadourian Matthew Cusick
Map Dissection I, 1991–97 Transamerican, 2004
Cut paper map, glass, hardware Inlaid maps and acrylic on wood panel
24 x 36 x 1/2 inches 48 x 70 inches
Courtesy of Catharine Clark Gallery, Courtesy of Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York,
San Francisco, California New York
map, she sandwiches the roadways between of the car in Transamerican (fig. 8). Here, the
two sheets of glass like a super-sized specimen image of the discontinued Pontiac Firebird is
and suspends the piece from the ceiling. Drawing made of road maps from the 1960s and 1970s,
a parallel between geography and anatomy, the car’s heyday. The icon of the “screaming
she distills the vastness of the continental U.S. chicken” counters obsolescence with the life
into an absurd, yet organized nexus akin to a force of memory. In many cultures, the firebird
circulatory or neural system. And just as reading or phoenix represents immortality; for Cusick it
an anatomical chart involves a leap of faith, so indicates our “capacity for vision, for collecting
does accepting a map. Both objects represent sensory information about the events unfolding in
abstractions of someone else’s creation. our environment.”
Matthew Cusick also emphasizes the importance
9
Figure 9 Figure 10 (opposite)
Kysa Johnson David F. Hartwell
Blow Up 30 – Subatomic Decay Patterns (detail), 2004 512 Steps, from Broad Street Pilgrimage,
Ink on board Richmond, VA, 2007
24 x 48 inches Lightjet print
Courtesy of the artist and Morgan Lehman Gallery, 30 x 20 inches
New York, New York Courtesy of the artist’s family
Micro meets macro when Kysa Johnson Calame’s paintings (fig. 5) trace marks that
adapts mapping techniques to retrace subatomic are entirely visible to the naked eye—stains
decay patterns. These patterns can be viewed and graffiti the artist finds on pavements
through cloud and bubble chambers as and streets. Keeping the original scale and
well as large hadron colliders. Tracking the shape of the stains, she re-contextualizes
collision of unstable particles, they represent them into what she calls “constellations.”
fundamental pathways of the known universe. Titles such as Bb-AA-ghch! are translations of
In Blow Up 30—Subatomic Decay Patterns (fig. quotidian sounds. These onomatopoeias, along
9), layers of colored intersecting lines sketch with the bright hues of the paintings, suggest
a monumental skein of differing densities and an explosive, urban atmosphere. From the
movements. By contrast, the shapes in Ingrid anonymous to the personal, David F. Hartwell
10
explores how memory assigns importance “…I vaguely remember visiting the [TV] station
and affects experience in his photographic during elementary school, but I’m not certain if
essay Broad Street Pilgrimage, Richmond, VA that memory is accurate. It could be an imagined
(fig. 10). Adapting strategies of conceptual and memory grown from the stories of others. More
earth artists from the 1960s, Hartwell revisits recently, the antenna has served as an orientation
childhood haunts and, like Calame, transforms marker for me. When I am lost in my mother’s
the ordinary into the extraordinary, through new neighborhood, I can spot the tower and use
found detritus and such written commentary as its blinking red light to find my way.”
11
Figure 11
Russell Crotty
Near the Lost Coast, 2007
Ink and watercolor on paper mounted on
fiberglass sphere
Diameter 36 inches
Courtesy of the artist and Shoshana Wayne Gallery,
Santa Monica, California
12
Figure 12
Scott Sherk
The Katonah Sound Project: Ambient Map, 2010
Full-range speakers
Each speaker: 57 x 8 x 10 1/2 inches
Courtesy of the artist and Kim Foster Gallery,
New York, New York
Walking also informs the performative trees. Delicately annotated with “…Empty, no
mappings of Russell Crotty, Scott Sherk, and one around, we beach comb and collect some
Mike Iacovone. An amateur astronomer and driftwood. We are free…” and other poetic
avid observer, Russell Crotty chronicles the musings, the topographical drawing evokes the
impressions of an October day in Near the Lost sense of awe the artist felt as his trek unfolded.
Coast (fig. 11). The ethereal large-scale globe gets Scott Sherk’s site-specific sound map harkens
its title from a hermetic California beach known back to pre-Copernican cosmology by substituting
for its dramatic elevations, rocky crags, and pine the Katonah Museum of Art for the earth, as
13
Figure 13
Mike Iacovone
Three Churches One Intersection, 2008
Inkjet on archival paper
40 x 90 inches
Courtesy of the artist
the center of the universe. From there, Sherk and diagrams of his process. In Three Churches One
recorded sounds at specific locations along Intersection (fig. 13), he re-imagines a well-known
the north, east, south, and west axes of the and heavily trafficked crossroads in Washington,
building. In the final piece, accessed through D.C., where the churches compete for
speakers (fig. 12) in the gallery, familiar sounds worshippers. Each boasts a different architecture
morph into an aural-spatial abstraction. Exploring and religion but is about the same height because
the mechanics and psychology of movement, of the city’s building code.
Mike Iacovone uses geometry to chart his
expeditions, which he later documents in
photographic panoramas inscribed with notes
14
Getting There
16
Figure 16
Karey Ellen Kessler
stars (light up the sky), 2007
Ink on handmade paper
8 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches
Courtesy of the artist
Sampsonia Way, which were subsequently a cross-country truck driver, and the roads he
integrated into the company’s online virtual traveled. In under the ruptured sky (fig. 15) she
mapping application. Planned events (including a draws on the wonder of the rural night sky, where
riotous parade) performed by actors, artists, and countless stars become visible, to mine “the blurry
local organizations commingle with spontaneous terrain of memory and imagination.”
interventions by curious locals. Val Britton
creates intricate collages by layering symbols, Karey Ellen Kessler interweaves actual sites
stains, and other markings over pencil tracings and directions with memories, emotions, and
of projected maps. Immersive meditations, they mysticism in delicate, diaristic drawings. A New
are meant to honor the memory of her father, Year, for example, combines the directional
17
Figure 17 Figure 18 (opposite)
Robert Van Vranken Eric Finzi
Untitled (Approaches to Cape Fear River), 2009 Blowing Bubbles, 2007
Oil on paper on board Epoxy resin and mixed media on wood
44 x 34 inches 48 x 39 inches
Courtesy of OK Harris Works of Art, New York, Courtesy of the artist and Billy Shire Fine Arts,
New York Los Angeles, California
instructions “Go less than 25 miles past condos, of unknown possibilities. In the serene Untitled
small park, and cul-de-sac/first house after cul- (Approaches to Cape Fear River) (fig. 17), Robert
de-sac on the right. Basketball hoop in drive” Van Vranken conceives the North Carolina
with “Peace,” “between time,” and “a star shines delta, known for sea battles and shipwrecks, as
above.” Similarly Other Country (cover) and stars a fantastical, past-meets-present visual mystery
(light up the sky) (fig. 16) map reveries that pierce topped by an arcing frame. From the lookout
the “illusion of permanence” and offer a wealth ledge in the foreground, a ball of twine unwinds,
18
19
Figures 19a, 19b (detail)
Dawn Gavin
Atlas, 2005
Paper, vinyl, acrylic, insect pins
72 x 72 x 1 1/2 inches
Courtesy of the artist
while in the vanishing distance, landmasses and painting Soap Bubbles, with the substitution of
waterways yield to a firmament full of wispy a globe for a soap bubble. Made out of epoxy
clouds, antique maps, and other symbols. resin, the painting sets up a perfect analogy
between the inherent, oozy chaos of the chosen
With Eric Finzi, Dawn Gavin, and John Mann, material and the precariousness of the subject,
mapping assumes the guise of an object. Eric each suggesting a fragile and evolving state of
Finzi’s Blowing Bubbles (fig. 18) takes its cue from shifting contours. Influenced by the writing of
Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin’s 18th-century Jorge Luis Borges, Dawn Gavin brings together
20
Figure 20
John Mann
Untitled (ocean), from Folded in Place, 2009
Digital C-print
30 x 35 inches
Courtesy of the artist
natural science and Eastern symbolism in Atlas Folded in Place, series (figs. 3, 20), John Mann
(figs. 19a, 19b). Tiny bits of dissected maps fixed experiments with aspects of travel and landscape
to the wall by insect pins form a circular mandala. photography. The series began on a road trip
With only traces of its earlier history, the work when the artist noted how the camera can play
explores the temporal and spatial dynamics with the aerial view of a map. Small constructions
between identity formation and dislocated in barely recognizable settings are shot so close
boundaries, while suggesting to the artist “a that their enlarged appearance allows the viewer
fragment of an ever expanding whole.” In the to imaginatively penetrate the space. Bringing full
21
Figure 21 Figure 22 (opposite)
Paula Scher Josh Dorman
The United States (White), 2007 The Tower of Babel, 2007
Hand-pulled screenprint Ink, acrylic, antique maps, and paper on 32 panels
40 x 60 inches 51 1/2 x 34 1/4 inches
Courtesy of the artist Courtesy of the artist and Mary Ryan Gallery,
New York, New York
circle the way a map abstracts actual topography, and place names remain recognizable, she lets
each image creates a landscape “in which the map chance errors mix with her emotional and
obtains a geography of its own.” graphic makeover, which often has a political
edge. The United States (White) (figs. 1, 21) speaks
Paula Scher, Josh Dorman, and Doug Beube to information overload with a dense pictogram
upend the organized precision of a map and of colored lines and letters stretching frantically
expose its underlying cacophony. Paula Scher in all directions. Josh Dorman presents a
grew up around maps—her father worked for different kind of linguistic and spatial puzzle to
the U.S. Geological Survey. Now an experienced access the landscape. The Tower of Babel (fig. 22)
graphic designer, she begins by loosely hand- is a vertiginous composite of miniature worlds,
copying actual maps. Although boundary lines precariously held together with jumps in scale
22
23
Figures 23a, 23b (detail)
Doug Beube
Crater, 2002/2009
Altered atlas, collage, wood stand
36 x 25 3/4 x 20 5/8 inches
Courtesy of the artist
and space. Each “brick,” or small panel, is an insect, bomb, or meteor. Realigning borders
primed with a slice of a topographic map from a and landmasses, the stratification yields new and
different region and overlaid with diagrams and improbable alliances to comment on colonization,
text from a diverse array of antique American globalization, and other current socio-political
and foreign books. Similarly, Doug Beube issues. For Invisible Cities (fig. 2), the artist draws
is seduced by the implied violence inherent on Italo Calvino’s novel about exploration,
in re-packaging cartography and questioning folding the pages of an atlas into an exquisite
its authority. In Crater (figs. 23a, 23b), deep reliquary that might hold remnants of imaginary
gouges in The Times Atlas of the World, Northern travels or peoples.
Europe-Vol. III-Switzerland suggest the work of
24
Getting There
Maps can become contested or reconfigured dates the expedition. By repeating the route
terrain where juxtaposition rules. In Lewis and of the journey, he further extends the sense of
Clark (fig. 25), Robert Green recreates map scope and de-familiarization. Dislocation also
images made by Native Americans and French informs Lordy Rodriguez’s speculations on
and American explorers and geographers— possible politico-economic turf wars in the poles,
overlapping them, reversing the east-west regions that are vital to the world’s survival, yet
orientation, and re-formatting cartographic physically unknown to most of us. With a pre-
symbols, while keeping traditional scale computer look, his carefully researched, ink-on-
measurements. The writhing abstraction suggests paper drawings, North Pole (fig. 24) and South Pole
a temporal-spatial continuum that pre- and post- (fig. 26), manipulate cartographic conventions
26
Figure 26
Lordy Rodriguez
South Pole, 2009
Ink on paper
48 x 48 inches
Courtesy of the artist and Hosfelt Gallery, San
Francisco, California, and New York, New York
and existing maps to reimagine the ecological addresses head-on the surveillance function
impact of commercialization and colonization. of cartographic practice by documenting the
In The Other Night Sky, a cross-disciplinary evidence left behind by supposedly “nonexistent”
project about classified satellites in the earth’s objects. He first collected data with the help
orbit, experimental geographer Trevor Paglen of amateur observers and collaborated with
27
28
Figure 27 (opposite) Figure 28
Trevor Paglen Ken Kalman
KEYHOLE ADVANCED CRYSTAL in Hercules (Optical M-16 Rifle, 2010
Reconnaissance Satellite; USA 116), 2008 Aluminum sheet, rivets, paper
C-print 15 x 41 x 2 inches
60 x 48 inches Courtesy of the artist and OK Harris Works of Art,
Courtesy of Altman Siegel Gallery, San Francisco, New York, New York
California, and Galerie Thomas Zander,
Cologne, Germany
computer scientists and engineers at the guns. Often outdated, they typically indicate
Eyebeam Art + Technology Center to develop where, when, and how the weapons were
the software for depicting orbital motion. Then, used. The maps in M-16 Rifle (fig. 28), the most
using telescopes and large-format cameras with widely employed and distributed weapon by the
a computer-guided mechanical mount, he was United States, deal with world population and,
able to track and photograph overhead satellite obliquely, the artist’s low lottery number during
transits. In KEYHOLE ADVANCED CRYSTAL in the Vietnam War. Pedro Lasch’s LATINO/A
Hercules (Optical Reconnaissance Satellite; USA 116) AMERICA series (fig. 29) features “Latinidad,” a
(fig. 27), a trail of daylight dramatically pierces a borderless North and South America without
velvety dark firmament. Ironically, the spacecraft territorial place names, to address the changing
is no longer in use. population of America and its global reach. For
the project, Lasch gave out 40 identical maps
The consequences of displacement collide with to 20 people about to cross the Mexican/U.S.
everyday reality in the works of Ken Kalman, border, one for them to keep and the other
Pedro Lasch, and Judi Werthein. Ken Kalman to mail back to the artist at the end of their
explores the moral implications of self- journey. In the resulting mixed-media works,
preservation. Fueled by an interest in military the worn maps team up with bilingual excerpts
history, he wraps maps around constructed of conversations between Lasch and the
29
30
Figure 29 (opposite) Figure 30
Pedro Lasch Judi Werthein
Route Guide, Mexico/NY, Vicencio Marquez (Guia de Brinco, 2005
Ruta, México/NY, Vicencio Marquez), from the LATINO/A Digital image
AMERICA series, 2003-2006 Dimensions variable
Archival digital print Courtesy of the Artist and InSITE_05
43 x 30 inches
Courtesy of the artist
corresponding participants. Judi Werthein by Mexican migrants, the sneakers were sold
shares Lasch’s pursuit of participatory for $215 a pair in a San Diego boutique to draw
intervention to question socio-economic justice attention to the country’s avid consumerist
and national identity. For Brinco (“jump” in culture. All sale profits from Brinco were then
Spanish), she designed a sneaker to cross the sent to migrant shelters in Tijuana. To highlight
Mexican/U.S. border (figs. 30, 47). During the the inequity of globalization and the exploitive
InSITE_05: San Diego/Tijuana exhibition, free ways of American companies that produce items
sneakers were distributed in Tijuana, Mexico, to abroad (“offshoring”), the sneaker bears a label
migrants attempting to enter the U.S. illegally. embroidered with the words “this product was
Included are a map printed on the inner sole, manufactured in China under a minimum wage
a flashlight, and a compass. On the back of the of $42 a month working 12-hour days.” When
sneaker is an image of Santo Toribio Romo, displayed, the shoes are accompanied by a video
the patron saint of the Mexican migrants. In chronicling media reaction.
counterpoint to their potential utilitarian use
31
32
Figure 31 (opposite) Figure 32
Susan Stockwell Vernon Fisher
Highland Dress, 2008 Water Music, 2007,
Ordinance Survey maps of the Highlands of Oil and acrylic on canvas
Scotland, glue 60 x 64 inches
Life size Courtesy of Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois,
Courtesy of the artist and Dunn & Brown Contemporary, Dallas, Texas
Ghosts of colonization haunt the works of Susan and warfare as well as to address underlying
Stockwell, Vernon Fisher, and Joyce Kozloff. issues of power and dominance. Contour lines
Susan Stockwell’s Highland Dress (fig. 31) is a of the found maps echo the body lines of the
Victorian-style outfit made of ordinance maps costume, while the scale, under life-size for a
of the Scottish Highlands at the height of the contemporary adult, suggests a child’s dress
British Empire. Her intent is to feminize the and uneasily plays off the “look-don’t-touch”
predominantly male activities of cartography morality of that era. Vernon Fisher invokes
33
Figure 33a, 33b (detail)
Joyce Kozloff
Rocking the Cradle, 2003
Acrylic on wood
30 x 56 x 27 inches
Courtesy of the artist and DC Moore Gallery,
New York, New York
Africa in his painting Water Music (fig. 32), verbal pun, Rocking the Cradle (figs. 33a, 33b).
where the confusion between the real and the An antique map of Iraq overlaid with a battle
artificial creates a biting critique. Referencing plan of the 2003 invasion lines the interior of a
both the novel by T.C. Boyle about Mungo child’s bed, generating a caustic metaphor about
Park’s exploration of the Niger River and the responsibility and the lifespan of a civilization.
music of Handel, the dense composition starts The Voyages series (fig. 46) reflects the artist’s
with an atlas dating to a period when most passion for ornamentation, which stems from the
of Europe’s colonial empire was intact. Fonts feminist and Pattern & Decoration movements
corrupted through computer software reinforce of the 1970s. Confronting the viewer at eye level,
the imperfections and inevitable changes that Venetian carnival masks become hybrid tableaux
come with the passing of time. More recent acts that weave personal feelings with larger geo-
of invasion inform Joyce Kozloff ’s visual and political concerns.
34
Getting There
36
Figure 36 Figure 37
Foon Sham Foon Sham
Norway Memory: Fjaler, 2001 Norway Memory: Roof Top, 2000
Mixed media Mixed media
7 x 7 x 6 inches 7 x 7 x 3 inches
Courtesy of the artist Courtesy of the artist
Some artists regard the map as a kind of portrait divisions and natural boundaries. As the titles
that seeks the essential spirit of a place. In her suggest, themes range from politics (Election
two-sided “site maps” of Taiwan made during a Fervor), to consumerism (Cash Receipts), to the
Fulbright residency, Jane Ingram Allen fashions natural landscape (Floral Abundance). Also inspired
multiple sheets of paper, handmade from local by a residency, Foon Sham’s two mixed-
plants, into the shape of the island or a giant media works from Norway Memory are personal
leaf (figs. 34, 35a, 35b). Drawing on various testimonies of his affection for the people and
sources including tourist, road, historic, and the land. Like a jigsaw puzzle, the constructions
geological maps, she culls materials to express feature a central object inside the opening of a
her experience of a particular location and her wooden box covered with maps from his trip.
interaction with its community, all the while A stone in Fjaler (fig. 36) evokes the region’s
exploiting the contrast between man-made famous turf roofs. For Roof Top (fig. 37), the artist
37
Figures 38a, 38b (detail)
Cindy Kane
The Shape of the Journey, 2007
Mixed media on wood panels
60 x 126 inches; each panel 60 x 42 inches
Courtesy of the artist and Shoshana Wayne Gallery,
Santa Monica, California
38
Figure 39
Jeremy Wineberg
Bombing Sites Near Baghdad, 2004, from Everything
Looks Better from Far Away, 2005
Oil on Mylar
19 x 19 inches
Courtesy of the artist
Jeremy Wineberg, Soledad Salamé, and Norman distance between him (and by extension, the
Akers explore social and environmental impacts general public) and the bombing sites with the
in their portraits. Jeremy Wineberg focuses strange familiarity evoked by the media coverage.
on the feeling of estrangement in Bombing Sites Based on satellite images, the floor paintings on
Near Baghdad, from Everything Looks Better Mylar intricately weave geometry, architecture,
from Far Away (fig. 39). He contrasts the actual and infrastructure to question underlying
39
Figures 40a, 40b (detail)
Soledad Salamé
New Geographies: Venice II, 2008
Painting and print on Mylar
13 x 50 inches
Collection of Andrew Kaslow
political and communication systems. In New she imagines their possible future appearance.
Geographies (figs. 40a, 40b), Soledad Salamé In her studio, she photographs small-scale
studies the endangered cityscapes of Baltimore environments made using satellite images from
Harbor (Maryland) and Venice (Italy)—shifting Google Earth. The prints are then flooded with
landmasses subject to rising water levels and drops of water, which resemble mercury—an
temperatures. Taking cues from science fiction, emblem of beauty and poison—and together,
40
Figure 41
Norman Akers
Okesa, 2010
Oil on panel
48 x 42 inches
Courtesy of the artist
the drops become lakes and then entire geography and the language of maps, the artist
peninsulas. These ominous oozy abstractions inserts images rich in personal and socio-political
glisten in daylight and reinforce the sense of significance. At the center, against a backdrop of
form in transition. Norman Akers’s Okesa cultural signifiers imposed on a prairie landscape,
(fig. 41) paints an urgent portrait of his native a bellowing elk, at once defiant and alarmed,
Osage Indian reservation. Drawing on actual represents the regenerative power of nature.
41
Figure 42
Meridith McNeal
Beside Your Shimmering Doorway, 2007
Mixed-media installation
Dimensions variable
Courtesy of the artist and Figureworks Gallery,
Brooklyn, New York
42
Figure 43 Figure 44
John Ruppert John Ruppert
Asteroid Ida, from the Reflection series, 2009 Satellite of Mars Phobos, from the Reflection series, 2009
Rapid Prototype ABS plastic Rapid Prototype ABS Plastic
6 x 12 x 8 inches 11 1/2 x 6 x 6 inches
Courtesy of the artist Courtesy of the artist
Meaning “halfway there” in Osage, the title her hometown. A table bearing altered seed
“points to the dynamic confrontation between catalogues evokes her love of gardening. And
past and present in forging the emergence of pieces of vintage wallpaper with silhouettes
future landscapes.” of objects from her life create a timeline from
her cradle to the bureau where her poems
Meridith McNeal, John Ruppert, and Lincoln were found posthumously. John Ruppert uses
Schatz create time-based portraits through rapid prototyping ABS plastic to translate three-
indirect experience. Meridith McNeal channels dimensional NASA files of celestial bodies, taken
Emily Dickinson’s life and poetry as the basis for off the Internet—Phobos, the largest moon of
Beside Your Shimmering Doorway (fig. 42). Part Mars discovered in 1877, and the asteroid Ida, first
research, part intuition, the intimate installation sighted in 1884. Eerily white, the lace structure
draws out the magic in ordinary details. The in each sculpture reflects its solid counterpart,
seat of a period chair is embroidered with a which seems to bulge mysteriously from within
map of Amherst, Massachusetts, from the time (figs. 43, 44). Long interested in natural systems
of the poet. Nearby, sheer draperies are also and the human need for order, Ruppert references
delicately embroidered with vintage maps of earlier acts of discovery as he tackles astral
43
Figure 45
Lincoln Schatz
Portrait of J. Craig Venter, from the series Esquire’s
Portrait of the 21st Century, 2008
Digital image
Dimensions variable
Courtesy of bitforms gallery, New York, New York
phenomena and objects that no longer exist software produces a rendering that dynamically
in their original states. In Lincoln Schatz’s synthesizes and reorders the images in time.
generative portraits, subjects enter the CUBE, a The portrait of J. Craig Venter (fig. 45) is a double
10 x 10-foot translucent structure that the artist play on exploration: Venter, a world-renowned
designed, and engage in an activity of their choice genomic mapper, is shown charting the course of
for one hour. Data captured by 24 video cameras his next research trip in the Baltic Sea.
is continuously streamed into 24 Mac mini
computers. There, the Schatz’s specially created
44
Upon Arrival
Figure 46 (page 45) Figure 47
Joyce Kozloff Judi Werthein
Voyages 19: Pola, 2004 Brinco, 2005
Watercolor, acrylic, collage, cast paper Digital image
8 1/4 x 6 1/4 x 3 1/2 inches Dimensions variable
Courtesy of the artist and DC Moore Gallery, Courtesy of the Artist and InSITE_05
New York, New York
46
Checklist of the Exhibition
47
Vernon Fisher Kysa Johnson
Water Music, 2007, Blow Up 30 – Subatomic Decay Patterns, 2004
Oil and acrylic on canvas Ink on board
60 x 64 24 x 48
Courtesy of Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, and Courtesy of the artist and Morgan Lehman Gallery, New
Dunn & Brown Contemporary, Dallas, Texas York, New York
48
Joyce Kozloff Pedro Lasch
Voyages 19: Pola, 2004 Route Guide, Mexico/NY, Sara Guerrero-Rippberger (Guia de
Watercolor, acrylic, collage, cast paper Ruta, México/NY, Sara Guerrero-Rippberger), from the LATINO/A
8 1/4 x 6 1/4 x 3 1/2 AMERICA series, 2003–2006
Courtesy of the artist and DC Moore Gallery, New York, Archival digital print with accompanying text
New York Map: 43 x 30
Courtesy of the artist
Joyce Kozloff
Voyages 30: Tarry Islands, 2004–06 Pedro Lasch
Watercolor, acrylic, collage, cast paper Route Guide, Mexico/NY, Tomás Ybarra-Frausto (Guia de
9 1/4 x 6 x 4 1/4 Ruta, México/NY, Tomás Ybarra-Frausto), from the LATINO/A
Courtesy of the artist and DC Moore Gallery, New York, AMERICA series, 2003–2006
New York Archival digital print with accompanying text
Map: 43 x 30
Joyce Kozloff Courtesy of the artist
Voyages 32: Terra Incognita Nova Guinea, 2004–06
Watercolor, acrylic, collage, cast paper Pedro Lasch
9 1/4 x 6 x 4 1/4 Route Guide, Mexico/NY, Vicencio Marquez (Guia de Ruta,
Courtesy of the artist and DC Moore Gallery, New York, México/NY, Vicencio Marquez), from the LATINO/A AMERICA
New York series, 2003–2006
Archival digital print with accompanying text
Joyce Kozloff Map: 43 x 30
Voyages 35: Pulo Penang, 2004–06 Courtesy of the artist
Watercolor, acrylic, collage, cast paper
9 1/4 x 6 x 4 1/4 John Mann
Courtesy of the artist and DC Moore Gallery, New York, Untitled (ocean), from Folded in Place, 2009
New York Digital C-print
30 x 35
Joyce Kozloff Courtesy of the artist
Voyages 39: Cuba, 2004–06
Watercolor, acrylic, collage, cast paper John Mann
9 1/4 x 6 x 4 1/4 Untitled (proposed on-ramp), from Folded in Place, 2007
Courtesy of the artist and DC Moore Gallery, New York, Digital C-print
New York 30 x 35
Courtesy of the artist
Joyce Kozloff
Voyages 46: The Arabian Gulf, 2004–06 Meridith McNeal
Watercolor, acrylic, collage, cast paper Beside Your Shimmering Doorway, 2007
9 1/4 x 6 x 4 1/4 Mixed-media installation
Courtesy of the artist and DC Moore Gallery, New York, Dimensions variable
New York Courtesy of the artist and Figureworks Gallery, Brooklyn,
New York
Joyce Kozloff
Voyages 56: Chao Phraya River Valley, 2004–06 Trevor Paglen
Watercolor, acrylic, collage, cast paper KEYHOLE ADVANCED CRYSTAL in Hercules (Optical
8 1/4 x 6 1/4 x 3 1/2 Reconnaissance Satellite; USA 116), 2008
Courtesy of the artist and DC Moore Gallery, New York, C-print
New York 60 x 48
Courtesy of Altman Siegel Gallery, San Francisco, California,
Joyce Kozloff and Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne, Germany
Rocking the Cradle, 2003
Acrylic on wood
30 x 56 x 27
Courtesy of the artist and DC Moore Gallery, New York,
New York
49
Lordy Rodriguez Paula Scher
North Pole, 2009 The United States (White), 2007
Ink on paper Hand-pulled screenprint
48 x 48 40 x 60
Courtesy of the artist and Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco, Courtesy of the artist
California, and New York, New York
Foon Sham
Lordy Rodriguez Norway Memory: Fjaler, 2001
South Pole, 2009 Mixed media
Ink on paper 7x7x6
48 x 48 Courtesy of the artist
Courtesy of the artist and Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco,
California, and New York, New York Foon Sham
Norway Memory: Roof Top, 2000
John Ruppert Mixed media
Asteroid Ida, from the Reflection series, 2009 7x7x3
Rapid Prototype ABS plastic Courtesy of the artist
6 x 12 x 8
Courtesy of the artist Scott Sherk
The Katonah Sound Project: Ambient Map, 2010
John Ruppert Speakers, field recordings, four-channel soundscape
Satellite of Mars Phobos, from the Reflection series, 2009 installation
Rapid Prototype ABS Plastic Dimensions variable
11 1/2 x 6 x 6 Courtesy of the artist and Kim Foster Gallery, New York,
Courtesy of the artist New York
50
Acknowledgements
Lenders to the exhibition Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York, Exhibition Patrons
Norman Akers New York Leslie Cecil and Creighton Michael
Jane Ingram Allen OK Harris Works of Art, New York, Susanne and Douglas Durst
Altman Siegel Gallery, San Francisco, New York Michael J. Fuchs
California Lordy Rodriguez Virginia and Martin Gold
Doug Beube John Ruppert Fran and Don Herdrich
bitforms gallery, New York, New York Mary Ryan Gallery, New York, Ricky and Ralph Lauren
Val Britton New York Katherine and David Moore
Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, Paula Scher Victoria and Stephen Morris
California Donna Seager Gallery, San Rafael, Linda and Gerald Nordberg
Russell Crotty California Yvonne and Leslie Pollack
Richard Demato Fine Arts Gallery, Foon Sham Rochelle C. and Mark H. Rosenberg
Sag Harbor, New York Scott Sherk Helena Louise and Stephen Sokoloff
Josh Dorman Billy Shire Fine Arts, Los Angeles, Lisbeth and Frank Stern
Dunn & Brown Contemporary, Dallas, California
Texas Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica,
Greg S. Feldman and Melanie Shorin California Corporate Benefactors
Eric Finzi Susan Stockwell American Express
Figureworks Gallery, Brooklyn, Judi Werthein Bloomberg
New York Jeremy Wineberg Blue Note
Kim Foster Gallery, New York, Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne, Captain Lawrence Brewing Company
New York Germany The Mines Press Inc.
Dawn Gavin Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois Mt. Kisco Wines & Spirits
Goya Contemporary, Baltimore, Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York, Myong Private Label Gourmet
Maryland New York Ridgefield & Bedford Magazines
Robert Green Table Local Market
David F. Hartwell Family Target
Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco, Teatown Cellars
California, and New York, New York Willy Nick’s Restaurant & Bar
Mike Iacovone
InSITE_05: San Diego/Tijuana
Kysa Johnson
Ken Kalman
Cindy Kane
Andrew Kaslow
Nina Katchadourian
Karey Ellen Kessler
Joyce Kozloff
Pedro Lasch
John Mann
Meridith McNeal
DC Moore Gallery, New York,
New York
51
Board of Trustees Betty Himmel Naomi Leiseroff
Rochelle C. Rosenberg, President Paul Jenkel Learning Center Curator/
Virginia Gold, Vice President Robert Keiter Graphic Designer
Amanda Byrne Alfieri, Secretary Edward W. Kelly Christina Makrakis
Ellen Grimes, Treasurer Dr. Samuel Klagsbrun Membership Manager
Bonnie Klein Liana Moss
Carole Alexander Linda S. Levine Visitors Services Coordinator
Mary Lou Alpert David Moore Maxwell Oppenheimer
Cynthia R. Brennan Stephen B. Morris Gallery Supervisor
Maralyn Carr Helene Morrison Barbara Plechaty
Leslie Cecil Leslie M. Pollack Volunteer Coordinator/
Alexander Cortesi Nan Pollock Building Supervisor
Rosalie Dolmatch Gabriel Rosenfeld Michael Prudhom
Nisa Geller Rebecca Samberg Installation Designer/Chief Preparator
LaRuth Hackney Gray Ron Schlossberg Belinda Roth
Edith Katz Susan B. Scofield Development Associate
Paul Llewellyn Robert Stahmer Michael Schechter
Jeanne Markel David Swope IT Consultant
Victoria F. Morris Karen Stein
Linda Nordberg Director of Education
Jerry Pinkney Museum Staff Richard Thompson
Yvonne S. Pollack Neil Watson Gallery Supervisor
Melanie Rose-Cohen Executive Director Nancy Wallach
Dyan Rosenberg Director of Curatorial Affairs/
Laura Schroeder Margaret Adasko Grants Officer
William Kelly Simpson Education Programs Manager Ellen Williams
Sylvia Smolensky Laura Bass Education Coordinator
Helena Louise Sokoloff Public Relations Manager
Lisbeth S. Stern Gail Bryan
Judith D. Widmann Public Programs Coordinator
Allison Chernow
Director of Development
Board of Overseers Marcia Clark
Janet Benton, Co-Chair Public Relations Consultant
Alexia Jurschak, Co-Chair Pamela Hart
Writer-in-Residence
Ira Alpert Nancy Hitchcock
Mary Lou Beitzel Registrar
Barbara Cervasio Patricia Keane
John Crabtree Director of Finance
Candace Dwan Gail Keene
Anthony B. Evnin Administrative Coordinator
Joseph Handelman Ellen Keiter
Donald J. Herdrich Curator of Contemporary Art
52
Back
Google Map, location of the Katonah Museum of Art
not in exhibition
Catalogue Design
Naomi Leiseroff
Catalogue Printing
Rose Press
Photography Credits
Photographs of the works of art in this exhibition have been
supplied, in most cases, by the owners or custodians of the
works, as cited in the captions. For the following images,
an additional acknowledgment is due: fig. 5, James Cohan
Gallery; fig. 32, Vernon Fisher; figs. 4, 7, Nina Katchadourian;
figs. 40a, 40b, Goya Contemporary.
Copyright 2010
Katonah Museum of Art
134 Jay Street
Katonah, New York 10536
Telephone: 914 232-9555
www.katonahmuseum.org
53
Katonah Museum of Art
www.katonahmuseum.org