Swiss Institute

FADE IN: INT. ART GALLERY – DAY
March 3–May 8, 2016

ONE FOR ALL | Nancy Lupo: Parent and Parroting
March 13–April 9, 2016

FADE IN opening: March 2, 6–8pm
Nancy Lupo opening: March 12, 6–8pm

Swiss Institute
38 St Marks Pl
New York, NY 10003
USA

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FADE IN:
INT. ART GALLERY – DAY

Works by Danai Anesiadou, Nairy Baghramian, Michael Bell-Smith, Dora Budor, Heman Chong, Mike Cooter, Brice Dellsperger, GALA Committee, Mathis Gasser, Jamian Juliano-Villani, Bertrand Lavier, William Leavitt, Christian Marclay, Rodrigo Matheus, Allan McCollum, Henrique Medina, Carissa Rodriguez, Cindy Sherman, Amie Siegel, Scott Stark, and Albert Whitlock; performances and public programs by Casey Jane Ellison, Mario García Torres, Alex Israel, Thirteen Black Cats, and more.

Recasting the gallery as a set for dramatic scenes, FADE IN: INT. ART GALLERY – DAY explores the role that art plays in narrative film and television. FADE IN features the work of 25 artists and considers a history of art as seen in classic movies, soap operas, science fiction, pornography and musicals. These works have been sourced, reproduced and created in response to artworks that have been made to appear on-screen, whether as props, set dressings, plot devices, or character cues.

The nature of the exhibition is such that sculptures, paintings and installations transition from prop to image to art object, staging an enquiry into whether these fictional depictions in mass media ultimately have greater influence in defining a collective understanding of art than art itself does. Certain preoccupations with artworks are established early on in cinematic history: the preciousness of art objects anchors their roles as plot drivers, and anxieties intensify regarding the vitality of artworks and their perceived abilities to wield power over viewers or to capture spirits. Such themes were famously explored in the 1945 film adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, from which Cindy Sherman has sourced the original portrait painted for the production. Across genres, the character of the artist is habitually portrayed as a volatile, mercurial figure with license to subvert societal norms, who is thereby ridiculed, feared and revered. From many such narratives, FADE IN draws out the art objects, granting them the status only previously achieved on-screen, whilst pointing to moments in which one form of media wrangles with the power of another.

The exhibition includes new commissions from Danai Anesiadou, Michael Bell-Smith, Dora Budor, Heman Chong, Mike Cooter, Brice Dellsperger, Mathis Gasser, Jamian Juliano-Villani, Bertrand Lavier, Christian Marclay, Rodrigo Matheus, Carissa Rodriguez and Amie Siegel. Source material ranges widely from The Maltese Falcon (1941) and Teorema (1968) through 9 1/2 Weeks (1986) and The Princess Diaries (2001), to the The Twilight Zone (1969–64), Melrose Place (1992–99) and The X-Files (1993–2002).

ONE FOR ALL | Nancy Lupo: Parent and Parroting 
Swiss Institute is pleased to present the first institutional solo exhibition in the United States of LA-based artist Nancy Lupo, who will present a new sculpture.

Lupo has created a loose structure from 28 racks meant for under-sink bathroom storage, which she configured into a “U” shaped structure where the 28 racks stand in for teeth in a closed human jaw. The racks have been encased in Magic-Sculpt and kitty litter, confusing the already ambiguous form of the shelf—at once decidedly overdetermined and utterly abstract. Across these racks, a drama of objects plays out in several acts that evolve from moments of ontological confusion and language play.

"So this mouth, this orange grove, this shrub or bush or whatever that began at the very start of the catchall 'holiday' season (also coincidentally citrus season), now feels in the post-Valentine's world more like a cramped bodega or some kind of storage. That place where, when you go to grab your stress relieving herbal tea, you bump up against a cache of chocolate mints stockpiled for the reception desk. It might seem like a coincidence but of course these things are carefully coordinated, orchestrated, scripted. Meanwhile, it seems to have now all metabolized literally and elegantly into a classic potpourri. Perhaps it was there the whole time, but I’m really smelling it now."

Nancy Lupo: Parent and Parroting is the sixth exhibition in the ONE FOR ALL series at SI. Building on Swiss Institute's long history of providing a platform for emerging artists, each show will be the artist's first institutional solo exhibition in the United States, with a newly commissioned body of work specifically created for the exhibition space. Swiss Institute is grateful for support from the VIA Art Fund, Presenting Sponsor of the ONE FOR ALL series.

Nancy Lupo (b. 1983, Flagstaff, AZ) is an artist living and working in Los Angeles. Recent exhibitions include: The Third Badger, 1857, Oslo (2015); Not S.A.D., Wallspace, New York (2015); Taster’s Choice, curated by Christopher Y. Lew, MoMA PS1, New York (2014) and Old Zoo Food, LA><ART, Los Angeles (2014).

Swiss Institute programming is made possible in part with public funds from Pro Helvetia, Swiss Arts Council, the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legistlature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Main sponsors include LUMA Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and Friends of Swiss Institute (FOSI). Leading Partners include UBS and Victorinox. Swiss Intitute gratefully acknowledgs Stella Artois as Benefactor, Swiss Re as Public Programs Sponsor, and Swiss as Travel Partner. Special thanks for support from the FADE IN Exhibition Circle: Ribordy Contemporary, Kurmanzutto, Foxy Productions, Galeria Fortes Vilaça. Swiss Institute thanks Chiswell Langhorne for the Opening Scene screenplay; New Galerie, Paris and Earls Hay Press for production support; and the lenders to the exhibition: Werner Dohmen, Graphicstudio and University of South Florida, Michael Heins, NBC Univesal Archives & Collections, Margreth and Andreas Schmeer, Gaby and Wilhelm Schürman, Marc Selwyn Fine Arts. Swiss Institute is grateful to VIA Art Fund, Presenting Sponsor of the ONE FOR ALL series.

Media Contact: Dan Tanzilli / Peter Kaiser, Third Eye
dan [​at​] hellothirdeye.com / peter [​at​] hellothirdeye.com / T +1 646 593 8713